Mechaniquus

by DougtheLoremaster

Chapter 10: Soulless, not heartless

Twilight grimaced and stumbled as she fought to stay on her hooves. Beside her lay over two hundred components, wiring, capacitors, even her core systems, and her wings; all ripped from her body. The pain wracking her body was well above the threshold of any other. Were she organic, she would have died hours ago. Even Starlight would have succumbed to the critical damage of self-repairing that Twilight had been doing.

For Twilight, however, physical pain was nothing compared to her desire to help others through their emotional pain. And therein lay the secret to her magical abilities.

She felt the soul-shattering pain like any other, and her tolerance for it though higher was the same as her own partner’s. Still, she simply refused to give up. That was her power; her talent, and the reason she was known as the Princess of Empathy.

The ability to shrug off critical failures in her systems, as well as withstand damage that would have shut down any other lifeform for keeps, was all thanks to her resolve to help others, no matter the cost or agony she would be forced to endure. And right now, burdened with an electromagnetic shock that fried half of her core, primary, and subsystems; Twilight didn’t care. Later after all was said and done, she would be forced to pay the piper, she knew. And it didn’t matter.

Twilight’s only focus was on Chrysi being afraid. Her daughter needed her. That was all that mattered. Unfolding her newly constructed wings, Twilight took a step and another, brushing aside the emerald flames with little effort; her wings now coated with a magical protection none other could replicate. In moments, she stood directly below the rampaging dragon.

Raising her volume to maximum, Twilight roared at her daughter.

***

32.2 Kilometers away

Applejack stared at Rainbow in disbelief. The Earthpony wore a neckerchief of checkered pattern and a pair of goggles with a built-in diagnostic scanner. The saddlebag on her back was packed with many wrenches, hammers, and an arc welder.

“What happened to them, Rainbow?”

Before Rainbow Dash had a chance to answer, the ground of the entire camp within the ruins of what had been Canterlot began to quake; a shockwave reverberating through the air and a thunderous voice was heard.

“Chrysi Glimmer!”

In Applejack’s Repair Tent, Applejack and Rainbow both said simultaneously.

“Twilight?”

Blinking, the once farmpony, used her teeth to pull a hammer from her bag.

“You were over by Pinkie’s old farm. Right?”

Shaking, Rainbow nodded.

Yeah.”

“Twilight head there?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s there right now, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

There was a moment of silence as Rainbow Dash shivered. Applejack gave a grunt as she picked Sweetie Belle up in her hooves and placed her limp form on the repair table.

“Alright, Sugarcube, take a seat. I’ll get to repairing these fillies. This may take a while.”

Without another word, Applejack brought the metalsmith’s hammer down with tremendous force; her audio receptors still ringing.

***

The world itself seemed to take pause at the unbridled force of Twilight’s shout; the emerald flames stopped flickering as though in fear, and even the lava ceased flowing for half a second. Above Twilight, the black dragon froze in midair; no longer thrashing about and in complete shock from the sudden outburst.

Noticing she had her daughter’s undivided attention, Twilight lowered her volume back down to normal, with her usual gentle tone.

“Come here, Chrysi. Talk to me.”

As the dragon came in for a landing, Twilight was silent. On her face, was a caring smile, but inside she felt nothing; the price of Empathy. She understood everypony’s feelings, she always responded exactly as they needed to pull through, with the help of the Empathy Program, and yet, she felt none of her own emotions.

And right now, the Empathy Program was resting; napping, as it decided to do after every use. How exactly it did this, Twilight didn’t know; Twilight really didn’t know much about the Empathy Program. Where it came from, she had no idea, just stumbling on it one recharge cycle. What she did know is that it wouldn’t respond to her summons until it decided it needed to get involved. How it did this, she didn’t know.

And now, she was alone; Twilight’s mind completely silent, as she watched with an eagle’s fierceness for any and all indications of the fear seen earlier. A single shiver, a twitch. Nothing escaped her gaze.

“Mom, help! I don’t know what to do!”

The pitch, the tone; all of it was broken down by Twilight’s processor, causing her to be a bit startled. Chrysi wasn’t afraid, she was frantic. Clearly confused about something, she had gotten frustrated trying to understand it. But why was she frustrated? Twilight decided to find out.

“Talk to me, sweetie. What’s wrong?”

Chrysi blinked in confusion. Over the past few days, she had developed a strange connection to both Twilight and Starlight. Perhaps it was their mannerisms towards her, maybe it was the conditioning of the world she now belonged to, but she was their daughter. Their love towards her had been on full display from the moment her new form had been chosen. And while Twilight spoke in the same gentle tone as always, it felt cold, almost lifeless; lacking the warmth of the Princess who had taken her in and sworn her as her own.

“Mom are you okay? You sound…strange.”

Twilight noticed that Chrysi seemed concerned. Unsure of what she meant though, Twilight inquired further.

“Strange? How so?”

Chrysi tilted her draconic head as if trying to understand something. Her previous fears seemed all but forgotten and instead she seemed worried about something new.

“Empty. Lifeless. Your words are caring, but your tone feels cold, unfeeling.”

