> Anarchy in Equestria > by TheHumanoidTyphoon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Arrival > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaige's eyes fluttered open as the darkness surrounding her vision faded. She sat upright and looked around to find that she was in a forest, bright lush apples hanging from the trees. She got to her feet, groaning as she felt the soreness in her muscles. Her mind cleared and questions surfaced in her thoughts. Where am I? What the hell is going on? How did I get here? Damn those apples look good. At the last thought she decided it would be better to think with a full stomach. She walked over to a nearby tree, reached up, and grabbed one of the apples from a lower branch and took a bite. The apple was the best thing she'd ever tasted. The flavour and the texture was beyond anything she had eaten on Pandora or Eden-5. Realizing her thoughts were drifting she focused on what happened. She thought of the last thing she could remember. Flashback The six vault hunters were heavily outnumbered. Gunning down hundreds of bandits only to have twice as many replace them. "There are too many/I recommend a retreat/It would be most wise." Zero stated in his trademark haiku format as he picked off another bandit with his sniper. "I hate to admit it but he's right. They just keep coming and I'm running outta ammo." Axton pitched in, firing another rocket into a sea of psychos and marauders, flesh and blood going everywhere. "Sal, Gaige, Krieg, can you three cover us while we activate the fast-travel station?" "On it!" Gaige replied. "No problem!" Salvador shouted. "POUNDS! OF! FLESH!" Krieg screamed at the top of his lungs At this point they were vaguely able to understand what Krieg actually means and just nodded at him. Salvador pulled out a second gun and started firing wildly into the horde of enemies, releasing a loud battle cry, as Gaige digistructed her robot known as deathtrap into existence. Meanwhile Krieg rushed towards the bandits with a large weapon with a spinning saw blade on the end that he called the buzz axe. A few moments and a few hundred bullets later the fast-travel station whirred to life. "Hey! Its up and running, get your asses over here and lets get to sanctuary!" Axton shouted out to the trio fending off the wave of death. At that point they turned and ran. Even Krieg did so after some coaxing done by his inner voice. By the time they reached the station Maya, Axton, and Zero had left. Salvador was next as he deconstructed into tiny particles and was sent off to sanctuary, Krieg was next digistructing into the machine. Gaige was last to go thinking she was safe, but as she finished getting broken down into particles and was about to be sent off, a suicide psycho ran up to the fast-travel station, grenade in hand above his head, and exploded. End of Flashback "Okay so a psycho blew up the station with me in it and sent me god knows where." Gaige thought aloud. "Well shit. I guess I should try to find civilization somewhere and find out where I am." And with that she strode off in no particular direction. Walking through what she assumed was an apple acreage She had time to think to herself. I wonder how the others are doing? Who am I kidding. They're probably chilling in sanctuary with Roland and the others. But who knows, maybe they're stuck with some boring task like when we had to fix the power over at the happy pig. In that case I'm actually pretty lucky at the moment. I just hope I can get back before something fun happens. I could try offing myself and see if the New-U stations could pick me up. Nah, that's too risky, and besides resurrection is expensive as fuck. After about ten minutes of walking, the soreness from straining her muscles in battle caught up to her. I suppose a little rest wouldn't kill me. She thought. So she promptly found a nice shady tree to lay down in. It wasn't too long until sleep took her. She woke a few hours later, The sun was starting to set, emitting a dull orange glow across the acreage and the sky. Gaige noticed the beauty of the place, showing no signs of human activity let alone battle. Was she sent somewhere that didn't have conflict? No, where there's a habitable environment, there's creatures, where there's creatures, there's conflict. But maybe, just maybe, she wound up on a planet that was mostly peaceful. What would they think if they found someone from a planet where hostility and murder is as natural as eating and sleeping? Would they be afraid? Appalled? Angry? But before she could continue her train of thought, she saw a glimpse of a winged creature in the sky. Rakks. Was the thought in her mind. Gaige instinctively reached to her waist to pull out her Skewering Rifle. But when she brought her hand back from her waist she found a Jakobs brand Ornery Revolver, instead of the snow white assault rifle she had grown accustomed to, firmly placed in her hand. The revolver was a dirtied silver colour and had traditional iron sights. She quickly checked her inventory and found that she had no other guns or grenades, but at least she had her shield and enough ammo for the time being, and she knew she had deathtrap because the rod used to summon him was built in her robotic left arm. Figuring it was better than nothing she raised the pistol at the ready and continued on her path. Seconds later she heard a voice. "Hello? She whipped around faster than most would think possible and brought her gun up, aiming down the sights. What she saw was something she did not expect. A light-grey pony stood before her. it had a bright yellow mane and tail and similarly coloured irises, one of her overly-large eyes pointed off above seemingly looking at the sky. But her most prominent feature was the two wings tucked by her sides. "A pegasus?" Gaige said in disbelief. not lowering her weapon in the least. "Well duh." It replied > Chapter 2: First Contact > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well duh." It replied. Gaige just stood there dumbfounded at the light-grey pegasus. Her arms fell limply to her sides, her weapon on the ground by her side. The pegasus eyed her confusedly wondering why she was staring like that. After Gaige picked her jaw up she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it go after a few seconds. She spoke up. "What I'm about to do is not me, it does not fit my personality, and I do not wish to do it. My feminine side is acting up far beyond I would ever let it and I can't hold back much longer. Can I please release it for a few seconds before I internally explode?" The pegasus nervously spoke. "Um o-okay." Gaige began. "You. Are. So. God. Damned. CUTE!" With the last word she opened her eyes, a huge goofy grin on her face. She began to squeal and bounce. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-GRK!" Her squeal cut short by a metal fist driving into her throat. Coughing, sputtering, and gasping for air, Gaige fell on her hands and knees. "What the hay was that?" The pegasus asked, shocked at the sudden behaviour. "I was acting *gasp* too girly *wheeze* I had to shut myself up." Gaige replied rubbing her throat. "So you hit yourself in the throat?" "Yup, nearly crushed my windpipe. Totally worth it though." "What's wrong with being a girl." "Its not being a girl, its being girly. Its weak and stupid, next I'll be polishing my nails and reading celebrity gossip if I don't stop." "Well I suppose its a matter of preference. So whats your name? And what are you? If you don't mind me asking." The pegasus asked. Gaige thought for a second. I suppose I'll be fine. Even if she attacks me I could easily put a bullet between her eyes. "My names Gaige and I'm a human." She said whilst picking up her gun, holstering it, and standing up. "Well my name is Derpy Hooves and you already know what I am." Derpy said. At that Gaige began to snicker. "Whats so funny?" Derpy asked. "We may have different means for the word 'derpy'. Where I come from it normally means something is askew or awkward." Gaige answered trying her hardest not to burst out laughing. "Well its not nice to laugh." Derpy said looking down, her ears drooping. Gaige finally able to suppress the snickering spoke up. "I'm honestly sorry but in my defense, where I come from, being nice gets you killed." Derpy was taken aback by that last statement. Somewhere where nice people die? It's unheard of. Derpy spoke. "W-where did you come from?" She asked nervously. "Well I was born on Eden-5 but before I came here I was on Pandora." Gaige answered. "I've never heard of those nations before." "That's because they're not nations, they're planets." "So you're an alien?" "In a sense." "How did you get here?" "Long story." "Well I just got off work, I have time." Gaige paused at that last statement. "You have a job?" She asked. "Yeah, I'm a mail mare." Derpy answered. "Hm, wasn't expecting that. But I suppose it makes sense