I voted other. Silvanus should be demoted to the lowest form of immortal and banished to the dimension of Equestria Gerhardt intends to use for his demonstration, and anchored there so he remains after the dimension's been stripped of nature and so he can't jump the dimensional line if that's a thing spirits and gods can do, but mostly to keep him from fading.

He should be forced to witness the complete stripping of said dimension of all nature, and then to exist for eternity in that lifeless void. The demotion is to enhance the feeling of powerlessness. I don't know if even a greater god of nature could begin life anew after Gerhardt is done with that dimension, but if Silvanus retains his current power he might deign to try.

Or heck, if by any chance what Gerhardt is planning to do is irreversible even by greater gods, then Silvanus should be made a greater god of nature but anchored forever to that soon-to-be dead land. All the power in the universe, but still completely helpless.

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Hm... Well he's not a spirit so that wouldn't work quite like that, but he could very easily be stripped of his powers while remaining immortal. Essentially cursed to be unable to die sort of like how Thanos cursed Deadpool to make it impossible for him to die in the Marvel comics. So that's actually a decent option! I will seriously consider it.

I voted something else with the idea that he would be forced to work with the humans he tried to destroy and help them rebuild, keep him immortal but force him to be the balance between nature and technological progression also as part of this have him stuck in a statue along with tighter restrictions on how lesser gods are allowed to influence mortals

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Interesting idea! Though what do you mean by he should be turned into a statue? He can't exactly do anything to help anyone if he can't even move to begin with. Do you mean that he should be turned to stone but still be able to move, or what?

“By the gods… What have I done?” Gerhardt muttered in horror as he realized the gravity of everything he had done. After a moment of thinking he immediately removed his helmet and the upper half of his armor so he could access the Alicorn Amulet to take it off. He then tossed the amulet to the ground and said, “I should never have put that cursed amulet on… Oh gods, no… The Changelings… I put an entire species through that gods forsaken machine against their will… And I did the same to everyone here in the Crystal Empire… What the fuck is wrong with me?! Even if I was being corrupted, how the hell could I have possibly justified going this far?! What have I done ?!”

Actually, they had it coming! Especially Chrysalis! That arrogant bitch needs to have her ego down a huge peg.

At least after this, their new mechanical bodies is a vast improvement, right?

But I don't know about the crystal empire? This is permanent, right?

Having mechanical bodies forever? Hopefully, they could see the "positives" for this? I mean, at least Shining Armor can still live longer with Cadence and Flurry Heart?

Easy, make Silvanus an immortal ordinary human (unable to die but also not even a mage) and force him to live in the timeline where Gerhardt successfully destroyed nature. If they were able to show him that timeline that could also mean that that timeline might actually exist. He'd be both at the mercy of a corrupted Gerhardt and he'd have to live with the consequences of his actions forever.

If what he did was for nature then make it so he is not able to behold it again. make him a mortal with a twist. everything that is natural and not a speciece like humans he drains and kills off through being in his verry presence and when killed or hurt he will use that energy or draw more at rapid speed and range to heal him no matter what.
He canot die and his life is forever a drain on nature (perhaps make him unable to use magic anymore). mabey even have it so spirits like natura get drained in his presence and the same with his past allys.
And to top it all off drop him in either equestia or the human empire as a human after makeing sure every being is informed about his deeds

After that he rounded up all of the unicorns and directed them to the section of the mobile factory that would uncurse all of their horns and told the others they were all free to go. Once the unicorns were all uncursed, Gerhardt let all of them go as well. He was going to have to make a public apology later, though he knew even that wouldn’t be enough to atone for his sins. Nothing would. But apologizing and effectively exiling himself from the Crystal Empire and Changeling Hive forever was the only thing he could do.

Hopefully, he wouldn't go that far! Plus, is Isabelle still alive?

Then again, Deus will just kill her himself. Once he learns that Gerhardt is back to "normal".

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She is. Pixel delayed her execution date until Gerhardt finished wiping out nature. Since he didn't get even close to wiping out all of nature, she is still very much alive.

