//------------------------------// // Chapter Fourteen: An inside ploy with elitist nobles. // Story: Equestria: A retelling of the story. // by xombiekilla //------------------------------// "Good morning, Equestria! You're listening to the melodious morning voice of Mister Mic Most, coming at you live from Manehattan here on MAGIC 107.9; the best beats and greets of the nation." The radio blared as it woke up. The now groggy Doctor promptly turned the radio off and groaned. "Ugh. Morning radio is not my cup of tea. Decoe, is that chameleon-mech still in their castle?" "Yes, Doctor. They still have not gotten rid of it yet." "Good. I'll have my shower first, then get ready for my day." "Aye aye, doctor." Decoe and Bocoe saluted the Doctor as he went in to freshen up for his day. "Sister. It is time for thee to wake up." Luna woke up Celestia after lowering her moon and raising the sun. She felt refreshed and ready to begin her daytime duties as Luna went to sleep to get rested for her nightly responsibilities later on. "Good night, Tia." Luna bade her sister farewell as she made her way to her room out of Celestia's Room. "Yes. Good night to you, dearest sister. Sleep well." Celestia waved her sister goodbye as she stretched her limbs, back, and neck to only partially wake up. "Mnh... I need my coffee now. I hope they didn't run out of that mocha flavor yet." Celestia then shuffled into the kitchen to greet her cooks and chef. "Good morning, Princess." "Yes... Do you still have that mocha coffee that Luna had last night?" "We certainly do, your highness," one of the cooks replied. "Oh. That sounds lovely. Can I get a cup of that, please?" Celestia yawned as she covered her mouth with her hoof. "Yes, your highness!" They all then saluted as they began to brew the coffee immediately. "Thank you so much." As Celestia and the Doctor began their day, Twilight was already eating breakfast with Spike and reading the Ponyville Daily Newspaper. "It says here that the nobles of Canterlot are trying to fight to raise taxes on the rest of Equestria but still have not gotten Princess Celestia's approval yet." "Gee, I wonder why." Spike was drinking coffee and eating a muffin. "And look who's on the cover, Blueblood." "Why am I not surprised?" "Why does that guy keep trying to make life difficult for everypony else? What on Equestria does he need all that extra money for, anyway?" "A new pair of hoof shoes? What?" Twilight gave Spike an awkward look. "Doesn't he have like fifty-four of those already? Yes, I kept count of his possessions." "You... seriously need to find better hobbies, Twilight." "I'll let that remark slide because I'm too tired to care right now, Spike." "So, Are you creating your scrap dispenser now... or?" "After I have my breakfast, Decoe. I cannot scheme properly on an empty stomach." The Doctor said with a grumble to his voice. "Of course, Doctor. It wasn't brilliant of me to ask. So having that first, then you'll further along with your plan. Sounds good to me." After at least forty-five minutes, the Doctor finished his morning meal. "Okay then, I have formulated a brilliant plan. That Chameleon Mech shall play a great role in keeping tabs on the interior foundations as it provides me with all the important real-time data I need to work around their schedule. Oddly enough, Celestia begins her breakfast at around the same time I do. Nine O'Clock in the morning. I can see why, as it's the ideal time for thinking. And reading off of its acquired data... At around Six O'Clock in the evening, she eats dinner and then goes to rest as Luna begins her duties." "So you've got their times for their duties, doctor?" "I do, Decoe. Between the hours of six and eight in the approaching morning, Luna retires, and Celestia wakes. From that, I can concur when it'll be the best time to strike them. Preferably during the daytime. I can use the Chameleon Mech to smuggle in the mini-dispenser. From there, I can create a robot that can destroy their foundations from the inside-out." "Using a schematic, I assume?" "You know me too well, I suppose." Then the data came back with a conversation in the Throne Room where the mech was placed after the events from the wedding. "Hmm? What's this?" "This is unbelievable; Celestia doesn't see the beauty of our plan together as a community. It's an outrage to pay more than necessary to the lesser folk of Equestria. It's downright sacrilege." Blueblood was speaking privately with three other nobles who had shared interests with him. "Yeah. There can be many other more productive ways to use the extra bits paid to them. Such as expanding the nation and providing us with better luxuries as well- the luxuries being a nice little bonus." replied Silverblood, who was the cousin of Blueblood along with Big Gains, a wealthy entrepreneur, and stockholder of nearly a quarter of Equestria's wealth. And Lady Fortune, big in real estate and owner of most of the major entertainment venues in Canterlot and Manehattan. "Seconded on that, Silverblood. As solid advice from me, Big Gains, I can certainly see the benefit of working together with you three." In a slightly gruff southern accent, Big Gains then looked to their female comrade. "Whatever will secure and also expand my entertainment empire. I'm more concerned with what we can accomplish here as a group. I would even go so far as to say that our plan will be better than Celestia's if she ever spent any time making one, that is." "I'd best be careful of what I'd say in a place where punishment ain't too far away, milady," Big Gains admonished her, to which she just shrugged off. "Why should you be worried, Gains? You're just as big as we are. What could she do to us that wouldn't also hurt the future of this country? Nothing. And she knows it. We have her dead to rights financially." "Well, now, isn't this an interesting little conversation? I hope you four didn't mind that I've heard everything you're saying. Treason in the very place that you've sworn allegiance towards? My