While the components of the appliances were beginning to make a bit more sense, Shadowpiercer was starting to get distracted by the tool bracelets themselves. They could stand a few improvements.
No, focus. You're trying to build a generator.
Several minutes later, he had disassembled several more items and was sliding the tool holder on one of the bracelets in and out of a new hidden slot.
Okay, now that I've had my fun, I need to get back to making this thing work.
He flicked out the tool holder and used it to pick up the soldering iron. The iron flipped over in the loose attachment, nearly flicking hot solder into his face.
That was disappointing, especially since he did not want to resort to using his teeth again.
I should have fixed that part first.
He was about to try to fix that when another idea came to him.
What if I just stuck all the tools on it to begin with. There's plenty of room. Of course with the way it's shaped, the whole thing could rotate...
Soon enough, he was out shopping for army knives and cheap tools to take apart.
Sierra Springs made his way through the tunnel, trying to think of some new strategy to try, when he was stopped by a... thing. It was bipedal and metal and looked like nothing more than a skeleton of whatever creature it once was.
"Halt. Who goes there?" It pointed a strange black tube at him, and the tube looked like one of the weapons they had gotten earlier that they couldn't use. Before he could answer, his brother approached.
"Lower your weapon. This is your new commander." The bipedal skeleton lowered its weapon and saluted.
"What is this thing?" Sierra Springs was unsure whether to be impressed or worried by the strange turn of events.
"This," his brother replied, "is a machine... a thinking machine." He smiled as he continued. "It can operate its own weapons, its body is made of armor, and it is loyal to whoever it believes its commander is. Best of all," he rubbed his hooves together, "whoever was using these things has been making them by the hundreds. We can take as many as we need, and they wouldn't even notice."
Sierra Springs smiled. They would need a test target of course, something small and out of the way. "How many of those can you bring in for a test run?"
I've got to market this thing
It had been a few hours, and the bracelet now looked almost nothing like the old one. Instead of being a simple loop with a metal arm and a spring clamp on it, it was now two wide bands, one spinning on the outside of the other.
The outer band had a series of slots along the side facing downwards towards his hoof, and the outside of it was equipped with sliders and buttons. Pressing a button would launch a tool out of the slot, where the slider would lock it in place. It also locked the spin so that the tool would remain in one place. Pressing the slider down and pulling it back reset it.
Shadowpiercer may have spent a bit too much time flicking the tools in and out just for fun.
He also may have spent a bit too much time building another one to wear on his other hoof.
Fine. He wasted the whole afternoon on that stupid project.
Summit Creek stepped into the cave to find a rather unusual sight. Considering the things he had been pulling out of the portal, an out-of-towner tied to a stepladder caught him off guard by being almost sane.
"Who is she?"
His brother stood on the other side of the cave next to one of the battle machines. "She's just a visitor from Canterlot. A fabric seller, correct?" He turned to the red unicorn mare, who directed her response to Summit instead.
"My name is Red Shirt. I just came to fulfill Rarity's order, nothing else. I don't carry anything, I'm not particularly rich, there's no reason to hold me here."
Summit turned to his brother. "What are you doing with her?"
"I just needed a test subject to determine how effective these weapons are."
Summit stood blank for a moment, as the implications of Sierra's statement washed over him.
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"I said no. This wasn't what the system was meant for."
"It was meant to conquer a country. How did you expect to do that? A letter? Asking politely? This is warfare."
"This isn't warfare!" Summit Creek marched up to his brother's nose. "It's not a weapons test, this... this is outright murder.
"If you really want to test the weapons, why not just shoot a rock outside? Or a tree? There's plenty of those."
"The weapons run on a strange magic unlike anything I've seen before. I must know if they work as intended."
Summit Creek snorted. "If you do this, I'm blowing this whole thing open."
He was already turning to leave when his brother spoke calmly.
"Do that, and you implicate yourself."
Sierra Springs watched his brother freeze.
"You opened the portal, you found the weapons, you looked for the most effective answer. If you report anything, you report yourself far more than me. Besides," he lowered his voice, "you've seen too much already."
Summit Creek's ears drooped, and he collapsed to his knees. His brother nodded.
"Fire at will."
When Summit Creek could move again, he set the portal to an uninhabited world, and Sierra Springs tossed in Red Shirt's body. He then closed the portal and wandered out into the forest.
As he did, he considered his options.
Sierra Springs was right. As it stood, he was guilty of conspiracy to commit treason already.
There was no turning back from that.