The Machine

by ADRNEL

Chapter XXXIV~The Journey~

In a dark cave, a cackling voice laughed evilly, the sounds of buzzing grew louder in response to the laugh. "Soon my little pretties, we will have all the love we can consume!" yelled out a voice to a large wall of numerous pairs of green eyes. "With Celestia distracted, we will size this opportunity to conquer Equestria once and for all, and exact our revenge!" the voice announced, the audience buzzed loudly in response. "And I WILL make your deadbeat dad my husband forever!" the voice hissed. "LONG RULE THE CHANGELINGS!"

---

Chapter XXXIV
The Journey (Part Two)

---

Adam held on tightly to the dragon as he was flown over the volcanic and rocky Dragon lands. He looked down to see dragons of all kinds going about their daily routine, it fascinated him. He then saw that they were heading to the tallest volcano in the area, what he assumed to be the Dragon Lord's domain.

Soon, the dragon landed in front of the entrance to a cave on that volcano. "My lord," announced the dragon to the entrance. "the creature you requested is here." he bowed.

"He is free to enter." responded a feminine voice.

"You heard the lord, good luck." said the dragon to the human who motioned him into the cave.

Adam nervously walked into the gave, completely unsure at what will happen next. As he walked in, he saw that the cave chamber was well lit with torches on the walls and glowing gemstones scattered around the floor. He soon saw what was in the center of the cavernous chamber; a throne, and on that throne sat a small blue dragon, no taller than chest height to the human. "A-are you the Dragon Lord?" he nervously asked, he always pictured a dragon with such a title to be much...bigger.

"That I am." the dragon answered with seriousness. From the voice Adam realized that the small dragon was also female. "My name is Ember, Dragon Lord of all the dragons and holder of the bloodstone." she introduced herself. "And you are?"

"Adam Gray, a human from Equestria." he introduced himself. He was not certain in how to act around a Dragon Lord. "What's the purpose of me being here?"

"In our mythologies and fairy tales we consider humans as evil monsters who would always kill us to steal from our hordes." explained Ember. "We used them as a boogieman to keep our young in line, we just never really considered them to have actually existed...until now." she smirked.

"You know about humans?" Adam was stunned. "How?"

"Let's just say that all of those fairy tales were related to us millennia ago by a ghostly prophet that looked a lot like you Mr. Gray." the dragon explained. "A member of your species I am assuming."

"You mean I am not the only human here?!" the human exclaimed. "Where did you meet this prophet?"

"In the forbidden area, our former sacred area before Celestia discovered the place and stole it from us, made it her own personally property than no one but her can enter." the dragon lord continued.

Adam began to put the pieces together. "I was told I was going to find my destiny there, I guess that's what they meant by it, but why would Celestia keep the existence of other humans a secret worth killing for?!"

"That I do not know, for Celestia is the one pony that we dragons are reluctant to battle for she can control the sun and turn us into stone." Ember got up from her throne. "But now to get to the reason of why I asked you to see me." she calmly and slowly walked over to a wall of swords, she sashayed her hips as her tail briefly rubbed the human's chin. Adam stood back in response not expecting her to do that.

"I was about to ask that question myself." answered Adam.

Ember reached the wall and picked up a sword. "I want to see how worthy you are, I want to see if the stories of your kind are true." she slid the sword across the floor where it stopped just short of Adam's feet. "I want you to beat me in combat." she smirked.

"Come again?!" Adam was stunned. He looked down at the sword. "Combat?" the closest thing the human knew about combat was bare-knuckle boxing, but it has been a long time since he was in such a match, plus his skills in wielding a sword left much to be desired.

"If you win, I will personally guide you to the forbidden place, serve as your bodyguard and to be of eternal service to you." said Ember as she grabbed herself a sword. She purposelessly decided not to tell the human that a male who defeats a female in combat is free to mate with her, consent be damned. "But if you lose, then you're on your own, you'll have to make your own way to the forbidden place unprotected."