considering you have wings. It's funny now that I think about it, pegasuses are mythology to my race." Gaige "You must be taking this pretty well then, and its pegasi." "I've seen weirder." "Name one thing weirder than a mythological creature." Derpy said in disbelief. "Tiny Tina." Gaige replied. "Do you know anybody that seems to be a little bipolar at times and may have ADHD?" Derpy thought for a moment. "Yeah, Pinkie Pie." She responded. "Picture her except 13 and with access to weapons-grade explosives and you have Tiny Tina. She's actually pretty cool though if you don't get on her bad side" Derpy shuddered at the thought. "Fair enough." She said not wanting to delve further into the topic. "Where am I anyways?" Gaige asked. "Equestria, Sweet Apple Acres to be exact. Derpy answered. "Okay that's one question answered." Gaige said. "So, about how you got here?" Derpy asked. "Lead me to the nearest town and I'll tell you, but I'll warn you now, its pretty graphic." Gaige said. "Deal. Ponyville is this way" Derpy said. Gaige dismissing the weird name. On their way to town Gaige gave Derpy a recap of how she found herself in the forest. "So, you killed all those people!" Derpy exclaimed taking a step away. "Only because they wanted to steal from me, kill me, and eat me." Gaige replied nonchalantly. "But why!" "They've lost their sanity a long time ago. Mostly because of all the carnivorous and not to mention feral creatures there that threaten their lives daily. But some, like Krieg, were experimented on." "Who's Krieg?" Derpy asked still a little afraid of the innocent looking human before her. "One of the many psychos out there. He's in our little group of vault hunters because he still has a little sanity in him that threatens to take over and kill them both if he harms anyone innocent." Answered Gaige. "So there's still hope for them?" Derpy asked hopefully. "Krieg yes, but he's a rare case. He had a strong will before he lost his sanity and even that got reduced to a tiny voice in his head." "How do you know all this?" "We've heard the arguments between him and his remaining sanity before, although we obviously can only hear one side of it." "Oh." Derpy said disheartened. She set her focus from Gaige to ahead of her. "We're almost there." "Great, I was getting a little tired from walking. She said. Then she saw something in the sky. A blue blur with a rainbow coloured trail was zipping through the sky at amazing speeds. "Whats that?" She asked. But before derpy could answer the blur quickly changed direction and barreled straight towards Gaige's chest. "OH SHI-OOF." The blur hammered into her chest knocking her several meters away. Gaige quickly tucked into a backwards shoulder roll and rolling onto her feet, checked her HUD, she saw whatever it was had almost completely gone through her shields. She brought her right hand to her waist where her Ornery Revolver digistructed in her hand, and brought it up to the assailant. A cyan pegasus stood in front of her, its mane and tail were all the colours of the rainbow and her violet eyes were locked in a spiteful glare at the vault hunter. "Who the hell invited the living pride parade!" Gaige yelled. They both stood at the ready, waiting for the other to make a move, but before they could do anything Derpy stepped between them and yelled. "STOP!" "What do you mean stop! this thing kidnapped you!" The Cyan pegasus yelled, not averting it's gaze from the human before her. "SHE didn't kidnap me, I found her lost in Sweet Apple Acres." Derpy argued. "How do you know its not dangerous!" The pegasus retorted. "I"m still here aren't I? And yes she's dangerous but only to things that attack her!" The pegasus seemed to calm down after that. "Sorry about that Gaige, Rainbow dash can be a little quick to come to conclusions." "Its alright." Gaige replied, putting her gun away. "If she's a friend of yours then she's good." Gaige walked over to the pegasus known as Rainbow dash and extended her left arm. "I'm Gaige." "Rainbow Dash" She responded. putting her hoof in Gaige's hand. "Fastest pony in Equestria." She said puffing out her chest. She looked at Gaige for a minute. "Uh... What exactly are you?" She asked. "I'm a human." Gaige replied matter-of-factly. "What are you doing here?" "It's a long story, Derpy was taking me to er-Ponyville was it? You can come with and we'll tell you." "Sure, I got nothing better to do." Rainbow said. "Oh, and whats a 'pride parade'. As the trio walked towards the town Gaige and Derpy filled Rainbow Dash in of how she arrived (along with Gaige explaining to Rainbow Dash what a "pride parade" was) and received a similar reaction to Derpy's, followed by a similar post-story conversation. Eventually they arrived at the edge of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash spoke. "Here we are." The town itself was reminiscent to that of a 19th century village and had straw roofs and stone or wooden walls. "Come with me, I'll take you to Twilight's place. If anypony can find a way to get you home, it'll be her. You coming Derpy?". "Sorry but I gotta go take care of Ditzy." Derpy replied. "Kay, see ya." Rainbow Dash said. "Later Derpy." Said Gaige. After Derpy left, Rainbow Dash left into town with Gaige in tow. Feeling it would be best that she wasn't noticed, Gaige sneaked through town by hiding in alleys and moving across streets when Rainbow Dash distracted the other ponies. After a few minutes they arrived at a giant tree with a door, a few windows, and a balcony with a telescope on it. A sign hanging near the front read "Ponyville Library". Rainbow Dash knocked on the door and a female voice came from the other side. "Spike, can you get that?" A younger male voice rang out. "On it." The light pattering of footsteps could be heard outside the door and after a few moments the door opened to reveal a three foot tall lizard on the other side. It had purple scales with a green stomach and similar coloured spines coming up from it's tail to the top of it's head. It looked at Rainbow Dash and spoke. "Oh hi Rainbow Dash, are you here for the next issue of Daring D-." His words caught in his throat when he saw the tall, bipedal, creature behind her. After a few moments the lizard found his voice. "Uh, Twilight?" He called out behind him. A slightly agitated voice replied from in the house. "What is it Spike?" "You might want to see this." The lizard known as Spike called out. Footsteps (or rather hoofsteps) could be heard coming from the stairs that Gaige could see through the doorway. A few seconds later a lavender pony stepped into the room. It had a dark-violet mane and tail with a pink stripe running through the middle. Its most prominent feature was the horn growing through the center of its forehead. Gaige quickly came to terms with it and moved on. It came to the doorway and froze when she saw Gaige. "Um... Rainbow Dash. Who is this?" Twilight said eying her curiously. "Oh right." Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight, meet Gaige." "Sup." Gaige said. Heh, I always wanted to say that, glad Lilith isn't around. She thought. A look of wonder dawned upon Twilight's face. "Hi my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm really glad to meet you. Please come in." She said, barely keeping her excitement from bursting out. After entering the room Twilight levitated some chairs into the room and sat in one. Twilight noticed the surprised look on Gaige's face when she looked at her. "What? Do they not have magic where you're from?" She asked. "Well people claim to but its normally just parlor tricks and illusions." Gaige replied eying the chair curiously. "Hm, well I can tell you all about it later." Twilight said. "But first, I would like you to answer some questions if you have the time. Please, take a seat. Deciding she had nothing better to do, Gaige took a seat in the closest chair while Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat in the other two, making a triangle. Spike had run off somewhere most likely out of fear but it was reasonable considering the situation. Twilight levitated a long piece of parchment and a quill in front of her. "Great." She said. "First off, where did you come from." "Pandora, but I was born on Eden-5." They went through question after question, Twilight writing down every answer, and having the anticipated reaction about her "occupation", which was explained, and how she got here. "I still don't think its right." Twilight muttered. "I never said it was right, I said it was necessary." Gaige replied. "Besides, if you're worried I'm going to go on a mass-murdering rampage then you can rest easy, I have no reason to." "Fair enough, last questions." Twilight said. "Is that a robotic forelimb?" "Yeah I've been wanting to know what that's about too." Rainbow Dash said "Yes it's a robotic arm, and honestly, I didn't expect a high enough level of technology here for you to recognize