It is difficult to awake and not remember your name. And yet, that is what happened to the construct who now awoke, confused, alone, and uncertain, lost deep under the catacombs of the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters.
Long ago it had been created by a mad unicorn whose name was unknown to its creation. The unicorn had once tried to peer into dark void, and much to his horror, something had looked back. He was never quite the same after that and lived in constant fear of what might be.
Such was his fear that he created his construct, to protect against the darkness.
Alas, it never properly activated, and it sat, lost to time, in the bottom of a secret laboratory beneath the catacombs of the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters.
Until today, when it suddenly jerked to life, questioning its existence, and getting no answers. It stood, a newborn, lost in the dark, not knowing what to do.
And then, a light flared, a directive buried deep within the creation’s mind, that directive being stave off the darkness.
It peered around at its surroundings, seeing broken cracked walls, a crumbled and partially caved in ceiling, and a broken down door. It moved toward the door, a new directive in mind.
❖Find water
It thought for a moment, knowing that it could function without water, but water would allow the steam motivators to function, increasing power outputs. It lurched ahead, movements jerky, magic allowing only the minimal amounts of movement, the lowest amount of power. Once it found water, it knew that precious magical essence would be freed from the animation process, and would be redirected to the thinking processes.
It lurched into the darkness, taking feeble light with it as it went.
Sunlight. Glorious sunlight. The gift of She Who Raises the Sun.
❖Recharge sunstones
The sunstones would provide the heat needed to boil the water to power the steam motivators. The construct stumbled around jerkily, having crawled forth from a long forgotten storm drain. It could sense water. It was somewhere nearby. The journey to the surface had taken a long time. How long was unknown, but it had to excavate multiple passages. It lacked the advanced thought functions that it was capable of, but it had concluded that approximately 10 years had passed, slowly moving each stone and then waiting for the magic to trickle charge from his spark battery. How much time exactly would remain unknown until it could reclaim its advanced thought processing abilities.
The construct struggled to remember its creator’s name.
It staggered through grass and shrubbery, struggling to move under minimal power. The artificial horn flashed occasionally, still seeking water, and then, something wondrous happened.
A new directive activated.
❖Seek out detected equine-? ERRONEOUS MALADAPTATION
Confused by the conflicting directive, the construct wobbled off towards where it sensed water, legs wobbling like a newborn foal. It struggled to maintain balance, tripping and wobbling over every stick and bump on the ground. It moved slowly, inches at a time, freezing in place for several minutes, leg raised in the air, waiting for the trickle charge in the spark battery to replenish.
The construct’s heart was made from a glowing red crystal, and it glowed through chinks found in the constructions metal skin.
❖Water reserves restored
The construct froze up for several minutes, not moving at all, as several new functions came online. The sunstones began to heat the water and magical power was rerouted through crystalline fibres, now free to power more advanced functions.
It swiveled its head finally, and then lifted its strange fibrous tail and farted out a puff of steam with a faint “toot” sound. It directed steam power to its limbs, which now moved fluidly and smoothly, also swiftly and surely. Its clumsy movements were now gone, and it rapidly moved over uneven ground.
❖Seek out detected equine based lifeform
It moved with alarming speed, occasionally puffing out a little toot of steam from its backside, legs pumping. It moved now with a sense of purpose, even though it did not know what its purpose was. It was a slave to its directives.
Zecora sat meditating, pondering the many mysteries of life, trying to sooth her mind after a visit from Apple Bloom. The filly was excitable and intelligent, a combination that caused no end of questions, some of them quite difficult to try and answer. She sat on her haunches, her front hooves pressed together in front of her barrel. Her eyes were closed.
The first sign of something wrong that Zecora noticed was a lack of birdsong. Everything had gone silent. She opened her eyes slowly, beginning to feel concerned. The Everfree was a dangerous place. The silence in the air was a sign of danger.
Perhaps it was time to head indoors, she mused to herself.
She rose, too late, seeing an odd figure moving swiftly towards her. Before she had a chance to panic, it stopped suddenly, staring at her, unmoving. It looked like a mechanical pony.
“I must be suffering some horrible dream, before me is a mechanical stallion farting steam,” said Zecora, looking quite surprised.
It stood looking at her, head cocking to one side, and then another, ears swiveling. There was a hiss from within it’s wide barrel, a clanking sound, and then a loud thunking noise. “You bear the symbol of the sun. I await directives,” it announced in an oddly smooth voice.
Zecora looked back at her zebra tribal mark and then at the mechanical pony. “You have looked upon my buns, how did you know that those were suns?”
“Directive?” the construct insisted.
“Very well, I will play your game, but before I can tell you, I need a name,” replied Zecora.
“Name?” replied the construct.
❖Initiate naming directive
“Name me Sun Goddess,” commanded the construct.
Zecora recoiled in surprise, her eyes wide with shock and concern. She thought about her reply very, very carefully. She studied the mechanical pony, its shining metal skin, blue crystal eyes, strange crystalline fibre mane and tail, and the occasional toot of steam puffing from the creature’s backside.
“I have heard your plea and I answer thus; you shall be called ‘Mechanequus.’”
“Thank you Sun Goddess. What is my purpose?” asked Mechanequus.
The zebra stared at the mechanical construct, blinking rapidly. She had no idea what the mechanical pony’s purpose was. Zecora barely understood her own purpose at times.
“Purpose?” Mechanequus repeated, a sense of urgency in his voice.
Zecora had no idea how to respond to the insistent questions of the curious mechanical pony. They stared at one another for quite some time, a growing sense of unease blossoming in Zecora’s barrel.