And it's just the Crystal Empire. It's not like he's going into voluntary exile from Equestria in its entirety. At most he might visit Ice Town, since it's not the Crystal Empire proper and he didn't do anything to it. But he's fully expecting the citizens of the Crystal Empire to both hate and fear him for what he did.

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But I doubt for long. Because Deus is still there. And he might just kill her himself?

And remember, he is sometimes against the normal Gerhardt's moral views, and wrongfully hates Pixel. So I doubt he will like Gerhardt's changing back to normal. And just outright kill Isabelle as a major "middle finger" to Pixel, I guess?

As for the Crystal Empire, I hope not. Technically, Gerhardt gave them "better bodies", which is true. And the fact he got rid of a potential threat from Natura. So he basically save ponykind from her.

But I don't give a shit with the Changelings. In fact, they should be GRATEFUL!!!! Because, the mechanical bodies probably cured their hunger, and improved their life styles and species.

10967416
Why would they hate or fear him if he already erased their memory of nature? If he's all about being efficient he'd probably erased their memory of nature while giving them a new body to save time. They can't miss what they have no knowledge of.

I voted other I can't think of something specific immediately but i was thinking some along the lines of the punishments from Greek mythology like what happened to Prometheus or Sisyphus.

10967431
No he didn't erase their knowledge of nature yet. Because if they went anywhere before he finished converting the rest of the world, or even read some books in the library in the Crystal Empire they would figure out what nature is again. He would rather make everyone forget all at once after every trace of its existence had been eradicated so no one could relearn what he made them forget. Why do everything multiple times when you could just do it once and get it over with then?

I mean he let the princesses, Twilight and her friends, and King Aspen retain their knowledge of Nature for the same reason. It's really hard to hide its existence so long as it still exists to begin with.

So they would hate and fear him because they would know full well what he did to them.

Natura then sighed and layed back down in the ashes. “What do you want from me, monster? You’ve already destroyed so much… What else could you possibly take from me, other than my life?”

"Monster"?! BITCH!!!! Look yourself in the mirror? Your aren't a saint either. You also want to cause death and destruction on a poor species like Pony kind. Heck, you already destroyed ponyville, and killed innocent ponies.

If I was there, I would have slapped that hypocritical bitch, and tell her that she doesn't deserve to be in the "morally right" pedestal.

“Oh I could do plenty more than just take your life, I assure you. For example, after the invention of Necromancy quite a few Nature Spirits were corrupted by the necromantic energy and became the first Spirits of Undeath during the First Necromantic War. It would be more difficult since you classify as a greater spirit but the same could be done to you. It would be a far worse fate than just killing you, I promise you that. However, I myself am not my former apprentice Caedes so I have no interest in such things. So that’s not why I’m here.” Gerhardt said in a menacing tone.

See! He is being far "merciful" to you at the moment. Even though you don't deserve it!

“Yes… I understand… I won’t attack you, your family, or the ponies again… Is that all? If so, go away and leave me alone… All this destruction you caused… It’s just heartbreaking…” Natura muttered looking around at the ashen wasteland around her, tears welling up in her eyes.

Still a hypocrite? Don't you remember WHAT you caused to ponyville?! Hope Gerhardt, the Mane Six, and the Princesses reminds her of it.

10967431

Oh yeah, that's true! Gerhardt probably forgot in the moment.

10967440

Oh! My bad. They still remember.

Anyway, for that last part. I hope not. Because, he did do them a "favour" by giving them "better bodies". And the fact he actually saved their asses against Natura, so there is that.

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He should be turned to stone but still able to exert his powers like you don’t need to move to use supernatural abilities, basically he would be able to see and hear everything around him but he would have no sense of touch, be unable to move and would be stuck as something that has to properly balance nature unless it wants to end up in a worse predicament because if nature goes out of control well plants could end up literally decapitating him.

Immortality can be a curse in it’s own right even for beings that have always been immortal after all being unable to do anything more than keep nature balanced with his powers for countless centuries would lead to torturous boredom.

Amazing chapter. This actually was a pretty good compromise, and you avoided a deus ex machina. Bravo. I'm also glad to see you took inspiration from my idea with Discord. On that note, though, the only real flaw I see with the chapter is how rushed that scene with Discord and Gerhardt felt. It might just be me, however.

