Rise of the Bronze Age

by Colonel-Majora

II: FALL

There was always a lingering wish at the back of Factory’s head – one that honestly distracted her on more than a few occasions. She wanted a family. Her many years of few friends, and the loss of her father – a single parent – at a rather young age, left her wanting a chance at making a decent, proper family of her own someday. Again, a passing thought, but something that grew over the years, to the point of discussion with the princess at one of their now less frequent spots of tea. Interestingly, she thought of having the perfect family, but was never interested in marriage. She only thought of having foals of her own. Foals that she, herself, would bring into the world. She even thought of what she might name her children should the day ever come along. She never did fully realize how frequently the subject completely shifted her focus from her work.

And then, the day came around; the last day anypony saw her smile.

She was to regularly have check-ups ever since she finished attaching her synthetic leg, what with the chemicals and possible contaminants involved. As it turns out, it was just those that were effecting her, but it was not her personal health that was technically the worry. The nurses broke the news to her after a check into her reproductive condition. The materials that sustained the hydraulics in the Gantry had degraded and nullified her reproductive glands, destroying any and all chances for her to have children of her own. Even if she were to remove the Gantry now, the damage would already be done.

Nothing.

She had nothing. Nothing to say, nothing to think. The constant ideas and back-of-mind thinking she would have running through her brain about her work disappeared. “This can’t happen”, she thought. “I can’t have done this; done it to myself. No.” Factory proceeded to run, full pelt, back to her lab. She did not leave the testing floor for hours. She needed to vent, and to weep. Her happiest of dreams was gone.

If ever there were a time of pure irony in Factory’s life, it would be the next few weeks. The downward spiral had begun.

What distracted her from her work for so long, now fueled her obsession to stay at her station day in and day out. She did not talk to anypony, and ponies began to wonder what she was up to. She turned away anypony that tried to disturb her work, but then the one pony that she could not refuse came about. The tall, white alicorn princess that was once so happy to see the mare's eager work ethic, now feared for her physical – and honestly, her psychological – well-being. No breaks for food or sleep for days on end does not tend to leave ponies in the best of health or state-of-mind.

The princess entered to see Factory working on the very last thing she could have hoped for: she had been advancing her projections for the Artificial Intelligence project. Immediately, Celestia told her to cease her work, with a warning. She would not tell her again, otherwise there would be consequences. Naturally, the currently groggy and slightly manic Factory Sense fought for her right to work. She had gone down the worst possible path of grief after learning of her reproductive condition. She knew that she could not make life naturally, so she decided to make it unnaturally. Coincidentally, that was just was Celestia called it. Unnatural. She didn't care, of course. She wanted ponies to call her own. To love and cherish that which she gave life to. She saw A.I. as the most obvious way to do this, and with the Faux Pony project basically ready for production –

“No,” Celestia thought. Realizing that these thoughts were on her young friend’s mind, without Factory having to say any of it outright, Celestia withdraws from her previous stern tone. She tries reasoning with Factory, and tells her she should take time off, since she did not do so after the unfortunate news. “I’ll think about it…” she responds, in a tone that gave the alicorn a mighty chill. It was so… neutral. She had hoped that she would console the earth pony with her offer to rest up from work, unlikely as it was. Even an angry response would have been an expected reply, but this was just discomforting. Why was she so calm now, of all times? Was she giving up on A.I. and actually listening to her, or did she take away the only thing that was keeping Factory from giving up on everything around her? Either way, the princess could not read minds, so she left Factory to her privacy.

“Now,” The scientist, now alone, thought out load, “back to work.”

Factory would obviously not stop on the word of an obviously scared princess that underestimated her abilities. She would continue her work, but for now, she had to tell the princess what she wanted to hear, at least getting her out of her lab for the time being. To make her project go faster, she needed something to accelerated the process. A very strong power source that was easy to get on short notice. After all, Celestia would check back in at some point in the near future, and the A.I. project was too vast to hide. So she needed to get something quickly and quietly.

And she had just the thing.