it. No offense." Gaige said. "None taken." Twilight replied. "Mechanics like that aren't exactly a commonly used thing. Next, do all humans have robotic limbs? If not, what happened to your arm?" "No, not all of them do, and I cut mine off for a school science fair project." There was a long period of silence that seemed to go on for minutes on end. The silence was broken when Twilight took a deep breath. "YOU CUT YOUR OWN ARM OFF? ARE YOU CRAZY!" Twilight shouted loud enough to rattle the windows. After Rainbow Dash and Gaige uncovered their ears the latter spoke up. "God damn you're loud." Gaige moaned, trying to suppress the ringing in her ears. Twilight realized the effect of her outburst and blushed from embarrassment, hiding her face in her mane. "Sorry." She muttered. "But what good reason do you have for cutting your own arm off." "Like I said, for a science project... And my greatest creation." Gaige responded, still trying to stop the ringing in her ears. "What is it?" Twilight asked curiously. "Yeah this is starting to sound cool." Rainbow Dash added. "I'll tell you, but only because you don't look like the kind of people that want to kill me when my back is turned." Gaige said. "It's called project DT, later named Deathtrap. It was a design for an anti-bullying bot made to be deployed in a school environment. It would locate any rude, offensive, or downright hostile actions towards another and deliver 'punishment' accordingly. I got the idea after finally being fed up with Marcie Holloway for the umpteenth time." Gaige spit the name out like venom. "Who's Marcie Holloway?" Twilight asked. She immediately knew she would regret asking when she saw the look on Gaige's face. "She's a little brat who thinks she's better than everyone else just because her dad is rich! She goes out of her way to upset people and even ripped off my DT project! Not to mention her dad bought off the judges panel and she got first with her defective ass copy while I got third! THIRD!" Gaige's voice raising little by little. "She hasn't worked a day in her damn life and even rubs in everyone's face the fact that it's better! The stuck up BITCH!" Gaige screamed, standing and kicking the chair she was sitting in into a wall. "Crime-Buster bot! Are you serious!" After blowing off the pent-up rage Gaige turned towards Twilight and Rainbow dash. The two just sat there with wide-eyed stares at Gaige. "Oo-kay then, bad topic." Twilight said after recovering from the shock. "Do you... Need a minute?" She asked warily. "Nah, I'm good." Gaige responded releasing her breath. She walked over and picked up the chair, bringing it back to the middle of the room. "Sorry about that. I'll move on with the story." She said sitting down. "So I couldn't find a way to efficiently digistruct it into existence until I got an idea when I cut my arm on some sheet metal." "Digistruct?" Twilight asked curiously. "The assembly of something on a near-molecular level." Gaige replied, pulling an SMG magazine from her backpack unit to show as an example. Twilight watched in awe as a small box formed from the blue particles coming out of a machine on her waist. "That's pretty cool." Rainbow Dash said. "Before we elaborate lets just get this story over with." "Yes, go on." Twilight said after snapping out of her daze. "So I got the idea that I could build a robotic arm with Deathtrap's digistructing data programmed in it. So I cut off the rest of my arm with a particle saw and voilà. I made myself a robotic arm. You should have seen the look on my dad's face when he saw me with only one arm." Gaige chuckled at the last part. "You think it's funny?" Twilight asked, a hint of concern in her voice. "Well yeah, why wouldn't I?" Gaige answered. "He was genuinely concerned for your health. How can you laugh at that?" "Well it sounds horrible when you put it that way. Listen, he knows I'm smart enough to have a good reason to do it." A somber look came over her face. "I still miss him and mom at times." "Don't get sappy." Rainbow Dash said playfully. Gaige and Twilight shot her a glare. "What happened?" Twilight asked sympathetically, turning away from Rainbow Dash. "I'm kind of a criminal on Eden-5." Gaige said sheepishly scratching the back of her neck. "What! Why?" "I may or may not have accidentally... blown up Marcie Holloway. Gaige murmured. "What? I couldn't hear you." Gaige looked at the two for a second, she took a deep breath. "I blew up Marcie Holloway." Gaige said shamefully. "YOU WHAT!" Twilight and Rainbow dash yelled. "How can you accidentally blow somepony up!" Rainbow Dash followed up. "Well after she won the science fair she started gloating and laughing at me, then she shoved me. Deathtrap recognized her as a threat and did his job. I must have screwed up something when programming deathtrap's digistruct claws because when he swiped her, instead of scratching her, she... yeah. Like, I hated her and all but even she didn't deserve that. So my dad made a distraction and I broke out and fled to Pandora where my talents would come in use." "Oh." Twilight replied. "What are your talents?" She said trying to change the subject. "Engineering, metalworking, the sort." Gaige replied catching on what she was trying to do. "You're good with technology?" She asked. "Well duh, who do you think built my arm?" Gaige answered sarcastically. "It's kind of obvious Twilight." Rainbow Dash added. "Just clarifying, do you think you could help me with something?" Twilight asked. "Depends on what it is." Gaige replied. "I found some strange object on my way back home and I think it's some form of technology. I've been studying it for the past hour now." "Alright, I'll bite. Who knows? It could be some of the gear I lost." "Ugh, egghead stuff? No thanks." Rainbow Dash said, getting up to leave. "Hold on a minute there Dash. If it is mine, I can promise it will be awesome. And I'm an egghead too and I'm still a badass." Gaige called out. Rainbow Dash paused for a second. "Well I can't say no to seeing something awesome. But I doubt it will be as awesome as me." Rainbow Dash said turning back around. "Perfect." Twilight said enthusiastically. "I'll go get it." She said, heading upstairs. There was the sound of a few things shuffling around before she came back down with something in her magical grasp. "Here it is." Twilight said handing it to Gaige. She looked at the blue, white, and orange piece of metal in her hands. A smile crept upon her face. "I know what it is." She said. "You do?" Twilight gasped. "Yup, It's a Maliwan brand fire SMG, this specific one is called the Fervid Gospel. But seeing as you don't have guns here I'll have to explain it to you. Guns are projectile weapons and SMG stands for sub machine gun, it is fully automatic and shoots until you stop pulling the trigger or it runs out of bullets. This one is made by the company Maliwan which specializes in elemental weaponry. There are other companies like Torgue which specializes in explosive weaponry or Jakobs who's guns can, and I quote, fire as fast as you can pull the trigger." "It's a weapon?" Twilight questioned. "I find that hard to believe. I've been experimenting with it for hours and it never did anything. But that may be since it seems to be broken or missing a piece." She said pointing to a rectangular hole in the side of the gun. "It just doesn't have any ammo." Gaige said. She pulled a magazine from her inventory unit and popped it into the slot in the gun. A few lights on the gun flicked on. "I don't see anything awesome about it." Rainbow Dash cut in, unimpressed. "You haven't seen it in action yet." Gaige replied. "Let's go outside and I'll show you what it can do." With that the trio left the building and to a nearby clearing. "This should do." Gaige said. "Got anything I can use for targets?" She asked. "A log or a bottle should do." Twilight levitated a nearby log over to their position and stood it up. Gaige took aim at the log, firmly placing the butt of her gun into her right shoulder and assuming a firm stance. She squeezed the trigger and chattering filled the air. After she stopped firing she brought her gun down to look at her work. The log in front of her was now a splintered stump and had flames eating away at it, pieces of wood scattered everywhere. "So? What do you think?" Gaige asked. When she turned around she saw the two sitting there, slack jawed and wide eyed, staring at what was left of the log. "Uh... Hello?" Gaige said. When she received no answer she walked up to the two. She waved her hand in front of Twilight's eyes but it didn't work. She tried snapping in Rainbow Dash's ear and received a similar result. "Badass to ponies, can you read me? Argh." Gaige pulled out her Ornery Revolver and unloaded it into the air. The loud bangs that it emitted managed to snap the two out of their daze. "You okay? You two looked like you saw the meaning of life." "That was... Horrible and