As for the changelings, I'm actually excited to see that development. While Chrysalis is bound to be salty about it for a while, I can see the rest of changelings actually being overjoyed after all's said and done. I mean.....they may have lost their bodies, but given they're shapeshifters, I don't think they'd be all that attached to them. More importantly, though, by being entirely mechanical, Gerhardt has cured the changeling race of their need for love. For the first time ever, none of them are starving.

As for Silvanus, I voted other, though only cus I think you can do far worse than merely stripping him of his power and banishing him. Rather, I'd say to have him changed into one of Gerhardt's robots and forced to serve him. Stripped of his power and turned into an artificial machine servant.....short of undeath, I'm not not sure how much further you could push the karma lol.

Short of the changelings, for those crystal ponies he forcibly made into machines, there's definitely going to be consequences for what Gerhardt has done. Perhaps in atoning for his mistake, he could work together with Isabelle to remake biological bodies for those who want them back.

Are my comments getting annoying yet? Hopefully not.

O-kay. This chapter was...
Bad.
It felt as if I was just re-reading comments to previous chapter.
I've said it before. The entire part starting from Natura's liberation feels like it entirely derailed the plot.

Despite not being DEM moment, Gears' reaction is not beleiveable. No, not because of the E.P.U., surprisingly enough. Because he had little to no empathy for the ponies, or anything at all before. He didn't care for ponies' opinions. He cared not if he was hurting their feelings.
Their relationship were strictly of a business type. They give resources, he gives prosthetics. So while the resolution does not come off as DEM, the reaction comes off as one.

But that's not all. Two whole species turned into machines, plus leaders of several factions, and M6 too. This isn't something that would go unnoticed. As well as widespread demolition of nature. And you know what that kind of display of force creates? Fear. So even if Gears has 'recovered' from his madness, he will be The Dreaded, feared and outcast by the whole world. "Did you see that that Metalman did to Equestria? What if he snaps again? What if he comes for us next?" is the thing that would be on everycreature's mind and tongue. Because of fear and memory, and the way minds make connections. Everyone will be avoiding him.

There will be demands for punishment. Serious punishment. If he gets away with just a slap on a wrist, no-one would be satisfied. But he will. Hell, I am not even sure if he'll even be punished at all. Because how do you punish someone who just did what Gears did? How do you punish someone who is outright OP, compared to everything you got? Especially given that he has all those secret bases in layering dimensions. ESPECIALLY given that he and his orbital ion volcannons are the only thing that will keep Natura in check. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Also, realistically speaking, Gears effectively broke ponies' trust towards him. First by going behind their backs to experiment on demigod creation. Then by building a factory in other dimensions. Finally, putting on that stupid amulet. You know the saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me thrice, why the hel' do I even deal with you at this point, you pathological liar? Suuuure, those three factors tipped the scales in his favor during the fight with Natura, but... he still went behind everyone's back.
Though it would be generous to call what happened 'a fight', it was a slaughter.

And finally. Congratulations, you've just fought an entity that equals in power a lesser god from Gears' home (if I remember correctly from your author's notes, you saying that Equus great spirits are equal in power to lesser gods of Gears' home, but there are no lesser gods in Equus). How are you going to top that? The only way I see in doing this is actually having Gears and ponies (though after what he did I will be surprised if they even want to as much as look at him) killing Silvanus. It's a rule of conflict in fiction - if it presents, it must escalate. Rising action, I think it's called. You don't have an epic showdown in the middle of the story, and then go back to sucker punching rats and random brigands. Had this been a climax of the story, I'd have no questions. But it's not, or so it seems.

Also, wow, took those greater gods long enough to notice that hole in their reality.

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Neither is Gears. Two wrongs don't make right, despite what math teaches us. Natura had her reasons for her actions.

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Even though her "reasons" is FRICKIN stupid, and caused innocent pony lives. Please, don't defend her. She had it coming.

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Her reasons may seem stupid for us humans, with our human logic. Spirits are different from us, though. From her point of view, her retribution was justified.