goodness." A radio voice sounded off from the pony-like robot in the Throne Room where they were as a holographic image of the Doctor manifested itself from its mouth. "What in tarnation? That thing can talk?!" Big Gains recoiled back in shock as he composed himself. "I'm surprised that hunk of junk can talk, let alone display any visuals. I thought it was a cheap knick-knack that Celestia had bought somewhere." This retort grated the Doctor's nerves. "How dare you call my masterful machine a cheap knick-knack. Of course, I was thinking of assisting you as long as you've assisted me. But with that greeting, I'm not so sure now." "Never mind the lady; she's a bit skeptical from the sudden intrusion. I'm Big Gains. And you are?" "Doctor Bruner. Eccentric genius inventor and scientific engineer. At your service. I do apologize for the rather crude means of intrusion. But I couldn't help but notice that you've got a problem that very well might be more than you could handle." "I'll have you know that we're more than capable of handling ourselves, thank you." Fortune snapped back. "Shame. Then I suppose I'll have to fall back on my second plan. Good day-." "Wait! Don't leave. I might need your help here, Doctor Bruner." Blueblood spoke up, shocking the rest of them. "Accepting his help, someone we just met?! You're not serious, Blueblood?! Wait, what am I saying? Of course, you are." "Fortune. Think of what we'll have here. He's got the technology we'll need to make our dreams a reality. I believe he's worth adding to our team." He looked towards the pony chameleon-mech that the Doctor was using to communicate with them, "I agree to add you to our cause. What do you want in return? This wasn't done for altruism's sake. You're after something." "You're right. I am. My proposition is simple: I'll provide you with four mechs to use as you see fit. All I ask for in return is an opportunity to destroy Celestia, Luna, and those detestable elements." He cleared his throat, "so then, do we have a deal?" "But isn't raising and lowering the sun and moon their job? How would we be able to do that?" Silverblood asked the Doctor. "Leave that to me. I'll prepare a weather machine that can also use gravity, combined with their magic to control the celestial bodies." "You're bluffing. You can't create that." Lady Fortune scoffed with disdain as the Doctor laughed with delight. "You think so, eh? Observe. Chameleon-Mech. Send over the dispenser." The machine bleeped in confirmation as it sent the dispenser to them, and it began to fire a beam onto the ground to generate both the dispenser and create fresh scrap and materials, "as you can see. This dispenser was designed to create the machines based on the schematics from my home base in the Everfree." The Doctor then sent over his first schematic as it went towards the dispenser, and the dispenser created its first machine, a small robot that could act as an engineer to tend to the dispenser. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. That's pretty nifty, Doctor," Big Gains whistled in awe as he saw the little engineer worker going to town on the fresh scrap and other materials to create more engineer bots and for the machine to work correctly, speeding up the process. It took about five minutes as all four nobles watched in astonishment. The device looked like a portable computer with a massive tank on its back, two prongs where the tank was, and a signal beacon on its top. "For simplicity's sake, the controls on the terminal were made easy for you to command from your location. That tank is where the princesses' magic goes into. The beacon part is what broadcasts the weather and gravity changes. It'll take some time between each use, so it'll have to be planned since this wasn't designed to be durable through overuse." The Doctor then looked to Blueblood, "Either operate it manually or allow my engineer bots to do so automatically. It's your choice." "How will we be able to pull their magic from them? I can't imagine them just willingly giving that to us." Blueblood pondered to himself as he kept his focus on the Doctor. "We'll bait them into a trap. You four will use the specially designed machines provided to corral those two princesses, then get them close to that weather machine that I showed you earlier, then let that machine work its magic by taking theirs." "That's... a pretty cruel but effective plan. So about these four machines for us." Fortune then raised her brow, curious if she would even get one. "Patience, Miss Fortune. I'll be sure to beam those in right now." No sooner had he said this than the dispenser beamed in four machines that looked more like conventional weapons. "What are we supposed to do with these?" "Create panic and then goad them out into the open, Miss Fortune. Once they appear in this room, one of you will hit that red button to begin the machine's magic siphoning function. However, they must be close enough for the machine's rays to reach them." "So, lure them in here by creating chaos?" Blueblood then looked to his weapon, a firecracker launcher that could attach itself to his left forehoof. "So why in blue blazes do we have these well... less than spectacular gizmos? What's this one meant to do, anyway?" Big Gains looked to see that his weapon was a paintball launcher. "Looks like these are more like tools to create mischief with. So what do we do with these, annoy the princesses with them?" Silverblood wondered as he looked at his weapon, a smoke grenade thrower temporarily creating a smog with white phosphorus powder to blind them. "And mine looks to be stupid. What am I supposed to do with this?" Fortune's weapon looked like it launched bombs filled with itching powder. "All your tools at your disposal all have one thing in common; they're capable of causing chaos and angering others immensely. Perfect for luring them into a trap with." The Doctor then chuckled, "trust me. You'll find much success with those two unable to use any of their magic whatsoever."