amazing at the same time! The level of technology is centuries ahead of our time! But it's so destructive." Twilight said with a mix of fear and awe. "That was totally awesome! You tore that wood to shreds!" Rainbow Dash yelled in excitement. "It's what I do." Gaige replied with a smirk. "Besides this isn't even my best gun." She turned to Twilight. "Hold these." She said throwing her revolver and her SMG down in front of Twilight. "I emptied the clips when I fired them so they're safe. And I don't think you'd be comfortable with these in my possession." Twilight carefully picked them up with her magic and floated them over into her bag. "You're just giving them to me?" Twilight asked in disbelief. "Why." "I don't need them, besides, if someone or something attacks me I can handle myself, and in a pinch I can bring out deathtrap." Gaige said as she walked over to the wood, picking it up with her robotic arm. "Now check this out." She threw it high in the air, a second later blue particles began to form and create sharp blue claws at the tips of her fingers on her left robotic arm. When the wood came down Gaige slashed it twice, slicing it into splinters. The claws broke back down into blue particles and receded. "I gained some anarchy stacks when i emptied the clips, I can use them to do that." "Anarchy stacks? But that's not a thing, you can't stack it." Twilight stated. "It's just named anarchy because of its effects. It increases the damage done by the bullets i shoot but the mental effects mess with my aim. It's a very complicated process and I'm not going to go into the explanation." "Mental effects?" "Yeah, a minor setback. It can change my mood a bit." "Like?" "After a few dozen or so stacks I get a little over excited, if I gain say one hundred and fifty I tend to develop a little bit of a full-blown god complex." "That doesn't sound pleasant." Twilight said. "Actually it isn't too bad. Besides, the stacks fully deplete when I prematurely reload my ammo." Gaige responded. "Well it's good to know you got a fail safe." "Wait, a god complex? Seriously?" Rainbow Dash chimed in. "It's complicated." Gaige replied. "We should head inside, I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia, and I don't think that it would be a good idea to tell everypony you're here yet." Gaige shrugged and followed Twilight. "I gotta go and check up on Tank, see you later eggheads." Rainbow Dash called out before flying away. "Later Dash." Gaige replied. And with that, the two left for the library. > Chapter 3: Reveal > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So who's this Princess Celestia or whatever." Gaige asked as they walked into the library. "She's the co-ruler of Equestria. She raises the sun in the morning and lowers it at night. Her sister Luna raises and lowers the moon." Twilight answered. "Um. No." "What do you mean no?" "No she doesn't move the sun. The planet orbits the sun and the moon orbits the planet via gravity, it creates the illusion of the sun and moon going around the planet. Seriously, I learned that in like, fourth grade." Gaige stated. Twilight gave her a strange look. "What." "I never new your world was so different. I know they're technologically advanced but that is just ridiculous." "Sure. My world is ridiculous." Gaige said, rolling her eyes. "Not the world with the ability to defy physics." "I told you it's magic." Twilight retorted. "Magic is just science that people don't understand yet." "Magic IS a science." Twilight stated, stomping her hoof. Gaige began to get agitated. "Let's just drop the subject before I get mad." She said. "Fine. Spike! Are you there?" Twilight yelled out. A nervous voice rang out. "I-Is it gone?" It asked. "Is what gone? Twilight asked. "The thing that came here earlier." "Wait, you mean Gaige? She's not going to hurt you." Twilight said glancing at Gaige. "Yeah if you're a friend of Twilight's here, then you're cool." Gaige added. The small purple reptile from before peeked out of a closet. Gaige waved and smiled. "You must be Spike. Gotta say, that's a pretty badass name. I'm Gaige." Spike came out of the closet and eyed Gaige. His eyes widened when he saw Gaige's left arm. "Is that a metal arm?" He asked. "Yeah, pretty cool huh? I built it myself." Gaige replied proudly. "Spike, meet Gaige, she's a human. Gaige, this is my assistant Spike." "Hi." Spike said enthusiastically. "Hey, are you a dragon?" Gaige asked. "Yes I am." He answered, puffing out his chest. "How did you know?" "Lucky guess, you know, they don't have dragons where I come from. But we do have things called stalkers." "Stalkers?" Twilight asked. "They have natural shields protecting them and it also allows them to become invisible. They're a pain in the ass to kill." "K-k-kill?" Spike stuttered. "Why?" "They're predators, it's me or them. Besides, the things are feral anyways. Now that I think about it, this place is a nice change of pace from my usual life-threatening, well, life." Spike's fear returned as he realized that this human has killed before. "Oh, and if you're worried about me hurting you, relax, I won't." Gaige added, seeing the fear in Spike's eyes. He calmed down a little. "O-kay, changing the subject. Spike can you take a message?" Twilight asked. "No problem." Spike answered, getting paper and a quill. Twilight began. "Dear Princess Celestia, I'm sending this message to inform you that a creature has arrived here in Equestria. Her name is Gaige and she says that her species is called human. From what I've seen, their technology is centuries ahead of ours which I assume is compensation for their inability to use magic in any way. It has even advanced enough to be able to travel to, and colonize other planets. She is experienced in combat and is capable of using these projectile weapons called guns. From a demonstration she performed on a log, they are more than capable of penetrating through wood and possibly even stone. She has disarmed and handed over these weapons to me saying that she trusts us not to attempt to harm her. She also has something called an inventory unit, it utilizes a technology called digistructing. I'll send a full report on my discoveries soon, but in the meantime, I request she meets you personally. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." "And done." Spike said, finishing scribbling down Twilight's letter and rolling it up. "Shall I send it?" He asked. "Yes please." Twilight answered. Spike took a deep breath and shot a jet of green flames at the scroll. It burned into a wisp of green and grey ashes and left out the window. Twilight looked at Gaige expectantly. "What?" Gaige asked. "You're not curious as to why he burned the letter?" Twilight replied. "The flames broke the letter down into particles and those particles are sent to a specific location and then reassembled. It's just like a fast-travel station." Gaige said. "Just instead of humans and digistruction, it's letters and fire." Twilight was amazed. "Wouldn't that hurt?" Twilight asked. "That kind of transportation doesn't sound comfortable at all." "It's not very painful but I have to agree with you on the comfort part. But it's fast, that's good enough for me." Suddenly, Spike began to look as if he were about to vomit. He belched out a burst of fire that formed into a scroll which was caught in Twilight's magical grasp. Twilight opened the scroll as Spike went to go lay down. "Hm. Curious." Twilight said. "What does it say?" Gaige asked. "Brace yourselves." Twilight responded quizzically. Before the conversation could continue, a bright flash of light enveloped the room. When the light faded, Gaige looked around. They were in a large room, white populated the majority of the floor with the exception of a long, pinkish-red carpet along the length of the room. The walls and roof were different shades of pink and purple and there were rows of large stained glass windows bearing images of different ponies, they seemed to tell a story of sorts. At the end of the room there were two thrones, intricately designed and fairly expensive looking. On each of the thrones were two taller ponies, both were at little taller than Gaige. One of them had a white coat with an ethereal floating mane that was several shades of green, blue, and pink. It had shoes, a necklace, and a tiara made of gold. A purple gem sitting in the center of both the tiara and the necklace. It had a large wingspan, a long horn, and a picture of a sun on her flank. The other had a dark purple-blue coat and a mane that resembled the night sky. The shoes were a lighter shade of blue while the necklace and tiara were a midnight blue. The image of a crescent moon on its necklace and flank. It had wings and a horn as well. "I take it you are Gaige? The white one asked. "Yeah." Gaige replied, she could feel the regal aura they gave off. "Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" Twilight said running to the