Engineers concentration was broken by the sound of knocking coming from her door, "who the hell is it and what do you want!", she demanded, whoever had dared to interrupt her work better have a good reason.
The door shot open and a Guard-dog marched in as if he were on the parade ground, "The Engineer is to report to the throne room", he declared, "I am to escort you there immediately". The Guard-dog stood stiff at attention spear in paw trying to look the part of a well disciplined soldier, this was undercut by the Guard-dogs youth, he was no more than a pup standing at four feet tall. All the real soldiers were away on campaign and this youngster was a fine example of the dregs
that were left behind to guard the caves.
Engineer turned away from her desk to look at this unimpressive spectacle, it would have been a funny sight if it wasn't so annoying, "I've got work to do, so who ever sent you can come up here to my workshop to talk, otherwise they can go screw themselves" she turned back to her work and tried to get her focus back, she tried to get her mind back to thinking about runic transcriptions, and hoped that the youngster would get the message and leave her alone.
"T-The Engineer is to report to the throne room" the Guard-dog was getting nervous, his voice breaking "I am to escort you there immediately."
The Engineer groaned as she wheeled back around to the Guard, "listen kid i'm busy working on my weapons, you know the weapons that have allowed the king to become the most powerful Diamond Dog king in history, he wouldn't be happy if he found out that his Engineer was being distracted, by some kid no less, so why don't you just leave me alone, and whoever wants to talk to me can take it up with the King, alright?". With that she turned back to her work, confident that this would send the pup scurrying back to whoever had sent him.
"B-but I was sent by the King himself to get you" the Guard stammered, he was getting nervous that this wasn't going a smoothly as he had thought it would. "He was the one who told me that, The Engineer is to report to the throne room and I am to escort you there immediately."
"Are you an idiot?, King Rex is away on campaign, he isn't going to be back for weeks", the Engineer was getting really annoyed now, first this pup had interrupted her, and was now lying to her, probably just to speak to some noble or other who hoped to get the Kings ear through her, she didn't want to get involved in any court intrigue.
"King rex is dead, he was killed in battle, these orders come from the new King, King Soboka."
"What? Who told you that? Never mind take me to the throne room at once, I need to find out whats going on immediately." She pushed past the Guard-dog and made her way from her workshop into the castle proper as the Guard-dog hurried to catch up. The Castle was built underground in the caves of the Diamond Dogs, its halls were filled with treasures looted from the Kings conquests. Those victories had fuelled her forges and foundries, as they brought in new materials and fresh labour forces to feed, supply, and equip the royal army.
As Engineer entered the Throne room, she found it almost empty, the only other person there was Prince Soboka, he was sat on the kings throne, a crown upon his head."Ah, Engineer, you've made it." The Guard-Dog came in behind her and stood at attention beside the entrance.
Prince Soboka was the son and heir of King Rex. He had remained behind in the castle to administer the realm while his father was away on campaign.
"Whats going on Soboka, this guard here has told me some strange stories about your father." Engineer felt uneasy as she processed the scene in front of her, why is he sitting on the throne? Why is he wearing the Crown? Unless? "The King cant be dead, can he?" Engineer had worked on his armor for months, it is a work of art that made the wearer stronger, faster, and made could make it appear that time flowed slower when in battle, improving the wearers reaction time. And his sword is another masterpiece, able to easily cut through solid rock, also giving the wielder the ability to control the weather. All of this made King Rex formidable in battle, there was no way that anyone could kill him.
Soboka held up a paw to signal for silence before he started to speak, "Engineer, father is dead" his voice was quiet she could tell that he was holding in his pain, trying to hide his grief and sorrow. "The Royal army was ambushed by an allied army of ponies, gryphons, and traitors. Everyone was either killed or captured, the King died fighting the leaders of this Alliance. Two ponies known as the 'Alicorn Sisters', they're the new rulers of the ponies."