Celestia did return in another 9 days, not hearing word of Factory's condition. She went back to the lab, and realized that the mare's project had taken a horrifyingly great leap. As it turns out, she had not listened to a word the alicorn said, and had actually begun working with Siphonite crystals, powerful artifacts charged with magic once stolen from unicorns. She had taken them from the Canterlot Archives’ vault, without having to be checked after being given special access for her past research. These stones were incredibly powerful, and could, depending on their size, drain the magic from the most powerful of unicorns, and even alicorns. Unfortunately, the draining spell they were used for was only reversible by the original caster, and the ancient stones were notoriously difficult to completely destroy. Nopony alive knew how, not even the immortals of Equestria. Fortunately for Factory's experiments, they could be broken apart and utilized for their stored power in smaller units, and just like when it was still in a unicorn’s horn, the power inside would regenerate on its own, allowing her to create self-sustaining power sources.

Celestia came to the realization that Factory had been using the forbidden stones after seeing the diagrams of the wheeled Faux Pony model with a Siphonite shard apparently embedded in its cranium. She got angry, and scolded Factory from across the room for her insolence. Factory, who was facing the other way and working on something under a dim lamp, did not even respond. There were subtle metallic sounds coming from her workspace. She must have been building something. Either way, Celestia did not like being blatantly ignored, and had had enough. She marched over to the mare, ready to give her the lecture of a lifetime, and stopped. She saw that Factory was sitting a couple of feet in front of a seemingly complete Faux Pony sprawled on the floor the look on her face was the last sort of face she expected to see on the mare: a happy one. Celestia wondered, “Does she even realize what is going on? What is she thinking? Does she even know that I am here next to her?” She reached out to touch the mare’s shoulder, and heard it. The shifting of metal that she previously thought was Factory’s tools. She turned.

“S-Sweet mother of Equestria…”

That was actually the first time in decades – maybe centuries – that Celestia had frozen out of fear. It was moving. The unnatural, wheeled "pony" on the floor was moving. Its legs were geared and steaming. Its wheel was sputtering. Its eyes – heavens above, its eyes – they were glowing and flickering like lamps. It slowly began to stand, and Celestia still did not know how to react.

“His first steps.”

Celestia turned to the scientist as she spoke, still softly smiling. “Look at him. He’s trying to stand up and walk to me.” The princess would have thought her completely delusional, but it seemed as though she was right. The machine was actually trying to reach Factory specifically. The earth pony stood, and walked the extra few inches to the Faux Pony, and helped it to its hooves. And wheel. It was as tall as her, and it did not seem to hold any harsh nature towards her. In fact, it merely stood, calmly, as she wrapped her forelegs around it. “You are so beautiful. My dear boy… My dear living boy.” This was just too… What was it exactly? What would be the word? Creepy? Disturbing? Wrong? Celestia had a hard time thinking of it. But she still knew something that it really was.

Unacceptable.

The alicorn pulled herself out of her fearful trance, and outright said it. “What is this?! What did I tell you, Bronze?” She had never raised her voice to the girl like this before. It honestly did not catch her off guard. She knew Celestia would react like this, but she did not care. She only cared about the machine – no. Child – standing in front of her. Celestia, though, was terrified. This clearly disturbed pony had actually succeeded in every ambition she had aimed for throughout the years, and it had all come to this terrifying result. The princess was right so long ago. Nothing could stop Factory. Early graduation, acceptance onto the science team, the Gantry, the Faux Pony, Artificial Intelligence – she had done it all, and now Celestia wondered what could happen if she continued.

After that, everything went by like a blur. Celestia called for the guards, and sent for more to come with them. She told them to detain the Faux Pony. After their initial shock at seeing the creature, the guards did as they were ordered. They grabbed the metal thing and began pulling it to the dungeon. Of course, Factory tried going after them, but Celestia held her back. She would not let her grow any more attached to the thing. Unfortunately, it was too late for that. The moment the machine began moving on its own, Factory saw it as her own – practically her own flesh and blood – and she was now desperately trying to save it, bucking and screaming. “Let go! YOU CAN’T KEEP ME FROM MY BABY!” Celestia was speechless. She never thought that this eager young genius would end up so manic. What made it even worse was that the Faux Pony almost seemed to look back at the mare with a look of longing.

By the end of the ordeal, Celestia had put Factory down, and as bad as she felt for the crazed “mother” in front of her, she knew what had to be done. Factory was to be removed from the team of scientists. She was not to be allowed any further royal funding. Most importantly, her research relating to the Artificial Intelligence project, along with the Faux Pony that was now being locked up, were to all be destroyed. Factory was already in tears, and was now getting worse. Her cries of protest were almost getting too frantic to understand. Celestia was taking away everything, and they both knew it. Little Bronze was so angry at, in the mare's eyes, this monster of a princess for ruining the only remaining thing she wished for. But that princess, along with many others that thought the project to be mad, knew that it had to be done, and she was certainly not letting the mare off without punishment for disobeying orders so frequently and irresponsibly. She would later gather Factory’s supplies for her, and have her out of the castle.