two. "Twilight Sparkle, and how is my student today." The one Gaige deduced was Celestia asked. "Good, as you can tell, there have been some... interesting events recently." Twilight responded. "Ah yes." Celestia said, turning to the human in question. "So you are the one that Twilight was talking about." "Gaige, this is Princess Celestia and her sister and co-ruler Luna." Twilight said gesturing to the two. "Hey." Gaige greeted. "Gaige comes from a planet called Pandora, her species' level of technology is incredible!" Twilight exclaimed. "Oh! That reminds me, here are her weapons." She said as she levitated the weapons from her saddlebags and handed them over to the princesses. Celestia eyed them curiously. "Interesting." Celestia stated. "It has a similar fashion to something found in the courtyard recently." That statement caused Gaige to speak up. "So my gear is scattered across Equestria. Dammit." "It would seem that way. Please, come with us, we have much to discuss." Celestia said as she an Luna got up and made their way towards a door. Gaige and Twilight followed suit. A few minutes later, they found themselves in the dining hall. "Are you hungry?" Celestia asked. "Starved, haven't eaten a full meal in days." Gaige replied. "Well that mustn't do, what would you like?" "Humans are omnivorous, we'll eat most things, with the exceptions of things like grass and hay. Wheat products are fine though, and I'm not picky." "Very well." Celestia turned to the servant in the room that was eying Gaige warily. "Can you please bring us a few salads please?" The servant quickly nodded her head before giving Gaige one last glance and rushing out of the room. "So." Celestia said, turning back to Gaige. "Tell me, why do you need such dangerous weapons?" "It comes with the territory, Pandora is a wasteland full of things that wouldn't hesitate to either eat, rob, or kill you in general." Gaige replied. "It's either kill or be killed." The princesses seemed to be taken aback by that statement. Luna was about to speak up when Gaige interrupted her. "Before you start pegging me as a heartless killer, which I know is what you think I am, I only harm those that try to harm me or are a problem to Sanctuary or the Crimson Raiders." "Sanctuary? Crimson Raiders?" Luna asked. "Sanctuary is probably the one place on Pandora that keeps you safe without oppressing you or putting you under their propaganda induced hypnotism like in Opportunity. The Crimson Raiders is the organization running it. We're the only ones trying to civilize Pandora without enslaving it." Gaige answered. "So these Crimson Raiders are who you fight for?" Celestia asked. "In a sense, it also helped that they were enemies with one of the most oppressive organizations in the galaxy, who's leader was insulting and trying to kill me and the others since day one all while claiming he's the good guy! He practically enslaved his own daughter! Brick's pet dog Dusty, Mordecai's pet Bloodwing, Roland. All of them and more are dead because of him." Gaige replied. "Handsome Jack, more like Handsome Jackass. Killing him was the best accomplishment we'd ever achieved." The room went quiet. "I..I see. So that is why you are so used to violence." Celestia said solemnly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up." Gaige apologized. Luna spoke up. " You have seen a lot of bloodshed, haven't you?" "Hell, I've probably caused most of it. But only to those that deserve it." Gaige said as she propped up her head on her arm, fingers drumming the table. "What about Marcie Holloway?" Twilight asked. Gaige stopped drumming her fingers and clenched them into a fist. "That was an accident. As much as I hated her I never wanted to kill her." She said through gritted teeth. "That was a fault in Deathtrap's programming." "Who is Deathtrap?" Celestia asked. "A robot I created originally intended to stop bullying in schools. I used him for other purposes after he... accidentally... killed Marcie. He was supposed to use non-lethal force. Needless to say, killing the daughter of one of Eden-5's richest people made me fairly unpopular. If you have a training area of some sort, I can introduce you all to him after we eat." Gaige offered. "I would like that, thank you." Celestia said. After eating, Celestia and Luna led them to a courtyard populated with training dummies. "Ladies, allow me to introduce you to my greatest creation ever, the D374-TP, A.K.A Deathtrap!" Gaige announced. And with the rise of her robotic limb, a flurry of blue lights appeared and formed into a floating metal torso. It had grey and red painted metal along with several blades jutting out of its back and forearms. Several blue lights were dotted around the torso and one larger one came out of what could only be defined as the head. On it's chest, slightly to the left, a picture of a heart with a lock through it was painted on. The other three could only gape at the metal creature that formed before them. "Twilight's letter said you didn't have magic where you came from." Luna said. "We don't." Gaige replied smugly. "I take it this is the 'digistructing technology' Twilight's letter mentioned?" Celestia asked. "Hit the nail on the head. All the digistructing data is programmed into my robotic arm, also made by yours truly." The Mechromancer answered. "Now, for his performance. Deathtrap?" The robot turned to its creator. "Can you do the honours?" She said, gesturing to a small group of dummies. The robot quickly got to work, slicing down dummies with its digistruct claws. After slicing down a few it backed up, a red light building up in Deathtrap's eye, it unleashed a bright orange beam that sliced through and burned the remaining dummies. It then floated into the center of the wrecked pile of dummies. The machine reared back its hands and unleashed a clap that blasted the smouldering remains of the dummies into even smaller pieces. "Awesome work Deathtrap! Gimme five!" The robot proceeded to float over to its creator and give her a high five before it disappeared in a flurry of blue particles and disappeared. Gaige turned to the three onlookers. "So?" "You built that?" Luna asked in disbelief. "Yup. I'm the greatest engineer I know." Gaige replied with a smile. "Since we're here, can you show me what you found in the courtyard?" "Ah, yes, I have it here with me" Celestia said as she levitated a familiar looking rifle to Gaige. "My skewering rifle! I was starting to miss this one! I suppose you would like a demonstration of this too?" Celestia nodded. With that, Gaige spun around and took aim at one of the dummies. In seconds, the unfortunate dummy was riddled with holes. Gaige reloaded the clip and turned around. "Ta-da." She said with her arms spread to her sides. "I see Twilight wasn't exaggerating about the power of these weapons." Celestia said. "Now, may I have it?" "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to keep at least one of my weapons." Gaige replied. "I don't feel safe without them." "Gaige, while I respect the reason you would want to keep your weapons, it would be most unsettling to my subjects if you always carried a weapon around." "That won't be a problem." Gaige replied, storing her gun away in her inventory unit. Celestia looked at the unit for a moment. If I let her keep her weapon, it gives her the power to harm others. Although I doubt she needs it to do so. She hasn't harmed another yet, and if she does then the elements can handle her. She thought, Celestia looked back at Gaige. "Very well, I will allow you to keep a weapon if you vow not to harm any of my subjects. Also you will only use it in self defense or the defense of others." She offered. "Will they try to kill me when my back is turned?" Gaige asked. "I highly doubt that." "Then deal." "Now that that that's out of the way, I think we should arrange where you'll be staying." Celestia said. "Well I'm fine with pretty much anything. Hell, I'm fine sleeping outside." Gaige said. "You can stay with me! I have a guest room you can stay in, and this way I can ask you more questions!" Twilight said excitedly. Gaige stood in shock at what she just said. She's really okay with her staying with her? After what she found out? "Are you serious? I'm surprised that you're okay with me being in the same building as you." Gaige said. "Well I'm not saying that I agree with what you've done, but you had a good reason." Twilight replied. "It seems that's settled then, I shall send you back now." Celestia said as her horn began to glow. "Before we go." Gaige interrupted, the three ponies looked at her. "I've come across a lot of leaders and organizations, so far the only one I've found that isn't completely corrupt is The Crimson Raiders. But from what I've seen, you seem to be the second. I'm not quick to trust government leaders but you're off to a good start. But I'll be watching you." Celestia chuckled, "And we will be doing the same." She