"Well, well." Came the smug tones of the fat bast... The fat pony on the phone Otto called his father. "Yours was a number I was not expecting to see again. Did you miss your old dad, Otto?"
"Save it, Pluto." Otto snorted, tapping his hoof against the table of his train carriage impatiently as he spoke. "I'm calling in a professional capacity. It's Mayor Otto now. I'm on my way to Canterlot, to you'd best clear your schedule and ready me a meeting at Filliburtons."
"Oh, you always were a charming young colt." Pluto snorted. "What do you want, Mayor Otto?"
"Please, Pluto. I'm riding to Canterlot as we speak, and you're one of the largest weapon producers in Equestria. Changelings and rioters are running rampant in my city, and one of them nearly killed me. What do you THINK I want?"
"Ah..." Pluto chuckled on the phone. "It's like that, is it? You don't have to be rude, you know."
Otto ignored this. "My men need better weapons than they have. The equipment provided to me by Celestia for this purpose are ineffective and outdated. My mercs are a little better armed, but it's not going to be enough for what I have planned. You have weapons, I have money. Get a meeting arranged, and tell nobody about this call." With that, Otto hung up, angrily tossing his phone back onto the table with a thud, before magicking over a glass of cider to calm himself down with. It was going to be a long train ride...
Pluto Cratic: He looked like an older version of Otto himself, but otherwise, what a psychopathic, hateful excuse for a pony he was. Theo had already disowned and estranged himself from him entirely, but Otto? Otto was pragmatic. He'd remained, more or less, in his father's good books, and had been rewarded for his endurance: He was the family favorite, he was set to inherit Pluto's company when he died, and even before then, it was always useful to have a trustworthy ally in the weapons industry: Pluto had resented Princess Celestia ever since she refused to invade Yakyakistan; he'd projected to have made a fortune selling arms to Celestia's soldiers, and unoffically arming resistance movements in the invaded country itself. He held no loyalty to anything except money, and that was his ultimate downfall.
As Otto saw it: Money is all well and good, money and wealth were what built Canterlot and all its splendor in the first place. but Otto had always cared more about Power. Power was the mountain Canterlot was built into; it had stood for thousands of years before Canterlot was built, and would continue to stand thousands of years after Canterlot collapsed into the valleys below. Still, money had its uses, and it wasn't surprising that the two often went hoof in hoof...
Canterlot was a strange place; no matter how grim or unpleasant an occupation or facility was, it always managed to contain itself in a very pretty, very opulent building which fit into Canterlot's skyline perfectly. And so, it came as little surprise that Pluto had managed to make a weapons factory which looked nothing like a weapons on the exterior: No, instead, the factory on the outside looked deceptively like an old family blacksmith shop and house on the outside, albeit a HUGE one; it even had a quaint little sign above the door, of an anvil with a hammer.
The inside however was far more... Industrial. The outside was a thin veil for the foundries and the skunkworks contained therein, all of which overseen by a fairly comfortable office and board room on the upper floors, where Pluto had arranged to meet the Manehatten mayor in private. They shared no pleasantries, no affection, nothing to suggest they were father and son, or anything beyond two stallions sitting down to have a meeting.
"Hm..." He paused. "What happened to your face?"
Otto scowled, still visibly baring a rather dark black eye and bruising. "A pegasus threw a rock at me, damn thing put me in the hospital." welcome to Canterlot." He groaned. "I'm fine. Let's get this over with quickly... I hate this city. Whoever thought building a city on the side of a mountain was a good idea should be hanged."
The unicorn frowned, but conceded. "As you wish. Take a seat."
Otto refused. "I said I didn't want to waste time, Pluto. You know what I want, and you know I can pay for it. Can you deliver?"
"Of course I can deliver. Celestia's equipment is horrifically outdated, and we're losing money due to her refusal to grow her army. Her pacifism is going to get us all killed."
Otto scoffed. "Finally, something we agree on. Can you give me a demonstration of what you've got to offer?"
The older unicorn smirk a little. "Oh, certainly..."
He stepped out of the office, holding the door for Otto to follow, and they descended downstairs to a proving ground chamber in the factory. There, they found a number of ponies in dirty overalls. On tables and shelves were a large array of kit: Spears, batons, blades, and crossbows with what looked like large boxes attached to them.