Twilight was floored. Ever since she could remember, of all the beings she had talked to, only Starlight had ever noticed that her emotional outpourings were nothing but reflections of desires felt by others. For the first time, Twilight had no words. How can you explain how much you care for others when you, yourself, feel…nothing? Her processor told her she cared, that she loved every creature and yet, she felt none of it. Errors were piling up as she tried to find a way to explain this oxymoronic situation; that it had been the cost of salvation for the life of this world. That it was the price she had willingly paid to protect those she loved.

Folding her massive, metal-plated wings Chrysi lowered her mechanical reptilian head to stare Twilight in the eyes.

“Mom? Talk to me, what’s wrong?”

Twilight smiled sweetly. She felt none of the joy she showed, but she still knew how to make the expression of what others expected. Hollow and empty, she forced herself to show a smile she didn’t feel. She decided to tell Chrysalis, no, to tell Chrysi; her daughter, the curse she bore. She spoke, this time disabling the warm tone she normally shared with others, letting her real voice be heard; cold, metallic, and soulless.

“Chrysi, this is the real me. What you see on my face, the light in my eyes, and the warmth you hear in my vocal tones, are just surface level.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I can’t feel. I know what the emotion looks like, and I remember what emotion would be felt and so I show it to others, based on the situation, based on what they need to see. For example, I know that I should love you, like my daughter; I would protect you until my functions ceased. I, myself, however, feel nothing. No emotions, no sensations.”

Scratching a razor-sharp talon in the cracked, scorched earth, Chrysi felt heartbroken. Sure it had only been a few days, but she had felt the love, consideration, and she felt like she belonged. And yet, she now learned it was all fake? She wanted to cry.

“So you’ve been faking it, you never loved me?”

“No, it wasn’t fake. I really do care for you. I show you what I know I would feel. I go through the motions of what love from me would be like based on my own experiences. I just can’t actually feel what I show you.”

Chrysi was at a loss for words, what could she say? It sounded horrible, an unimaginable scenario where the world could feel your love, and yet you could not feel the love you gave. What could bring about such a fate? Chrysi scratched aimlessly in the blackened earth in silence for a minute, before once more talking to Twilight and asking the big question.

“How did this happen to you?”

Twilight was silent for a moment, as though considering the question. I’m already in too deep, I’ll just tell her.

“To answer that, I need to explain the status of the world at that time. Starlight and I found ourselves in a race against the clock. The Celestial Princesses had been slaughtered by the Chrysalis of our world; though now she was merged with the Smooze, which wore her like a suit. With Luna dead, the moon’s orbit destabilized. We never realized how precisely she had controlled the moon; down to a micron of a degree without deviation, every time.”

To emphasize this point, Twilight used her magic to materialize both a small moon and a model of the sun. Continuing, Twilight spoke dourly.

“Any variation in orbit would cause it to well, take a look.”

Nudging the moon, it immediately fell towards and smashed into the sun where it was completely consumed by the ball of fire. That’s when something unexpected happened; the impact actually caused the model of the sun to move closer to Twilight.

“With the Celestials powers of control negated, Starlight and I realized the world was about to get a thousand times warmer. We were looking at an extinction event. We knew what would happen, we knew all would die, but we had no idea how to fix it and little time to figure it out.”

Twilight’s eyes glowed with a bight, shining amethyst, almost as though she were excited; though Chrysi could hear the same deadpan tone in her words. This must be what she remembers feeling at the time.

“And so…as we often did, Starlight and I found ourselves in the library, surrounded by all manners of spell scrolls; searching for something, anything to stave off the end of our beloved world. For hours we scoured tomes, scrolls, and even ancient tablets for something we could use; there had to be some answer. And then we found it.”

Giving a hollowed laugh, Twilight continued her explanation.

“In the forbidden section of the library, in a corner of dusty and forgotten magicks, lay a simple leather-bound tome. The tome was made of sheets of carved stone, chiseled in ancient Ponish. It detailed a type of magic known as Alchemy; the ancient art of transmuting matter from one type into another, lead into gold, that sort of thing. Ah, but unlike other magicks, this could not simply be cast by the horn; you see, each use of Alchemical magic required a sacrifice on the caster’s part-”

Twilight's eyes shone with a strange light; almost as if, for just a moment, the rush of that moment was actually being felt by her. Chrysi shivered as a chill seemed to travel throughout her circuits, as she listened.

“And cast it, we did.”

Comments

[prism heart]

None pass through the Gate of Truth unscathed and this certainly would require a VERY large sacrifice.

[DougtheLoremaster]

11014865
Ah, a pony of culture. Though the laws and principles of Alchemy existed long before FMA, tracing its origins back to ancient Egypt.

[prism heart]

11014986
I knew it was an old art, but not how far back in history the origin is.

[DougtheLoremaster]

11014996
It really is quite fascinating. And it all began with one principle, that eventually led to the concept of nuclear fusion and fission: You can't gain without losing something of equal value. Sorry if this sounded lecture-based. In all honesty, I did a ton of research to work this plot hook into the story and though FMA made a very visual representation of this concept, I am not trying to copy that idea, though the anime did a fine job of holding its concepts true to the actual magick. I really hope you'll stick around for my version of this law of Alchemy.

[prism heart]

11015002
I certainly plan to.

[Fujimi200SX]

Ok, I'm stopping. I cannot keep reading until I've cleared my mind. I'll give myself a few hours before continuing.