"Look, I am sure there are other ways to do this without fighting, surely we can just compro-" he suddenly saw Ember run at him, swinging the sword at him. Adam quickly dodged out of the way and picked up the sword. The dragon swung down at the human, only for Adam to block the strike with the sword.

"I have spent weeks looking for a worthy challenge, now give it me!" Ember growled as she kept swinging. Adam blocked each strike in defense, he was reluctant to fight.

"I'm not one for physical combat ma'am." responded the human, as he ran off to the exist. Ember just jumped into the air, did a few flips, before landing in front of him, blocking his path.

"You're not getting away that easily mister." she pointed the sword dangerously close to his throat and slowly forced him back to the throne. "I will not allow you to leave unless you give me a good fight."

"I didn't ask for this." he protest before he stepped on a random gemstone on the floor and swiftly fell on his back on the floor, sword slipped out of hand. "Ooof!" he grunted as he landed. He looked up to see Ember straddling over him.

"Better watch your step Mr. Gray, I wouldn't want you hurt just yet." she smirked. She crouched down and ran her claws gently across the human's chest. "For a scrawny and fragile looking thing I can feel some muscle in you." she purred a little. "When will you put those into good use." her tail began to caress his crotch over his pants, she licked her lips in response.

"I would rather use my wits." was all Adam said as he grabbed both her left knee and ankle and quickly rolled her off of her, he suddenly found himself on top with the dragon on the floor.

Ember kind of enjoyed the new position. "No male has ever pinned me down before...I kind of like it." she smirked, impressed. A creeped out Adam quickly kicked her on the side and ran off to the throne. Ember briefly curled up in response but immediately got back up on her two legs. "I can play dirty too you know." she licked her lips, picked up her sword and flew after him.

Adam ducked down behind the throne only to see her sword chop the side of the seat he peeked out of us. He rolled over to the other side to see a scepter learned up against it.

Ember was about to chop her sword at the other side of her throne only for her to hear the sound of two pieces of metal clanging. The female dragon looked to see Adam blocking the sword strike with the handle of the bloodstone scepter. "Clever boy." she mused as she backed away. "Now please put it down, for no non-dragon has ever once wielded it." she warned, sword still at the ready.

Adam got up and out of the throne, still holding scepter as if it was a throne. "I'm guessing it is a prized possession of yours...what does it do?" he asked. It was a stand-off between the two.

"With you holding it, I don't know." she explained with anxiousness and caution. "Now put it down."

"If it is so important to you, then why don't you come here and rip it off of my hands!" Adam taunted. He no longer had the patience of games, tired of being toyed around with.

"The ghostly prophet warned us dragon that it wasn't your strength or weapons that terrorized us, but your intelligence and cunning." she explained. "But if that's what you want, then I'll give it to you." she quickly flew up into the air and then dive bombed at the human, her sword about to bear down on him. Adam quickly held the scepter over his head as both metals came into contact with each other.

A bright flash of red light enveloped the room and both dragon and human were blown off to opposites of the room. Adam managed to break his fall on a pile of gems, it was not the most comfortable of places to land on, nearly breaking his back, but at least he was unharmed. He got back up on his two feet, still holding the scepter, to see something unexpected; instead of a female dragon, there was now a naked teenage human girl getting up before him. Adam was completely speechless as the human girl walked up towards, slowly growing dragon traits until by the time it reached Adam, she was now fully a dragon again.

Ember silently glared at the human for a minute before she got down on her knees tugging at his waist. "I submit, I submit..." she said. "I am forever under your command, and willing to let you mate with me..." she nuzzled her cheek against his thigh. Adam just gently pushed her off.

"Mate? I didn't agree to mate?!" he was taken aback. "What in the hell just happened?!" he asked, desperate to know.

"Anyone who yields the scepter can control the dragons of this land." explained Ember, still kneeling on the floor. "With that in your hand, all dragons, especially me, are within your beck and call, that's why we never allowed non-dragons to have it."