"Right. So we all know the royal guards have conventional spears, made of steel. They're pretty heavy, and blunt pretty easily." Pluto started, one of the workers, a unicorn, picking up a shiny, silvery spear with his magic as he spoke. "Well, here I present to you out answer to reinventing the wheel. Titanium alloy spear, with serrated head. Far lighter than normal spears, far sharper, and will hurt a hell of a lot more when they poke through their foes. A steady hoof could potentially even throw these like javelins if all else fails..." He chuckled, trotting over to the batons. "But that's why I always have a plan B in mind." Picking up the baton, it shared the silvery colour, but had a small band at the bottom of the extended pole. "Titanium batons, fitted with an electrical stun pack. Through use of magic gemstones inside, you should find that these keep their charge for a very, very long time. One hit with this thing at full power will DEFINITELY incapacitate a foe... Just make sure they're not standing in a puddle when you do. Things will get pretty messy otherwise." Pluto took the batton with his magic and tossed it over to Otto, who caught it with similar telekinesis: It was incredibly light in his magic as he opened it up, hearing the slight buzz of the electricity: He took a swing, cutting through the air like a knife in butter. Yes, this would do nicely...
Next, Pluto showed Otto the crossbow which sat on the table: Made of dark wood and black titanium, the crossbow also featured a large case fitted to the bottom of the weapon's body, directly below the bolt, which was quite a thin, metal-shafted projectile with a fairly vicious looking head.
"Ah, this is something I'm especially proud of here." Pluto smirked, picking it up. "A repeating crossbow. The cartridge carries five of these bolts before needing to be reloaded, which is major improvement over needing to be reloaded after every shot. It's quite shocking that ordinary ponies can get a hold of the same level of crossbow as the military itself." He chuckled evilly. "Not anymore. The limbs of this crossbow are far stronger than conventional crossbow parts, and we can draw the bolt and its string far, far tighter than previous models. Getting shot with one of these will definitely be a confirmed kill... Especially since we'll also be providing you with higher quality ammunition than standard wooden and steel bolts. And, guess what, we even considered what would happen if one of your foes got their hooves on this stuff!" He turned to his men. "Hey! Get Bulwark out here!"
Bulwark was an extremely large earth pony, or at least it looked as such, for he was clad from head to hoof in heavy, black armour, studded with spikes, and completed with a full face helmet; the eyes of the helmet glowed green. He didn't walk out so much as he was wheeled out; he didn't speak or move even slightly: Initially, Otto assumed it was just a manikin, but no: The pony WAS actually breathing, but otherwise, he was seemingly completely frozen.
"Last year, we recovered some interesting equipment from the Crystal Empire. A suit of spiked armour, this armour. Sombrian. Sadly, our friend here was stupid enough to try it on once we brought it back home, and it turns out, King Sombra wasn't terribly interested in free will for his soldiers..." He coughed nervously. "The entire suit seems to have fused to what used to be a perfectly nice archaeologist called Walton Croft, and has turned him into a mindless drone. Unfortunately, he killed nearly everyone in his team once the magic on the suit took over, a relic of the old Equestrian-Crystal War we expect, before we found a way to subdue him."
Pluto showed him a glass case, containing a sinister black bracelet, specked with blood, upon a small cushion. "That bracelet has been what's allowed us to control and subdue our tank of a friend here. He's been completely catatonic without someone wearing that bracelet, but, well, the last pony who wore it found that it fused to their leg, and to get it off... Well... You see the specks the of bloods." Otto blinked, looking about, he noticed a rather displeased looking pony, with a metal prosthetic foreleg from the elbow down to the hoof, and quickly put the pieces together. "We're hoping that, with time, we can reverse engineer the magic in the armour, and produce our own without somepony having to be stuck wearing a bracelet like this."
Otto scoffed. "Is there any other problems with the bracelet, other than it being clingy?"
"Well..." Pluto frowned. "One of our researchers, Powder Keg, believes that there was a hierarchy of control here using magic. Sombra was perfectly happy to enslave ponies, so he believed that Sombra himself probably held some relic or another which held a slave-like control over everyone who wore the armour or the bracelets. The commonly agreed upon theory is that it would've been his crown. But, at the same time, Sombra has been dead for years, and nobody knows where his crown has gone."
Again, Otto scoffed. "I don't see the problem then. I want the bracelet."
Pluto gave him a look. "Don't be stupid, Otto. It's not going to make a great Hearts and Hooves Day present. Not unless you're into eternal bands and mind control."
"Sombra's GONE, there's nobody higher up now. And to have an obedient drone the size of a hulking tank sounds like a pretty nice replacement for my coward of a bodyguard right now."
"No. I won't do it. We're going to find a way to reverse engineer it, and make our own..." Pluto protested, but was quickly silenced as Otto's horn glowed, and he magicked into existence a VERY large bag of gold bits, which he dumped at Pluto's hooves. "The bracelet, you kit out my men, and I make you the richest pony in Manehatten. Your company will also have exclusive rights to produce our arms for as long as I'm mayor, and believe me, that's going to be a LONG time."
Pluto, for once, looked torn. He looked between his son, and the money, turning between the two as his mind battled. Eventually, he sighed. "No, Otto. I won't do it. I'm willing to agree to everything else, but I'm not giving you the bracelet."