Engineer felt her blood run cold as her mind tried to process what she had just heard. The King was dead, her King was dead, the king who had found her in the mountains, raised her as one of his own. She owed him everything, he was a father to her as much as Soboka. She felt a determined anger fill her, she fell to her knee and declared to her new King "Long live King Soboka, I pledge my life and loyalty to you. I will serve you as I served your father, by building you weapons for an invincible army, we will avenge King Rex and destroy all of the enemies of the Diamond Dogs, Including these Alicorn Sisters."
Soboka had remained passive on the throne listening to Engineer, as she looked into his eyes she was shocked to see no anger no conviction, only a strange resigned expression. "I'm afraid that we wont be taking any vengeance, as King my feeling come second to the good of the Kingdom." He paused, trying to find the right words to explain. "I received an envoy from the allies offering me terms for my surrender, and I was inclined to accept."
"What! How can you surrender to the people who killed your own Father!" The Engineer rose to her feat, anger overtaking her as she screamed at Soboka. The Guard by the door jumped into action, he moved towards her but was called off by a wave of the paw from Soboka, and returned to his place by the door.
"Engineer, listen to me, the army is shattered, all our best soldiers are captured, there is no way for us to fight on. I had to make peace to preserve what I could. So I accepted the terms that I was given."
"What terms did you get then?!"
"First, we are to return all captives to their homes, as well as pay reparations for the time they have been here. Second, we are to return all captured lands from our campaigns, as well as further concessions as restitution to our neighbours. Third, we are to return all captured treasures and artwork to their respected owners, and pay damages for anything that was destroyed or lost."
"How can you accept this? This will reduce the Kingdom to irrelevance? And how will we rebuild our army without the resources that we have taken?"
"Theirs more, we are to disarm, all of the weapons and armor that you have made is to be turned over to be destroyed by the allies."
At this Engineer was furious, all her work was to be destroyed? It would take forever to rebuild the arsenal that she had spent her life on. "Damn it! you're throwing away my life's work just like that? Fine! It will take time but we will rebuild, this is just a setback. It may take years, but with patience our armies will be stronger than they were even under King Rex!"
"Their is a final term that I agreed to." Soboka looked down at his feet as he continued "Engineer, you are like a sister to me, even if not by blood, you are family. I just want you to know that i'm sorry, I will be sorry for this until the day I die." He looked up at Engineer, she saw that he had tears in his eyes.
"Sorry for what? what is this final term?" The door to the Throne room slammed open and in marched a platoon of ponies, armed and ready for combat. Leading them were the two ponies who stood taller than the others, they were tall enough to stare Engineer directly in the face. Their eyes searched the room, before settling on Engineer. "King Soboka this is the Engineer, correct?" their voices boomed through the throne room, amplified by their magic to command the room.
"What is going on Soboka? What was this final term did you agree to?" The Engineer demanded as she backed away from the approaching troops. She already knew, but she still wanted to hear it from him. She felt herself shaking with rage, and fealt her eyes cloud with tears, "what did you agree to?!"
"The final term was, that all of your research, and all of your equipment is to be destroyed. And you are to be turned to stone by the Equestrian Princesses, to prevent your knowledge from ever being used again."
"What?!" Engineer recoiled, she was to be turned to stone?
"Engineer, you are to surrender to us at once." the shorter blue Alicorn demanded, advancing towards her as the troops behind the princesses fanned out across the throne room, taking positions at the doors.
Engineer didn't wait another moment as she turned and ran for the nearest exit that was not yet covered, she heard hooves pounding behind her, "Stop her!" a voice cried out behind her, a Pegasus guard landed in front of the door and turned to block her, before he could react she gave him a kick to the head sending him flying backwards. The ponies unconscious body hit the door behind him flinging it open, she looked down the empty corridor before her, she knew that if she could lose them she could escape. She started to run down the corridor until a golden aura wraped itself around her waist and she felt a force like a rope grab her and pull her back though the door, she flew through the air and landed with a loud thud back in the center of the throne room. There would be no escape for her.