"I have the power to control all dragons?! Are you kidding me?!" he exclaimed still stunned. "I don't want that!" he dropped the scepter to the floor. "I just want to live a peaceful life where I can learn and meet new creatures, not be some dragon master!" he ranted. "And I sure as hell am not interested in mating! I mated enough already back in Ponyville, I don't need anymore complications added to my life by having sex with a DRAGON! I'm a mammal and you're a reptile, how will that work?!"

"Easy, just insert one of your two penises inside my cloaca and then coitus ensues." explained Ember. "It's not that different."

Adam just brought his palm to his face in shame. "I'm just wasting my time here, I'm just wasting my goddamn time!" he complained as he sat down on the throne to calm himself down. "Ever since I came here I have been assaulted, captured, molested multiple times, raped, brainwashed, turned into the god of chaos' personal plaything, tortured and seen those I love die in my arms." he confessed to Ember. "When will this torture end! Wrong place, wrong time should be my nickname." he lamented.

Ember just placed her hand on his while gently forcing his head to face her. "Look, I feel a little bad for my behavior back there, had I known about all the stuff you went through I wouldn't have been so...forceful." she apologized. "Dragon mating season and all." she blushed.

Adam groaned with annoyance. "Just point me to the direction of the place and I'll leave you be, I've caused enough trouble as is." he got up so he can leave. "It has been a year since I have seen a human in the flesh, would be nice to meet others over there."

"Well, I'm going with you." announced a determined Ember. "It's far too dangerous for a non-dragon to venture alone, and I know this place very well." she followed. "And don't forget this." she grabbed the scepter and offered it to the human. "For your protection."

"I appreciate the gesture Ember, but I've been taught that the more power one yields, the more likely one is to abuse it mercilessly, besides, I'm just a physicist, not a dragon master, not a warrior, just an ordinary physicist with a time machine." he turned down the scepter. "Keep it with you, it's yours." he smiled.

"There are things about this scepter we still do not comprehend, especially what happens when a non-dragon wields it, but you are right, that is too much power to ask of you." she agreed as she put the scepter away. "Now let's go, if we leave now we might get there by sundown." she stated as she lead the way, sashaying her hips and rubbing her tail against the human's face to tease him.

The human just blushed in response, but quickly re-focused himself again on the mission at hand. He follows the Dragon Lord to the next part of the journey, hoping no new obstacles appear before them.

---

At a far away location, both Adam and Ember were being spied on through a sniper scope by Sasha. He has been in the prone position for what felt like hours, but that was nothing for him, he once stayed in the position for over thirty hours during the great Caribou-Reindeer war, he was used to it. He saw the two walk down the mountain together. "Damn mountain winds, I can't get a good shot in these conditions, and they're moving." he cursed himself. "I'll probably have better luck in the forbidden zone, get there first and wait for them." he quickly packed his weapon up and started moving, hoping to beat them there.

---

The sun began to set in the dragon lands. The sun was blood red from the volcanic activity, and the smell of sulfur emanated from everywhere. Both Adam and Ember were climbing a yellow colored ridge. "It should be right over this ridge." explained the dragon as she led the way.

They both reached the two to see a line of white stakes stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions, in front of a cave that was a quick downhill slide from where the pair were. "What do you think happens if we go between or over those stakes?" asked Adam.

"Nothing, but it does inform the ponies tasked with guarding that cave of your presence, and when that happens, they catch you and turn you to stone without question, they're part of the 'Brotherhood of the Fourth Sphere'." the dragon explained.

"Of course, but why would Celestia go through such great lengths to keeps this place forbidden, what's in there that Celestia knows, but wants no one to find out." he thought to himself.

Suddenly, Adam heard a distant gunshot followed by seeing a bullet hit one of the wooden stakes. Another suddenly hit the yellow sand near his feet, this caused the human to tumble backwards down the sandy ridge. "Adam!" yelled Ember with concern who slid down after him. She saw that he made it to the bottom unharmed, but cut up slightly from the friction with the sand. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, but I'm more worried about the sniper." he pointed out.