Otto scowled, furious. He felt his eyes practically glowing with rage. He glared at Pluto, and the bracelet he refused him. Something, somewhere inside him suddenly clicked, and he looked down at the Alicorn Amulet which hung around his neck, seeing it suddenly shine far brighter than usual... Now it was closer to its kin, Otto realised: He had an idea. An arguably evil idea, but a brilliant idea regardless...
"Well..." Otto suddenly said, venom in his voice. "You could do that, but, well..." His horn glowed, and the amulet slipped out from under his shirt. "...I have this." hovering it in the air slightly, he showed it to Pluto.
"What?" Pluto's face looked aghast. "Is that..."
"...The Alicorn Amulet? The Sombrian artefact which augments a user's power beyond all measure?" Otto smirked. "Yes, yes it is, and, if my theory is correct..." He turned to Bulwark. "Soldier!" He barked, pointing at Pluto. "Apprehend that pony! Smash anypony who gets in your way!"
The armour-clad pony turned sharply to face Otto, before wordlessly marching towards Pluto.
"What are you doing?" Pluto backed up slightly. "Stop! Stop! Otto! What are you doing?!" Otto didn't answer, watching as Bulwark shoved aside one of the engineers. "Somepony stop him!"
Before they could grab a weapon to fight the attacking soldier, Otto engulfed the lot of them in his magic, lifting them up into the air. He fired spears at the ponies with the speed of bullets, his only failing was his aim: The spears narrowly missed their targets, burying themselves into the ground.
The ponies panicked. Some fled, while a young mare had the bright idea to run to the glass case and smash her way to the Officer's Bracelet. Before Otto could stop her, she'd grabbed it and snapped it shut about her own leg, wincing in pain as it locked and tightened around her foreleg.
"Stop it!" She screamed at the soldier, and he froze. The ponies breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Ha." Pluto scoffed. "That backfired for you, didn't it?"
"Did it?" Otto smiled. "What's that young mare's name? The one who apparently foiled my plan?"
"My names Sketchbook, you lunatic!" She shouted; Sketchbook was apparently quiet a feisty young unicorn of pale blue fur and a pearly white mane, her cutie mark, predictably, was a sketchbook and a pencil. She'd sat back on her haunches, her hoof trying in vain to force open the lock on the bracelet, so she might release herself from its grip; foolish filly, the amputee pony was a testament to the permanence of her situation, she was deluding herself by thinking otherwise.
"Thank you kindly." Otto smiled. "Now stand up." The mare squealed as suddenly her hoof froze and her legs forced her standing; she looked at the bracelet, and back at Otto, suddenly realising what just happened. "Good, now come here."
A terrified look was plastered on Sketchbook's face as her legs begun to move against her will, quickly trotting her over to stand before Otto.
"Please..." She whimpered. "Please don't do this. Whatever you're doing."
"I could've used that bracelet." He snorted. "A trap for a pony far more valuable than you, perhaps. Or for research, like your boss here. But no. Now I have you." He eyed her up. "...I could simply cut your leg off too and take back my bracelet..."
"That's MY bracelet, Otto!" Pluto protested, though he was quickly silenced once Otto brought a spearhead to his throat with his magic, close enough to make anypony fear for their lives.
"...Or, perhaps you can be useful to me. And I won't chop you up for now."
"Yes, yes of course." She begged. "I'll do whatever you want, just don't do that!"
"Yes, yes you will. I've proven that already." Otto responded. "As for YOU, father. I think you understand your position: You can take the money, as you have always done, or you can take my spear. Do we have an agreement?"
"This is madness!" Pluto protested. "This is slavery! You can't urgh!"
Otto pressed the spear slightly deeper into his father's throat, the sharp point breaking the skin, causing blood to dribble slightly from the wound it created: It wasn't a fatal injury, but it would be if it went any deeper.
"A simple nod will do." Otto hissed. Defeated, Pluto obeyed. "Good!" The spear pulled back, twirling a little in Otto's magic to shake off the loose drips of blood. "I think today's been very productive." He smiled as he skipped over to Bulwark. "Listen, Bulwark! From this point on, you will serve as my personal bodyguard, your job is to protect me and my friend Starlight Glimmer, otherwise, you will do exactly as I say, when I say it. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Bulwark spoke coldly, bowing.
"Very good. And you..." Otto turned to Sketchpad. "You shall work as my personal servant from now on. You will do exactly as I say, and you will not speak of this, or your curse, to anypony."
She trembled as she stood there. "Y-yes sir."
"In which case, we're done here." Otto snorted, turning to leave, the two ponies he'd 'recruited' following behind him. "I'll expect the first shipment of weapons by tomorrow!" He shouted to his father as he left...