10967916

Well, that almost piss off the wrong person imaginable, and she almost lost her own damn life, because of her own stupid arrogance.

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O-kay. This chapter was...
Bad.
It felt as if I was just re-reading comments to previous chapter.
I've said it before. The entire part starting from Natura's liberation feels like it entirely derailed the plot.

Well it was designed to be a major cataclysmic event from the get go but if it derailed the plot, well there's not much I can do about it at this point. I'm just going to have to live with my mistakes because if I were to remove Natura from the story now, I would have to go back and rewrite sooo fucking much because I was setting this up ever since Gerhardt first went into the Everfree searching for a place to get rid of dirt. And removing her from the story entirely would be the only way I could realistically fix it. Then I would have to figure out another way for Silvanus to fuck everything up entirely. A nature cult that hates technology, maybe? Well, whatever. It's all hypothetical anyways as I don't want to go back and rewrite the entire god damn story if I don't have to.

Despite not being DEM moment, Gears' reaction is not beleiveable. No, not because of the E.P.U., surprisingly enough. Because he had little to no empathy for the ponies, or anything at all before. He didn't care for ponies' opinions. He cared not if he was hurting their feelings.
Their relationship were strictly of a business type. They give resources, he gives prosthetics. So while the resolution does not come off as DEM, the reaction comes off as one.

Gerhardt being empathetic was not the reason he reacted like that. He reacted like that because he violated his own sense of morals and ethics. If he had put on the alicorn amulet and started experimenting on sapient demigods in an attempt to achieve his goal of attaining divinity he would have reacted in a very similar manner because that sort of thing completely violates his moral code. It was an "oh god what have I done" moment in realizing how wrong his actions were. So the way he reacted is completely in character for him.

Furthermore to say he completely lacks empathy is a misconception. He does have a sense of empathy, it's just muted compared to other people's. Their feelings are irrelevant to him in that he doesn't give a shit if he offends them or hurts their feelings and their opinions were in a similar boat but their lives in general and their basic rights are not. He actually views their lives and rights as important. If he didn't, he would have been a horrible leader for the Human Kingdom, He interfered with their way of life on a huge scale and violated their basic rights, and he does feel guilty about that. Anyone with any sense of morals at all would.

But that's not all. Two whole species turned into machines...

No. One whole species got turned into machines. The Changelings. The inhabitants of the main city of the Crystal Empire got turned into machines but the rest of Ponykind is completely untouched. At least, untouched by Gerhardt. He didn't have enough time to convert all of Equestria. Anyways, that was just a small point that I wanted to clarify.

This isn't something that would go unnoticed. As well as widespread demolition of nature. And you know what that kind of display of force creates? Fear. So even if Gears has 'recovered' from his madness, he will be The Dreaded, feared and outcast by the whole world. "Did you see that that Metalman did to Equestria? What if he snaps again? What if he comes for us next?" is the thing that would be on everycreature's mind and tongue. Because of fear and memory, and the way minds make connections. Everyone will be avoiding him.

Yup. That's called consequences and Gerhardt is not immune. Granted he only did it to the Changelings and the Crystal Empire so the reaction of other species won't be quite as extreme at least in that regard. However he did destroy almost all plant and animal life in Equestria with his orbital cannons and they would be what would really scare them. Because as you suggested what if he turned those weapons on them? So he might lose his property and factories in Minos, but otherwise the main issue would be the backlash he will be facing in Equestria from the ponies who will definitely be absolutely fucking terrified of him now. So that's going to lead to what I hope should be some interesting arcs in the future as he deals with the consequences of his actions,

There will be demands for punishment. Serious punishment. If he gets away with just a slap on a wrist, no-one would be satisfied. But he will. Hell, I am not even sure if he'll even be punished at all. Because how do you punish someone who just did what Gears did? How do you punish someone who is outright OP, compared to everything you got? Especially given that he has all those secret bases in layering dimensions. ESPECIALLY given that he and his orbital ion volcannons are the only thing that will keep Natura in check. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Well, he'll be permanently exiled from the Crystal Empire for one thing since they're the only ponies that were really effected by this. Hell even if Cadance and Shining Armor didn't exile him, he would do it himself. He'll also be forced to make reparations in the form of fixing all the damage Natura did to Equestrian cities and by trying to figure out a way to give his victims in the Crystal Empire organic bodies again (which some will want while others won't because the process of having your soul removed and placed into a new body is very unpleasant), which he will agree to because why the hell wouldn't he?