On top of the ridge above the cave entrance, Sasha looked through his scope. "Damn it," he grunted with annoyance from the fact that his target is behind the ridge and no longer has a clean shot of him. "might as well do this short range then." he lamented as he got up and produced a smaller flint lock pistol. He jumped off the ledge and to the ground with a blank expression before climbing up the sulfur ridge so he can reach the target on the other side. "Come out and play you little shit!" Sasha taunted as he reached the top to see his target below.

Both Adam and Ember looked up at the caribou before he fired a round at them, it hit the ground as both scattered. Both the human and dragon found themselves in a shallow ditch, Ember directly on top of him, both blushed in response. "Uh...I hope you have an idea to defeat him." urged Ember. Adam looked around to see several gemstones, black powder, and a piece of bamboo, an idea quickly came to Adam.

Sasha carefully slid down the ridge and began to look around. "You know Mr. Gray, I don't know why Celestia is paying me a fuck ton of money to kill you, and frankly I don't care, you're just another target in my eyes." he yelled at no one in particular. "I never give up until the job is done, I am the greatest sniper in the world damn it!"

"Wait, Celestia sent you?" yelled Adam in response. Sasha's ears perked up in response. "She wants me dead?" the caribou started to walk to the direction of the human's voice.

"You know it, the great princess of Equestria wants you dead Mr. Gray, and you know she's desperate when she's hiring a caribou to do the job." Sasha responded as he got closer.

"So what happened to your kind by the way, haven't heard much about them in a while." yelled Adam back. Sasha could sense he was even closer.

"Let's just say a bunch of blue-pilled cucks under the control of the females staged a coup and overthrew everything the great Dainn worked hard for, they even had the nerve to string him up and stone him, yet I pity those males, blind to the fact that they are living in a gynocentric world where they are being taken advantage of by a bunch of sluts." he lamented to himself. The human sounded like he was right around the corner of a large boulder.

"I'm sorry to hear about that." said Adam, giving away that he was indeed around the corner with how close he sounded.

"More like you should be sorry for being a dumbass!" the caribou suddenly jumped around the corner and aimed his weapon only to see the human crouched down to the ground, pointing a bamboo log at him that had a lit fuse at one end.

"You were saying?" smirked Ember who stood behind the human.

"Son of a cow!" Sasha yelled as the bamboo shot out a cloud of black smoke and gem shrapnel. He fell back to the ground, a large chunk embedded into his chest. As the smoke cleared, the caribou laid motionless on the ground, wide eyes blankly starring into the ever darkening sky.

Both human and dragon sat down on the ground and gave loud sighs of relief. "Your brains sure got us out of that jam." she complimented.

"Don't mention it." trying to calm down from the excitement. "Although I feel like this whole thing has become ridicu-" he was suddenly cut off by Ember forcibly kissing him on the lips, along with her forcing her lizard-like tongue down his throat. As quickly as it began, it ended as she broke the kiss. Adam was speechless.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist, had to get that out of my system, come on, there's no time to waste." she sheepishly explained as she got up and left.

Adam shook his head in disbelief and followed suit. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder.

---

It was night time by the time Adam and Ember reached the end of the cave; a large cavernous room. Adam held his lit torch high to better light the room to find it suspiciously familiar. On the walls appeared to be marble, with shelf like features carved into them, the floor felt like smooth stone, the room looked more like a large artificially made corridor with glass monoliths spaced out along the center every 10 feet or so. "I feel like I have been here long ago." Adam muttered to himself.

Suddenly, the sounds of a machine slowly whirling itself awake echoed across the corridor. Soon, the room began to be illuminated by flickering artificial light. "Boot up successful." chimed an automatic voice.

Ember looked on in complete shock having never seen such a thing before.

“Hello, I am Watson, your virtual search engine for this library, how can I help you?” said an oddly familiar voice. Adam turned towards one of the glass monoliths to see a man with short hair, thick stubble, glasses who wore a brown tie less suit standing before him.

"The ghostly prophet." muttered Ember in awe.

To Adam, he knew exactly who it actually was. "Watson?"

To be continued...