said. Luna nodded in agreement and smiled. Celestia's horn then glowed again, and in a flash, they found themselves back in Twilight's library. Gaige looked over to see Twilight was still disoriented from the sudden transportation. "Heh, lightweight." Gaige remarked. "Hey! I wasn't prepared!" Twilight retorted. "Neither was I, and look at me." Gaige replied smugly. Twilight groaned in response. "So, if I'm gonna live here I guess I gotta meet the locals." But before Gaige could walk out, Twilight stepped between her and the door. "Wait! If you go out now the town will go into panic!" She exclaimed. "I'll organize a gathering tomorrow. That should help ease you into society. Besides, it's getting late, you should get some rest." She said before walking out the door. Gaige began to realize how tired she was, she only had that one nap in the acreage for the past 48 hours and the fatigue was catching up to her. Gaige was snapped out of her thought when a red dot appeared on her minimap. She whirled around and saw Spike walking towards her. He yelped and jumped back at the sudden action. "Oh, hey Spike." Gaige said. "H-hey." Spike responded, refusing to make eye contact. "You still scared about the stalker thing?" "Yes." "You do realize that I'm not gonna hurt you right?" "How do I know you're not just saying that." "Why would I?" Spike thought for a moment. "Good point. So, where's Twilight?" "She's going to go plan a gathering to introduce me to the town. She'll be back in a bit." Gaige said, slumping onto the couch. "So, do you live here?" She asked. "Yeah, Twilight and I used to live in Canterlot before we came to Ponyville a while ago." Spike answered as he sat next to her. "You two always live together?" "Yeah, Twilight's the one that hatched me." "What?" Gaige asked as she raised an eyebrow at the dragon. Spike's face turned beet red. "N-not like that! I was abandoned as an egg so when I was found, I was Twilight's entrance exam to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. As you can see she passed." He explained. "So Twilight's kinda like your mom?" "Not really, more like a big sister." "That's cool." "...Wait, you don't think that's weird?" "Spike, I've seen a lot of things; I've seen deadly robots, ferocious creatures, an ancient alien warrior with the strength of a god that would've enslaved Pandora if it weren't for me... 'stopping' it, and the tyrant that was controlling it cry in front of me. That doesn't come close to weird in my books." "You sound like you've gone on some crazy adventures." "You don't know the half of it." "Actually I kind of do." "What?" "Twilight and the others have gone on a lot of adventures as well." "I'll have to ask her later. Hey Spike?" Gaige asked. "Yeah?" Spike responded. "Can you show me where the guest bedroom is? I'm going to be crashing here for a while." "No problem." Spike said. They got up and Spike led them to the guest room. "Sorry, It's kinda small, and there's not much to it." Spike said. He was right, the room was small, had a single bed, a dresser, and a small bathroom. To most, it would seem like a below average room, but to Gaige, it was the best room she's been in a for long time. "Are you kidding? This is amazing!" Gaige exclaimed. "Thanks Spike. Give Twilight my thanks as well." "Alright, see ya tomorrow." "Night Spike." As Spike left the room, Gaige walked over to the bed. She unlatched her left arm and put it on the dresser along with her inventory unit, shield, belt, and goggles. After setting her equipment down and slipping off her sneakers, Gaige slid under the covers, not caring to undress, and quickly fell asleep. Twilight stepped inside, it was late at night and she had finished making the plans for tomorrow. Spike noticed her and sat up on the couch. "Hey Twilight, done with the planning?" He said. "Yeah... wait, how did you know?" She responded. "Gaige told me." He replied. "Ah, where is she?" "Asleep in the guest room. I was waiting for you before I went to bed." "Thanks Spike, let's go." Twilight said as she began walking up the stairs. Spike hopped off the couch and quickly followed. They both went to their respective beds. "Hey Twilight?" Spike asked. "Yes Spike?" She answered. "What do you think about Gaige?" "Well... She's definitely strong, she also seems pretty smart. And although she can be crass at times, she also has a nicer side. She has done a lot of bad things in the past but from what she says, it's either to defend herself or to help her make her world a better place. I'm not saying I like her methods, but she has a good motive. Why do you ask?" "She just seemed nicer than you would expect. She doesn't judge others, and she can be really polite at times." Said the dragon. "Speaking of which, she told me to tell you thanks for letting her stay." "Well she's welcome anytime." Twilight said with a smile. "Good night Spike." "Good night Twilight. Gaige woke up early next morning. She hadn't had a soft bed to sleep in since she can remember. She slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. After mostly waking up, she got out of bed and began to put on her equipment. She started with her left arm, locking it in and moving it around experimentally. The arm was a little rusty and needed a little maintenance. She'd have to clean it up before her reveal, she took pride in her work and wanted her arm to be in top condition for her reveal to the world. She then quickly but carefully put on her equipment, making sure she had her goggles perched just right on her forehead. She never really needed them except for when she was building or making something and could easily have it stored in her inventory, but she liked the way they looked on her. After she had everything ready, she made her way downstairs. A sweet scent took her nose and she found herself following in it. It led her to the dining room where she saw Spike setting down a plate stacked with pancakes and Twilight finishing her task in setting three spots on the table for them. Twilight turned and saw Gaige walking in. "Oh! Good morning Gaige. Have a good sleep?" The unicorn greeted. "Best in a long time. Beds like those are luxuries on Pandora." Gaige replied. "So. Pancakes?" She asked. "Yeah. I was about to come and get you, but seeing as you're already here, we can get started." Twilight answered. Gaige took a seat next to her and greedily dug in. "Wow, these are really good." Gaige complimented. "Spike is a pretty good cook." Twilight informed. "You cooked this?" Gaige asked, turning to Spike. "Yup, but I wouldn't say I'm a master chef." Spike said. "Well you're the best I know." She responded, taking another bite. "Thanks." Spike said, returning his attention to his food. After practically inhaling her pancakes, Gaige got up and began to put away her dishes. "You don't have to do that, I got it." Spike interrupted. "It's no problem, I don't want to be a freeloader. I gotta contribute." Gaige returned. "Thanks again then." Spike said. "You know, I honestly expected you to be... meaner. But you're actually pretty nice." "My parents raised me well. The tough warrior thing is something I keep up to counter my cute appearance and let people know not too mess with me." Gaige responded. After that, they quickly finished cleaning up. "So Twilight. When's the gathering?" "In about an hour." Twilight answered. "But first, I want you to meet a few of my friends first. Would you mind waiting upstairs until I introduce you to them?" "No problem, I gotta do some maintenance on my arm anyways." Gaige said as she began to make her way to her room. "Thanks." She called out to Gaige. "Alright Twi'." Called a southern voice. The Mane 6 and Spike were all together in the library, all eyes were on Twilight. "Why'd ya bring us here." "I brought you all here because of the gathering that's happening soon. I met somepony yesterday, a new species called human. Rainbow Dash, I believe you know her." Twilight responded. "Oh! This is about Gaige!