Also, realistically speaking, Gears effectively broke ponies' trust towards him. First by going behind their backs to experiment on demigod creation. Then by building a factory in other dimensions. Finally, putting on that stupid amulet. You know the saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me thrice, why the hel' do I even deal with you at this point, you pathological liar? Suuuure, those three factors tipped the scales in his favor during the fight with Natura, but... he still went behind everyone's back.
Though it would be generous to call what happened 'a fight', it was a slaughter.

Okay, a few points. One, the princesses are fully aware that he has been trying to experiment to achieve divinity. They don't know that he's been experimenting on clones but he won't let them find that out either. Thus no trust has been lost in that regard. And he put on the amulet in the first place because he thought Natura killed Pixel, which she almost did. And he never lied about having it or anything of the sort. So that could be written off as having been done in the heat of the moment, which is true since he would never have put it on under normal circumstances and the princesses would be well aware of this having been present when Natura attacked Pixel. That being said, you do have a point about the factories in other dimensions. They also won't particularly like the fact that he built up what was effectively an army of combat golems and put such powerful weapons in orbit without telling them but that's attached to the fact he built factories and mines in other dimensions.

Though, now that I think about it, they aren't really aware that he has anything built in other dimensions. I mean that fact was never actually revealed to them at all. In fact if I remember right, Deus told them that they were getting their extra resources from asteroids and intentionally concealed the fact that they had any operations in other dimensions whatsoever. The visions he showed them don't really count as those were visions of the future that he imagined and had nothing to do with the present day. So really they'll only have lost any trust in him over the fact that he built an army and put weapons in orbit without telling them.

Also, I personally would call it a fight since at first Gerhardt was the one who was losing. I mean he was reduced to what was essentially a floating skull with a useless limbless torso hanging off his broken neck. He only turned the tables on her once he started using his orbital cannons. Though, Natura most certainly slaughtered a lot of ponies.

And finally. Congratulations, you've just fought an entity that equals in power a lesser god from Gears' home (if I remember correctly from your author's notes, you saying that Equus great spirits are equal in power to lesser gods of Gears' home, but there are no lesser gods in Equus). How are you going to top that? The only way I see in doing this is actually having Gears and ponies (though after what he did I will be surprised if they even want to as much as look at him) killing Silvanus. It's a rule of conflict in fiction - if it presents, it must escalate. Rising action, I think it's called. You don't have an epic showdown in the middle of the story, and then go back to sucker punching rats and random brigands. Had this been a climax of the story, I'd have no questions. But it's not, or so it seems.

As powerful, yes, but with a fatal weakness that lesser gods lack. That being her reliance on the continued existence of the concept of Nature to be able to exist in the first place. Thus the reason Gerhardt was able to defeat Natura with a few orbital cannons but the full might of the Human Kingdom wasn't enough to stop Silvanus. He would have quite a bit more trouble with a variety of other enemies that lack that weakness. Thus the reason he's having so much trouble with Nightmare Moon in "The Nightmare Technomancer" despite the fact that she is significantly weaker than Natura. Other than the fact he isn't quite as well established or well equipped in that story just yet, of course. So Natura isn't the worst thing he could possibly face despite her raw power.

Besides which, this is meant to be a slice of life story, as per the tags. So unlike Dragon Ball Z which, for example, which had to keep scaling up the power of the badguys more and more the longer it went on for the very reason you pointed out, the fights aren't what this story is about. Thus it's not quite as reliant on continuous power scaling or "power creep" as other stories might be.

Also, wow, took those greater gods long enough to notice that hole in their reality.

They usually only pay attention to stuff on a universal scale and until that final battle, Silvanus was doing everything within his power to keep his influence under their radar and under the radar of the greater gods of his universe. It was only when he started helping Natura in the battle with Discord that his influence became strong enough for them to really notice.