She gasped as she felt the wind get knocked out of her, she tried to get back to her feet, her legs shaking as she fought through the pain, only for two ponies to tackle her back to the ground. "Get off me!" she screamed trying to shake them off only for two more to join their comrades pinning her to the ground, one of them kicked her in the head to stop her fighting. Her head was ringing and she tasted blood in her mouth. She felt the weight of the ponies on top of her crushing her down into the stone floor.
She was able to make out Soboka rising off his throne angrily, she wasn't able to make out what he was saying nor what the blue princess said in response, whatever it was made him sit back down chastened. He gave a nod to the guard by the door, and the guard started to lead a troop of ponies somewhere in the castle, but he was first stopped by one of them as they wrenched the spear he was holding out of his paws, before directing him to lead on.
She looked up and saw that the white princess was glaring down at her, "Engineer" the princess spoke, her voice cut through the ringing in Engineers head. "Your creations have brought about the deaths of many ponies, gryphons, and dogs, for the good Equestria, you are to be entombed in stone to prevent you from producing any more of these dangerous creations." She gestured with her hooves and the ponies holding her let her up to her feet. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Engineer thought for a second before settling on an appropriate response. She spat the mixture of blood, and saliva pooling in her mouth at the princess. A barrier of magic flickered in front of it stoping it dead in midair, her defiant last act fell to the ground, splashing on the stone floor harmlessly. The white princess was not impressed, "So be it, Sister, with me". The blue Princess that was staring down Soboka up to this point, daring him to protest further, flew over to the white Princesses side. Their horns glowed as they prepared their spell, the ponies holding Engineer moved away from her, not wanting to get caught up in the spell. Engineer braced herself as a beam of light shot out from their horns towards her, she put her arms up to shield herself from what was about to happen.
Engineer waited for something to happen, but as she peaked past her arms, she saw that the princesses had finished. Their spell seemed to have failed, she smirked and turned to make a run for it, only to feel her leg stuck, she looked down to see it turning to stone, she felt fear overtake her as she started to hyperventilate as the stone grew up her leg, she clawed at her leg with her hands hoping to peel the stone off, only for it to spread to her hands, as she felt it race up her chest and nearer to her neck, she tried to scream only to feel her mouth go solid as well freezing her face in a look of terror.
As the stone closed towards her eyes as they darted around wildly before settling on the two princesses. She poured all the hatred that she felt into her eyes and swore that, somehow, she would get revenge. Revenge for her King, revenge for her destroyed creations, and revenge for doing this to her.
As the stone covered her completely everything went black, she was put into a deep sleep within her stone prison, a sleep that was intended to last forever.
"So thats that Celestia, now what?" Luna asked.
"Now sister comes the time to rebuild, the war is won, now comes peace" Celestia Declared "and may it last a thousand years." The Princesses turned and left the Throne room, as the guards followed behind, carrying the statue of Engineer.
And with that the Princesses brought the devastating Diamond Dog War to an end. King Soboka went on to rule wisely and justly over a much diminished kingdom. Engineers creations were gathered together and destroyed under the supervision of all the allied nations, Engineers workshop was burned, all of the notes, records and schematics were destroyed. Some of Engineers weapons did slip through the cracks, find their way into the hands of less than reputable creatures, they changed hands over the centuries between warlords, crime-bosses and private collectors.
The Diamond Dog War became a historical footnote, remembered as a minor conflict fought in the years between the ascension of the Princesses, and the battle with Discord. Engineers Statue was brought to the castle of the Two Sisters, it was too disturbing, with the agonised face that the strange creature made when it was turned to stone. It was kept in the royal vault under the castle and was buried by ruble during the first battle with nightmare moon. When Celestia moved her capital to Canterlot it was left behind.
This would have been the end of Engineers story, until one day someone found her.