Sierra Springs headed back to the cave. To his surprise, he found his brother already by the portal pulling out more machines and snacking on a sandwich.
"So," Summit Creek began, "when are we getting arrested?"
Sierra Springs rolled his eyes. "We aren't getting arrested. They don't even know who we are."
"But they will. You know there's going to be an investigation, and it's only a matter of time before they find this cave."
Sierra thought a moment. "There will be an investigation, but I doubt we'll need to worry. I still have some stones enchanted with concealment runes to put near the entrance, and I see you've already been strengthening our guards."
"I had to do something while I waited for you to get here. By the way, I've been doing some more portal searching, and I found some stuff that might prove useful."
He gestured to you a table covered with assorted doodads and gizmos.
At Sierra Springs' look of confusion, he walked over to a white box that had been set up on the end of the table.
As he approached, he stated, seemingly for no reason, "Hot coffee. Black." A glittering light appeared, and a ceramic mug materialized inside the box. He then pulled it out of the box and took a sip. "Want some?"
Naturally, Sierra Springs was unsure whether to be flabbergasted or annoyed. "What is that thing?"
"I'm not sure what to call it, but it makes whatever you ask for."
Sierra Springs blinked, then spoke slowly.
"So you have a machine that makes whatever you want from practically nothing, and you're using it as a coffeemaker?"
Summit Creek turned slightly pink. "Well... it also makes sandwiches..."
Sierra Springs facehooved and shook his head. "No... never mind, I have a new task for your portal searching. I listened in on the ponies investigating our machines, and they brought up an interesting idea."
He glanced at the portal before turning back to his brother. "What do you think you can find for aerial combat?"
Summit thought a moment. "I believe I saw some machines for that in the same world as those," he pointed to a guard, "but they're pretty big. We'd have to find a place to hide them."
Sierra nodded. There were plenty of hiding places around the forest. "Go ahead and do that then. I'm going back to the town to keep an eye on somepony."
Upon seeing Summit's raised eyebrow, he clarified, "I think I found the source of the breach from the other world. Gray skin, brown mane, cutie mark of an assassin. He recognized our minions."
The townsfolk had finally finished cleaning up the place, and things were, for the most part, returning to normal. As a result, Shadowpiercer was back to trying to build his charger.
He would have helped repair the train tracks; evidently those lunatics had decided to sabotage them as well, but there was already a full team working on it, and any more ponies would have just gotten in the way.
He was getting close to finishing the power converter, and besides, there was now a very good reason to get his systems back online. He had recorded the encounter with the machines. It wouldn't do much good for the others without a display, but it would at least allow him to analyze them himself.
Perhaps the next thing he should try to build should be a projector so others could see what he saw.
It took at least another hour, but he eventually had a power converter. It was simple enough really, magic would pulse back and forth around a loop of crystals on one end, and electricity would mirror that pattern on the other. All he had to do was wire it to a coil, and it would be ready.
As soon as he flicked the switch, the ring of crystals began to glow and pulsate.
That was it, really. There was no indication other than that that it was working.
Unfortunately, it would be several hours before he could try turning his system on again. Radiant charging may be convenient, but it's still painfully slow. With nothing else to try, he stuck the charger in his saddlebag and headed off to check the forest again. Maybe there was something he had missed.
Sierra Springs was tired of searching discreetly and not finding anything. He was just about to head back when he heard a growl.
"Arrrrgh!"
Curious. It didn't sound like a monster. It almost sounded like...
"Dead ends, dead ends, and yet more dead ends! Are there any tracks that lead somewhere useful?"
It was him.
Sierra peeked through the bushes at the strange being. It was clear that he was becoming frustrated with the fruitless search.
And Summit said picking a base here was a bad idea.
The gray pony finally gave up and started on his way back. Sierra Springs followed.
It was getting dark, and finding further tracks was proving fruitless already anyway.
Clever of them to choose a path across stony ground.
As he got back, he found a number of pegasi and unicorns that he had never seen before, almost all of them in armor. Most of them were examining what was left of the machines, although a couple were snapping photos of a red unicorn that had been shot while trying to hide behind a cart full of fabric.
As he approached, some of the armored ones drew their weapons.
"Stand back and identify yourself. This is an official investigation."
"My name is Shadowpiercer, and I've been trying to figure out exactly where these things came from."
They looked at each other, then back at him as if trying to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth. Fortunately, Twilight showed up and verified that he was, in fact, on their side.
Beside her was a taller creature, white with... a horn and wings.
Okay, considering the biology of the locals, I really shouldn't be that surprised...
"This is Shadowpiercer, the one who warned us," she continued. She then turned to him while gesturing towards the taller figure, "This is my mentor, Princess Celestia."
Princess?
Shadowpiercer tried bowing, but he wasn't quite sure how it worked for quadrupeds. After a few attempts, he gave up.
"It is good to meet you. I do wish to apologize however for not knowing the correct protocol for greeting royalty."
Celestia smiled slightly. "No need to worry, my little pony. It's not like crime scenes are the place for that type of formality anyway, and besides, considering where Twilight says you're from, I'm not too surprised."
Shadowpiercer looked at Twilight. "There was only one thing on your end of the promise..."
Twilight nervously checked the area for signs of Pinkie Pie until she finally remembered that she had not, in fact, used the cupcake-in-the-eye oath.
Meanwhile, Celestia continued, "I came as soon as I got Twilight's letter. Normally, monster attacks on Ponyville aren't much of a concern, but since this one appeared to be coordinated, it may be considered an act of war."
Shadowpiercer nodded, then suddenly looked up upon realizing exactly what she had just said. "Wait... not much of a concern?"
This time, Twilight spoke up, "we get those a lot, so it's more of a pest control problem really."
Naturally, he wasn't sure what to make of that information. "Ooo...kay. So, is there anything I can do to help?"
"I was told you had seen these before. Any information you could give would be helpful."
He began recounting what he knew while an investigator took notes. While he was explaining, he pointed out the various parts of the machines and how they worked.
While he was at it, he decided to pick up an arm to show them a closer view of how the hands worked. Unfortunately, instead of extending the grabber claw from his bracelet, he accidentally extended the knife.
The guards' reflexes were most impressive.
THUD
"Please get off him. I'm quite sure he's not a threat."
As Shadowpiercer was getting back up off the ground and brushing off the dirt, some of the contents of his saddlebags spilled out, including his new recharger.
He figured it would be best to apologize to the guards. "Sorry about that, I hit the wrong button. I knew I should have labeled these better."
As he retracted the knife, he suddenly noticed that everyone was now frozen in place, some staring at him, others staring at the recharger. "What's going..."
"EVERYPONY BACK! HE'S GOT A BOMB!"
There was a dull whack. Shadowpiercer didn't quite remember anything after that...