I mean, imagine you are the ocean. A couple extra drops of water aren't going to be noticed, but a whole new stream suddenly appearing? That's a lot more noticeable, if still very tiny. If he had been exerting his full power he could have freed Natura a lot sooner, but he would have been caught almost immediately.

Welp. He’s essentially raped the mane 6, the Alicorns, and every last changeling and crystal pony. Death for him.

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I wouldn't call it that personally. Though I can see why you would make the comparison. And it doesn't necessarily have to be permanent. Genetic engineering is a thing and he knows what each and every last one of them used to look like. Anyways, what did you think was going to happen? This was the best possible compromise between him winning and not destroying all of nature.

I mean, how could the Princesses or the Main 6 have escaped? How could he have been stopped any sooner without a Deus Ex Machina? Do you really think that somehow miraculously no one should have been converted? Do you believe he should have just been beaten by "the power of friendship" like every other villain in MLP? Do you think this entire thing should have been trivialized and him being corrupted made entirely irrelevant?

Essentially, how would you have done anything any different than the way I wrote it? Because this is one of the very few realistic outcomes in which he doesn't destroy all of nature or convert every sapient being on the planet into machines. And it's not like he himself is evil, he was acting under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet. So that is the furthest thing from how he would act under any normal circumstances.

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Um, no, it’s permanent. It can’t be undone. Not short of messing with time travel or a rewrite, anyway.

Yes, he could grow them new biological bodies—though I doubt he bothered to preserve their exact genome, and would thus only be able to approximate it on a superficial level, at best!—and move their souls into them, but that wouldn’t undo what he’d done previously, any more than using your car insurance payout to buy a new car undoes your old one having been demolished by some crazy drunk. That’s not even the point.

He has violated their agency and autonomy on a level no rapist or murderer has ever managed.

If you don’t find that concept horrific, then I don’t know what to say.

The war has devolved into a clusterfuck between evil superpowers, with the ponies just caught in the crossfire. The only just end would be for the ponies to kill them all, and that would be the end of the ponies as we know and love them, so... I dunno. Guess we’ll see where you go next. Poor ponies, though...

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I never said it wasn't horrific. I just said I wouldn't compare it to rape since it is a very different thing. Doesn't justify it. Not in the least. It's just that I view it as like comparing apples to oranges. They have similarities as they're both fruits but they are still very different.

And that doesn't answer my question. How would you have done anything any differently. Surely you must have some idea if you're so opposed to what I wrote.

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Honestly, I’d try to avoid writing myself into a corner like that to begin with, even if it meant scrapping and redoing stuff if I discovered that’s where I was headed. But that’s because I dislike where it headed. That’s on me. So I’d have a plan where things were going in advance, even if I hadn’t fleshed out all the steps to get there yet, and it would be somewhere else entirely.

As far as getting out once in it, the first thing that comes to mind is Pixel could have found out his full plan and protested, finding some way to convince him to remove the amulet. You certainly had no issues with Discord just walking up and casually spiritus ex machina-ing the corruption problem away, so lots of opportunity to change the timing there. And greater gods poking their fingers in wasn’t possible an hour sooner?

When I read Celestia’s lines complaining that there was no way out of the situation, I was at least partly thinking that it read a bit like she was acting as your own mouthpiece, rather than speaking for herself. But that could just be me.

You’ve gotta do you, it is your story, but do remember that any time you’re convinced “I have to do it this way,” that feeling is probably not entirely accurate. Not unless you want it to be, anyway.

I do think it’s very much comparable to rape, what he did. Yes, he didn’t have sex with them. He just completely subjugated them to his will, forced them to undergo a terrifying and ultimately life-altering ordeal, to satisfy his own whim and desire, because he could, because he had the power to do so and it was therefore his “right,” and their own feelings and opinions on the matter didn’t matter. That’s the important bits of rape. It’s not about Tab A and Slot B, it’s about violation and denial of agency. The only difference here is he just did it to their soul instead of their body. I’m not sure that’s not worse.

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Well it was designed to be a major cataclysmic event from the get go but if it derailed the plot, well there's not much I can do about it at this point.