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in realization. "Exactly." Confirmed Twilight. "But before I call her down, you should know two things; her species doesn't have magic and is very technologically advanced, and the planet she came from, Pandora, is very dangerous so she is very skilled in combat. I'm not even going to start with Deathtrap." "Deathtrap? Gaige never told me about a deathtrap." Rainbow questioned. "She sounds a little barbaric if you ask me." Rarity added. "Not really. She is actually pretty nice." Spike interrupted. "Well... I guess we should give her a chance." Fluttershy quietly spoke. "Well then. I think it's time you should meet her." Twilight said, turning to the stairs. "Gaige! they're here!" She called. After a few moments a voice called back. "Kay, just a sec! Almost done the maintenance on my arm!" All of them, sans Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike, were confused by that statement. "Uh, Twi? What was that about maintenance on her arm?" AJ asked. "Oh! That's right! Gaige has a--" Rainbow's sentence was cut short by a lavender aura surrounding her muzzle and shutting it. "Shush Rainbow. I want to surprise them." Twilight stated. Footsteps could be heard coming from upstairs and soon, a tall, bipedal creature with orange hair came down. It stood twice as tall as a normal pony, but the most prominent feature was the fact that her left arm was entirely made of metal. The group gawked at the sight but it was short lived as Rainbow Dash flew up to her. "Hey Gaige." Rainbow greeted, extending her hoof. "Hey Dash." Gaige returned, bumping her mechanical fist against it. "Well now we know what she meant by maintenance." AJ mumbled loud enough for the ponies around her to hear, but not Gaige. "Gaige, these are my friends." Twilight began. "Applejack." She said, pointing to the orange pony with a blonde mane and tail. Three apples portrayed on her flanks. "Nice ta meetcha." She greeted, tipping her stetson briefly. Her accent reminded Gaige of Scooter and Ellie. Hopefully that's where the similarities end. "Rarity." Twilight said as she pointed to the alabaster unicorn with the curly purple mane and tail. The image of three diamonds on her flanks. She clearly puts a lot of effort into her appearence. She practically screamed 'high class citizen'. "Pleasure to meet you darling." She spoke with a slight accent. "Fluttershy is the one behind her." Continued Twilight. Rarity then stepped aside to reveal a butter coloured pegasus. She had a pink mane and tail, the former in which she was hiding her face behind. I can see how she got the name. Gaige mused. "And that's-" Twilight was cut off as a pink blur rushed past her and stopped right in front of Gaige. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Where are you from? How did you get here? How do you stand on two legs? What'syourfavouritecolourdoyouprefercakeorcupcakesisthatametalarmdidyoubuilditar-mmph." Her ramblings were cut short as a lavender aura surrounded her lips and shut them. "Sorry about that." Twilight apologized. "Pinkie can be a little-" "A human, Pandora, long story, toes and I think something in the ears, purple, cupcakes, yes, and yes." Gaige interrupted. Everyone just sat there, shocked looks plastered onto their faces. "What?" She asked. "How the hay did you understand that?" Rainbow Dash blurted out. Gaige shrugged. Meanwhile, Pinkie rapidly scribbled notes onto a piece of paper she got from seemingly nowhere. "Oo-kay." Twilight said slowly. "Now that I've introduced my friends, can you please tell us about yourself?" "What do you want me to say? I'm not exactly used to the people I meet wanting to get to know me." Gaige responded. "You can start with why yer arm is metal." Applejack inquired. "Alright then, take a seat cause it's a long story." Gaige announced, plopping onto the couch. "So lemme get this straight. You cut yer own arm off... for a science fair project?" Applejack questioned. "Not just any science fair project. My greatest creation!" Gaige retorted. "W-wouldn't that h-hurt?" Fluttershy stuttered. "Somepony dosen't just cut off a l-l-limb and not feel pain." "Oh it hurt, but the real pain was connnecting the nerves. I had to basically solder them to the receivers in the socket." Gaige said, unlatching her arm and showing the metal connector in her shoulder. Fluttershy's face flushed of all colour, Applejack and Rainbow Dash cringed, Twilight looked like she was going to be sick, Pinkie gave her a concerned look, and Rarity fainted. "Yeesh, I didn't know you all were a bunch of pansies." "Why would you do that? That dosen't sound fun at all." Pinkie asked. "Like I said, Deathtrap is one of my greatest achievements. Of course I was going to devote myself to my work. Besides, the job was already partly done when I cut myself on some sheet metal." "What is Deathtrap anyways? You've mentioned it before but I've never seen it." Rainbow Dash added. "I can introduce you if you want." Gaige offered. The others looked uncertainly at her. "Relax, it's not like he'll attack you." "Well... Okay, bring it out." Twilight confirmed. "Alright!" Gaige exclaimed. She made a quick motion with her mechanical arm and a flurry of blue lights formed together into the structure known as Deathtrap. "Ladies and... well, ladies. I introduce to you, Deathtrap! Flying legless torso, of pure... AWESOMENESS!" The group stared at the metal creature that appeared in front of them. Mixed responses between the group. "That is so cool!" Rainbow shouted in glee. "Ooh, another new friend!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Dosen't look too friendly." Applejack stated, eying the robot warily. Gaige looked around the room, noting each of their responses. "Hey, where's Fluttershy?" She asked. A small squeak emitted from behind the couch, Gaige looked over and found the pegasus quivering with her head under her hooves. "You alright." Gaige asked. "I-it looks s-s-scary." Fluttershy whimpered. Gaige realized just what the situation is. Deathtrap was designed to intimidate her foes and that design it now backfiring on her by intimidating them. "Gaige," Twilight said, gaining her attention. "We might want to do something about that." "I think I still have his original design stored somewhere, it's not as intimidating, but it'll take some time fishing it out." Gaige informed. "Perfect, do you mind doing that? It would make things much easier." Twilight requested. "On it, anything else while I'm at it?" Gaige asked. "Well, I don't think calling it 'Deathtrap' would be a good Idea. Are there any other names we could use?" The unicorn asked. "I call him 'DT' for short. Will that work?" Gaige said, digistructing Deathtrap out of existence. Twilight nodded as Gaige threw up a blue, holographic screen that curled about halfway around her. She began to sift through the files before glancing at Twilight's awestruck face. "Interactive hologram." Gaige stated idly as she continued to sift through the data. "I'm still so amazed at how advanced your technology is." Twilight said, intently focusing on Gaige's work. "What else can it do?" She asked. "It records audio and video, writes and records text, it actively creates a digital map of the land as I traverse it, records everything I have in my inventory unit, manages my shields, and so on." Gaige said matter-of-factly. "Ah there you are." She selected a file and an image sprung up of Deathtrap, but it looked different. This Deathtrap lacked lights, blades, and other parts that he had when Gaige summoned him.. Gaige tapped a small square in the corner which read 'set as active model' below it and a yellow 'X' appeared within it. She closed down the 'menu' and summoned Deathtrap again, this time it looked like it did in the image that she selected earlier. "There we go. That better Twilight?" Gaige asked. "I think we should let Fluttershy be the judge of that." Twilight recommended. "Fluttershy? Come on out, Gaige made some changes to Deathtrap, er, DT. He should look a little less intimidating now." Fluttershy timidly peeked out from behind the couch to view to view DT. "I-It looks a little less scary." She murmurs. "Well, it's a start." Twilight says. Gaige digistructs DT away and sits back down. "So, when's the gathering again?" She asks. Twilight looks at a clock on the wall and lets out a sharp gasp. "In five minutes! We gotta go now!" She exclaims. "Where's Spike? SPIKE!" "He left when Gaige did the thing with her arm." Dash said as she pointed to said human's mechanical appendage. Spike stumbled back in, his face slightly green. "Here I am." He groans. "Perfect, everypony's here." Twilight begins. Her horn flares with a magenta aura and a blinding light flashes. When everyone regains their sight, they find that they're standing on a stage behind a large red curtain. The murmuring of the crowd on the other side muffled. A beige pony with a grey mane and tail jumped back in surprise from the sudden teleportation. "Twilight! You're here! Just in time, I take it this is Gaige?" She asks, nodding towards said human. "Yes she is." Twilight responds. "Gaige, meet Mayor Mare." "Hey." Gaige greets. "Hello." The Mayor returns. "I would love to get acquainted but we're starting now." She says, pointing to the curtains. "I'll start off, wait here." Twilight says to Gaige before walking between the curtains and out the other side. The entire town of Ponyville was gathered before the stage. Twilight suppressed a gulp before walking up to the microphone and cleared her throat. All conversation abruptly stopped and everypony focused on the stage. "Many of you may be wondering why I gathered all of you here today." Twilight began. A series of confirmations emitted from the crowd. "I am here to inform you of a new visitor to Ponyville. She is a creature not native to Equestria or the planet in general. She is known as a