There were plenty more issues with Factory’s enraged state as she was forced to leave the castle, but Celestia took it as an expected outcome. For the time being, it was over with. Things would go back to the way they were before Factory’s work started escalating those few years ago. Once the residual Siphonite and the mare’s research were collected and disposed of, the A.I. Issue would no longer be a worry.

The next day, Celestia woke to the usual moon shining in the sky. For a moment, she thought it would be a decent day, and then the memory of the morning prior came rushing back. She felt sad for losing such a great mind, and once such a good friend, all in one fell swoop. Nevertheless, she rose from her bed, and readied herself to raise the sun, when guards came knocking at the door, frantically. They were calling for her, as many had in the past when disaster had struck. She immediately rushed to the door, to see a few royal knights with terrified expressions. When she asked what had happened, they told her things she honestly never expected.

Several guards had been found unconscious leading from one of the castle gates to the research wing, as well as towards around the Canterlot Archives. Apparently, one of unicorn guards remembered seeing a pony with a strange crystal come up behind him, just before the feeling the energy from his body and horn slip away in a matter of seconds. Celestia was stunned, but asked the obvious question of what the pony looked like. The description, thankfully, did not match the young bronze girl she was thinking of at all. Though, she was confused, as the description did match another scientist that, she recalled, worked with Factory a lot. She also felt a sinking feeling as she remembered that he was one of the ponies that greatly protested along with Factory when Celestia first ended the A.I. project.

Further insight into what had happened only brought Celestia more turmoil. The Archives’ vault and castle testing floor had been robbed. Research notes and materials, along with Siphonite from the lab and the vault, had been stolen. Celestia immediately wished that she had had them all disposed of earlier. Throughout the day, an investigation ensued. More and more troubling news. The dungeon had been hit, freeing the Faux Pony. A number of scientists had disappeared, along with their personal effects. Most importantly, everything Factory Sense had progressed towards was gone, and so was she. She had swiftly planned a rather straightforward raid on the castle to collect everything she needed to continue towards her goals, and then vanished without a trace. Some ponies thought that she had taken out the scientists that had disappeared, but Celestia thought it much more likely that they all helped her. There was no way she could have done it all on her own.

And with one last sweep of the Canterlot Archives, it was done with. Celestia knew that Factory would not let herself be seen. She knew how smart she was. For the foreseeable future, ponies around Equestria would be shown the face of a wanted criminal, to be on the lookout for a Pony with no name. That was the rule. No name. Those that knew her were ordered not to let anypony know of who she really was, as ponies could not know what she was working towards for reasons of safety. She would likely move around a fair amount to stay hidden, while likely still working on making more “children”, as it were. She had all that she needed, and with the Siphonite crystals, she posed a threat, even though few of them were actually still usable with the draining spell. All of this went through Celestia’s mind at one point or another, but mostly, she was still reeling. This pony – this sweet young mare with a kind heart and a dream of learning all she could – had completely lost it, and she blamed herself. She offered her every opportunity, and when she realized that she offered too much, and it got out of hand, she took it all away. The stress it must have caused the poor girl would not leave the alicorn’s thoughts. In the end, though, she did not think that the mare was going to hurt anypony else. She had the guards taken down that were in the way. No more. She did not even drain them of all their magic, only enough to knock them out, so that it would regenerate again over time. Perhaps it was just blind hope, but Celestia felt that Bronze still had a conscience enough to hide away and work, without doing any damage.

She hoped for the best, for her subjects, and for the unfortunate scientist.

Author's Note:

I really went into every detail that I could to show how bad things were about to get for Celestia and Factory. I know that some points in this may not be perfect, but as long as I am thinking of them, I'll write 'em down. I hope you are enjoying this little story so far. More to come soon. :)

Comments

[grievousrommel]

Viva la revolucion?

[Colonel-Majora]

5271742 Oui, oui! Allons-y, mon ami!

[grievousrommel]

5271753 I no speak french and I don't trust google translate.

[Colonel-Majora]

5271756 XD You shouldn't trust 'em. THEY GOT EYES EVERYWHERE :P