Ctrl+A Del. But I completely understand your point. It's something that I myself suffer from.
Though I mostly suffer it during writing phase. And I have a couple of delicious friends helping me with proofreading, connectivity and critique. I also have a rough plan for the story, split into chapters with baseline of events that take place in that chapter. And helps to avoid such situations when you look at the antagonist/protagonist and ask yourself, "Well then, how do I make him defeated?"

Gerhardt being empathetic was not the reason he reacted like that. He reacted like that because he violated his own sense of morals and ethics. If he had put on the alicorn amulet and started experimenting on sapient demigods in an attempt to achieve his goal of attaining divinity he would have reacted in a very similar manner because that sort of thing completely violates his moral code

Aaaah. So he does have morals... riiight. See, thus the problem... What was it, chapter 23 when I first commented how the whole while Gears had personality of a sandpaper? He retained that personality from the beginning and up until this moment. Of course after all this you'd forget that he has morals, and not just acting so that the natives didn't turn against him.

Furthermore to say he completely lacks empathy is a misconception. He does have a sense of empathy, it's just muted compared to other people's. Their feelings are irrelevant to him in that he doesn't give a shit if he offends them or hurts their feelings and their opinions were in a similar boat but their lives in general and their basic rights are not. He actually views their lives and rights as important.

So he'll be fine if the people's life is miserable, but they have those basic rights and they can survive? Like... what, what those basic rights even are? Life, freedom, property?
This inabiliy to share feelings (since he's willfully ignores them and thus doesn't give a crud about them) is what lack of empathy is. He's not horrified by the fact that he mutilated countless lives. He's horrified because because he broke his boundaries that he himself imposed. He wouldn't give a damn about all the horror he put the changelings and crystal ponies through. He wouldn't give a damn about those who'd go insane from such a sudden transition. He wouldn't give a damn about those who, in the transition shock, would try to destroy themselves to escape. He wouldn't give a damn about six families he broke (speaking of, I do expect the illusions to fail spectacularly and create more panic). No, all he gives a damn about is he, himself and him. And maybe Pixel, because he forced himself to do so.

Lack of emotional empathy would not prevent one from becoming a good leader, as long as one posesses logical empathy. As in, ecognize emotions he people are feeling, understand where said emotion will lead to, and use it for their gain. These are the best, and most terrifying leaders. Though if Gears just does not give a fuck about others' feelings at all, that means he lacks both emotional and logical empathy.

...okay wow, now when I put it this way, Gerhardt is just a jerk who by some miracle managed to get to the position of power and stay there. Maybe because he was just that good with what he was doing that everybody else just had to deal with his attitude. Hell, maybe that attitude of his was what pushed his apprentice or whatever to become the first necromancer, and he did not notice because he didn't give a crap. Because for him, it was Tuesday.

No. One whole species got turned into machines. The Changelings. The inhabitants of the main city of the Crystal Empire got turned into machines but the rest of Ponykind is completely untouched. At least, untouched by Gerhardt. He didn't have enough time to convert all of Equestria. Anyways, that was just a small point that I wanted to clarify.

Ah, it's a quirk of mine. I see crystal ponies as separate species. So, to me, two.

That's called consequences and Gerhardt is not immune.

...Except at this point, Gerhardt is a single-person NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) superpower. And if we to are draw comparison... Imagine the conquest of America, but while the native population has blowpipes and bows, the conquistadors barge in on missile cruisers armed with cruise missiles, their infantry comes equipped with machineguns, assault rifles and flamethrowers, they have air support from a nearby carrier, and launch a nuke-carrying ICBM as their opening move. This is how OP Gerhardt is compared to entire Equus. This is why no one would want to mess with him. This is why he won't lose any of his properties anywhere. Because everyone would be just scared shitless to do anything against him after that display of power.

Oh by the way, I just realized another thing. If he wiped out almost all nature on Equestrian continent, that also means he ruined the crops. Hello starvation! Because I doubt anything would grow on glass.