human and, due to unfortunate events, she is stuck here until further notice. I'll let her answer any questions you may have. Fillies and gentlecolts, I introduce to you, Gaige." Twilight moved aside as Gaige stepped out from behind the curtains and walked up the the microphone. Murmuring broke out throughout the crowd at the sight of the human. "Hey. Uh, I'm Gaige as you have probably guessed." She started. Silencing the crowd. "I'm not exactly sure what to say so I guess I'll just answer any questions you have." Several hooves rose from the crowd. "Yes, you." She said, pointing to a cream coloured pony with a two-toned pink mane and tail, and the image of a rose on her flanks. I need to ask Twilight what those tattoos are about. She thought. "Is your arm made of metal?" She asked. "Yes, I made it myself." Gaige responds. "Uh, you." She says, pointing to another pony. "Do you mean any harm to us?" She asks. "No." Gaige answers. Slightly annoyed someone would assume such a thing. "That said, I'm not just gonna sit there and take it if someone attacks me." "Why don't you have any fur?" Another asks. "I dunno, that's just how we are." "How did you get here?" "Beats me." "What will you be doing here?" "Probably any odd job someone needs done. Speaking of which, come to me if you need help with something dangerous. If it pays, I'll deal with it. After several questions and the reveal of DT, the gathering was wrapping up and the mayor had come out to give a small statement informing everypony where Gaige was staying and how she was to be treated the same as everypony else. Gaige went backstage where the mane 6 and Spike were waiting. "Glad that's over with." Gaige muttered. "Surely it wasn't that bad." Rarity said. "Well, it beats being shot at." She commented. Gaige's minimap detected someone behind her. The human turned around to face a mint green unicorn with a white and green mane and tail and the image of a lyre on her flanks. She had a massive grin on her face. Gaige remembered her from the gathering and how she had asked if she could have her arm. "Uh, yes?" Gaige asked warily. "Hi, my name is Lyra Heartstrings." 'Lyra' said, extending a hoof. Gaige reluctantly took it in her right hand and gave it a firm shake. Lyra admired her hand momentarily before breaking the hand\hoofshake. "Can you, not grin like that please?" Gaige asked. "What's wrong with my grin?" Lyra asked, slightly offended. "You remind me of Shade like that. It's kinda creepy." Gaige responded. "Who's Shade? Is he another human?" She asked excitedly. "Yeah, an insane and clingy one." "Oh. Okay." There was an awkward silence. "So. You need something?" Gaige asked. "Oh, right. I'd like if you could come with me and answer some questions." She answered. Gaige thought for a moment. "Eh. I got nothing else to do." Gaige said. She turned to the mane six. "See ya later." Each pony, and Spike, spoke their farewells before Gaige was practically dragged off by the ecstatic unicorn. "Are you sure you can find your way back?" Bonbon asked. Gaige was standing just outside of the front door to Lyra's home. Lyra had taken her there and began to ask all manner of questions involving humans. There she met Lyra's roommate and longtime friend Bonbon who had quite a tame reaction to finding Lyra and the new resident of Ponyville conversing in the living room. Bonbon was a cream coloured earth-pony who had a mane and tail which were half pink and half blueberry coloured and had the image of three pieces of candy on each of her flanks. Apparently, humans were supposedly mythological creatures in which Lyra had always had a fascination in and "never shut up about" according to Bonbon. "I'll be fine, thanks though." Gaige responded. They bid each other their farewells and Gaige left for the library. The teleportation to the town hall meant that there was a good amount of blank space on her map between her and the "Golden Oaks Library" so Gaige decided to take the scenic route and meet a few of the locals. She met a few ponies such as Filthy Rich whom she found out disliked her and considered her "a trespasser in Equestria and a danger to the public", along with an eccentric stallion named Time Turner who was walking with Derpy (In which Gaige found out that her real name was Ditzy Doo and that Derpy was just a nickname) and her daughter Dinky, to name a few. She also came across Rarity at her shop whom offered to make her a new set of clothes to replace the "Garish" and "Inelegant" ones she currently had. Gaige declined the offer explaining that the style she wore describes her childish but tough and intelligent personality. Though Rarity still managed to convince her to let her draw up some designs for Gaige to judge at a later date. Leaving "The Carousel Boutique" that, true to it's name, resembled a carousel and headed for the library. She needed to see if she could get a workshop set up somewhere out back so she could work on a project Lyra asked her to do. "Hey Twilight." Greeted the Mechromancer as she walked through the door to find Twilight and Spike reorganizing the library. "Hey Spike." "Hi Gaige, how was your talk with Lyra?" Twilight returned. Spike simply waved. "It was good, I met her roommate Bonbon." "I honestly didn't expect you to get along so easily." "I have social skills, I just don't get a lot of opportunities to use them. Anyways, would you mind if I built a workshop out back? Lyra asked if I could make something for her." Twilight pondered that for a moment. "Okay, but only if you tell me what it is." She answered. "Deal, but it stays between us." Twilight gave a nod and Gaige knelt down and whispered something in her ear. "Ah, I see." Twilight stated. "One question, how will you be funding all of this?" She asked. "Every town has some odd jobs that need to be done, I'll just head to the nearest notice board. Speaking of which, where would I find one?" "There's one by the town hall. Would you like some directions?" "Sure." Gaige threw up her holographic map. "This is the map of where I've been so far, can you pinpoint where the town hall is?" Twilight walked over next to Gaige and took a look at the map. "Here." She stated as she put her hoof on a part of the map where the tow hall would be. She gasped as she withdrew her hoof to find a hollow, white diamond where she had placed it. "Thanks Twi." Gaige said as she closed down the map and headed for the door. Gaige was standing in front of a notice board at the town hall and looking at the odd jobs needed around town. Needless to say, they were all boring. Roofing, woodcutting, cleaning. Argh! Does anyone have something interesting for me to do! The mechromancer huffed in frustration and crossed her arms. No hunting, no wanted posters, no bandit camps to clear. Boooooriiiing. She was about to leave the town hall when one of the staff walked up to her. "Can I help you with something ma'am?" She asked. "I'm just looking for something to do to earn some money but there isn't anything interesting to do. I'm pretty sure the most dangerous job here is the roofing." Gaige responded. "Pandora may be a hellhole that tries to kill you every ten minutes but at least there are some interesting jobs there." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Said the pony. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but there's a potion brewer named Zecora that lives out in the Everfree Forest that might need some assistance." "And why would her jobs be more interesting?" "Well, the Everfree Forest isn't exactly a safe place. It's populated with many dangerous predators. She might need some help involving the local wildlife." Gaige thought about this for a moment." "Sounds like something you'd have on Pandora. Alright, I'll bite. Can you tell me where to find her?" "Head straight down the road until you find a cottage near the edge of town. The pegasus that lives there should be able to point you in the right direction from there." "Alright, thanks." "Don't mention it." And with that, Gaige parted for the cottage. The cottage was easy enough to find, there wasn't exactly a lot else to see. The human walked up to the door and gave it a few knocks. The door opened to reveal a familiar butter yellow pegasus hiding behind her light pink mane. "Oh, hey Fluttershy. I didn't realize you lived here." The Mechromancer greeted. "Hello Gaige." The timid pegasus greeted. "Yes, I do live here. Did you come here for something? That is, if you don't mind me asking." "I was told that you could give me directions to some potion brewer named Zecora's house." Gaige returned. "I'm looking for a job and someone told me that Zecora might have one more suited to my skills." "Oh, well I do know where she lives. But, the Everfree is a very dangerous place." "So is Pandora, but I'm still here." "Well, o-okay. I guess I can take you there if you want." "Thanks Fluttershy." Gaige finishes. The two then depart for the dark treeline.