Well, he'll be permanently exiled from the Crystal Empire for one thing since they're the only ponies that were really effected by this. Hell even if Cadance and Shining Armor didn't exile him, he would do it himself. He'll also be forced to make reparations in the form of fixing all the damage Natura did to Equestrian cities and by trying to figure out a way to give his victims in the Crystal Empire organic bodies again (which some will want while others won't because the process of having your soul removed and placed into a new body is very unpleasant), which he will agree to because why the hell wouldn't he?

Oh boy! A self-imposed exile from somewhere he doesn't care about, being forced to do what he'd still probably do anyway (and seeing how he, if memory serves, has construction golems and interdimensional factories, won't take long), and... well, the latter can cause some problems, but... well, why the hell wouldn't he? How about the fact that he has no knowledge in biology? I am sorry, I can not suspend my disbelief this much to believe that he's a mechanical and magical genius AND also can build a whole new organic body from scratch.

So, yes. What equates to a slap on a wrist, a shake of a finger and saying 'No!' in a stern voice. And objectively, there is no punishment the primitive locals of Equus can force on Gerhardt that would fit the bill. They just don't have the power to affect him, seeing how well his punishment for mutilating the changelings in the beginning of the story went.

Also, there is a point of him being the only thing keeping Natura in check.

Besides which, this is meant to be a slice of life story, as per the tags. So unlike Dragon Ball Z which, for example, which had to keep scaling up the power of the badguys more and more the longer it went on for the very reason you pointed out, the fights aren't what this story is about. Thus it's not quite as reliant on continuous power scaling or "power creep" as other stories might be.

...Oh. My. World.
So this is why this Natura plot felt like it entirely derailed everything and is stitched to the main plot with white threads. Because ot does! [rubs his temples] My point still standing, this confrontation would have better fit the climax of the story instead of the middle.

Aaand going back to orbital weapons... all canon threats are irrelevant now. Tirek broke free? Blast him from the orbit. Pony of Shadows returns? Blast him from the orbit. Storm King invading? Blast him from the orbit. A giant monster rises from the ocean? Hurdy-gurdy! Blast it from the orbit.

Anyway, waiting for the next chapter.
And again, I hope my critique makes sense and does not comes off as if I'm just hating on the story. As I've said before, it's well-written, but has some issues. Eh, a learning experience, I guess?..

Discord released Gerhardt from his corruption and he took off the amulet after which he realised what he had done and gave the spirit another chance which only after seeing so much destruction was she willing to accept so AFAICT Gerhardt couldn't have gotten the deal without having taken the actions he did.

Otherwise there would have had to have been either another power strong enough to force her to the negotiating table or she would have had to have been able to be reasoned with in the first place as none of them (well except pixel) knew what they were doing was wrong or knew she was imprisoned and the ponies didn't actually have any alternative as natura had been imprisoned so they had to do the weather manually.
Realistically her best option was to announce herself and demand reparations and for them to stop controlling nature immediately which they'd have probably ignored and then we could have ponyville vaporised anyway but it would at least be possible to negotiate from that point.
Nothing that wouldn't result in drastic changes to ponies way of life though.

Mc fully converted the changelings and the crystal ponies to robots which he now regrets and has a doomsday weapon in construction in orbit that is nearly complete.

The doomsday weapon ended up feeling over the top as he had already ensured compliance with just the orbital canons

Silvanus is getting a tribunal from the other greater gods so its assumed he will be dealt with.

What does that mean for Gerhardt? He would no longer have anything keeping him from going back, well aside from getting there and separation from his new family.

With silvanus defeated does he even still have reason to return? Since that was the main thing he was trying to get back for.

Well....darn. I was afrad this was going to happen. You've been pumping out chapters at a fever pace for a while now and bending over backwards to try and take reader(myself included) input into account. It only makes sense that you'd burn out sooner or later, especially given the corner you seem to have written yourself into.

I hope you find your muse again at some point. You don't oww any of us anything, but your writing is very entertaining, and I'd love to see more of it, even if not in Technomancer.

Why has this story been cancelled?
Any thoughts will be helpful, this has been a great story.

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It was canceled because I had completely lost control of the story, I kept making mistakes, and I wasn't having fun writing it anymore. Besides which I need to focus on school. If you want a more detailed explanation look at my latest blog post.

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Hope everything goes well for you & good luck in your future work