> A War Of Unseen Proportions. > by ArkKane > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Second Chances With A Slice Of Surprise. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the beginning… this is when I lose my old life and emerge in a new world, and it’s as strange and fucked up as I expected. From what I’ve heard in this world it seems likely that I was brought here through Discord’s machinations in an attempt to either help Equestria or torment some random mortal… in truth I wouldn’t put it past him to be doing both at the same time! Right, introductions, I unfortunately do not remember my name from my human life, so we’ll simply refer to myself as ‘Subject’ and work from there. When I was Subject I had a rather sub-par life, I had video games, internet, and a decent income. Every day I enjoyed fresh fizzy soft drinks and several apple-based drinks and slices along with whatever was convenient at the time, either ordering out or simply cooking my own meals. Like I said, this was an okay lifestyle that I enjoyed, the only qualms I had was the reality of my own mortality. Just before another bout of intrusive existential nightmare fuel could force its way into my mind during my alone time, I heard a knock on my door. Normally I would not be so eager to answer, but in truth I did not want to face that singularity of my existence, so I opened the door wide. I found it surprising to find no-one there, the only item set upon my porch being a simple brown package. I picked up the white package and carried into the house, setting it upon the table. I investigated the blue package incredulously, no-one would have left me a package at this time, especially not a red and white striped package, as no holiday coincided with its delivery. Of course Halloween was coming soon but that was no reason to deliver green sequin packages to someone with no return address. That set off some red flags as I looked over the glittering pink parcel, no matter how many times I scoured the orange and black paper I saw no sticker with a return address, or even a sending address, all it had was a tag with my name on it. I weighed my options, either I would attempt to ignore the reflective foil box to the best of my ability while my crippling doubts and depression continue to eat me alive… or I open this package which probably houses some sort of demon. Sighing, I reach my hands to the tape of the silky red package and tear it off, opening it to reveal only a costume. That costume being that of a Cybran ACU from the original Supreme Commander, a note was attached to its chest. “O...kay? What in the fuck?” I chuckled a little. “Someone’s playing some dumb joke on me.” I mused to myself, not knowing what I do today. Like I said, Halloween was just around the corner, and someone has anonymously gifted me with a costume from one of my favourite series. Since I did not find the coincidence itself to hide malicious intent I decided to try it on. The suit was accurately proportioned, and made slightly bigger than needed, so with only some slight altering to the straps it was a loose but reasonable fit, and the arm cannon looked pretty cool. “This is cool… say why is this bit glowing?” I asked to myself upon looking at the barrel, considering the suit itself had no electronics, this was concerning. Immediately afterwards a burst of energy erupted from the arm cannon and into the wall, however instead of getting a new window, I ended up creating a strange gateway. I didn’t understand what was happening until it pulled me in, but it was clear the moment I entered the rift, someone had used a Quantum Gate on me. At the very least that was the only explanation as to what I saw when I emerged. When I looked around, I was in a clearing in a strange forest, standing in the centre of a Cybran-made Quantum gate that had honestly seen better days, and the base that was here was a lot worse. By what I could see the buildings were scaled accurately to my form, which meant that they were really tiny in comparison to the tall trees that surrounded the area. My first thought was to reconstruct the base and get it operational, but that thought was countered appropriately by ‘what the hell am I gonna go to war with? Spiders? Raccoons? A slightly over-enthusiastic dog?’ and proceeded to merely place a waypoint on the map and leave the wreckage for when I can find something useful for it. As I walked through the area in order to search for any kind of civilisation, I found myself thankful that my motor and hydraulic functions were more finely tuned and reactive than standard ACU systems, I didn’t have to suffer the stiff, clunky and very slow movements of what one would expect from a normal Armored Command Unit. this revelation started out as a brisk walk, then a slow run, and then a full-on sprint, all of which never once strained my range of motion as I rushed through the trees with no qualms with exhaustion or dehydration. I still had no idea what the Neural Link Software was about, maybe I get to remote control individual units like in Warzone 2100 or Executive assault or something. “Hahaha!! This is what it’s like to be alive!!” Indeed it was, I laughed, I ran, I felt the wind rush over my faceplate and for once I no longer feared the curse of a limited lifespan as I rushed out of the forest and looked upon the open sky. The sun shone upon me as I took it all in, seeing the chance at a new life, a new world, with a whole new power. As I finally slowed, I searched around only to find a village in the distance, which I ran towards. From my improved optics all I saw were anthropomorphic equines but I just did not care. This is it! This is a gift from gods, I’m free! Free to live forever with no grim reaper as a badass robot- why’s that blue streak heading towards me? *WHAM!* I flew back and crash into the ground, I looked down to find, thankfully, no dents… but with a blow like that knocking off my feet, it’s clear something got jostled. Though I didn’t have time to focus on that as my assailant, a cyan pegasus with hair that fits more in a gay pride parade was standing over me. “Alright, you freaky demon thing! Nopony tries to attack Ponyville on my watch.” Ponyville… dumb horse puns… “[warning! Warning! Neural Link Software compromised, disabling connection.]” Disabling it? That would imply I was already- I could not finish that thought as a sudden headache overwhelmed me as it felt like my brain was being pulled back down into something, causing me to black out for a second. However it was what I saw when I woke up that terrified me. My eyes opened as a visor and several cables disconnected from my body and moved up into the ceiling of the room I was in, I was no longer laying on the grass but sitting in a chair in the centre of a small command centre. There was a holographic-telepathic hybridised command system in the chair to command the motions of the construct I was in, directly in front of me was a tactical map of the area, akin to the games, and past that… Past that was a large frontal view-screen was what I had exactly seen when I was looking through what I thought were my eyes, the cyan pegasus looking down at me… my ACU. the sound of my surroundings played from speakers yet my terror left me numb to the sound, I shakily looked down at my real hands, seeing the Symbiont augments and the specialized pilot suit as the realization dawned on me and I looked back to the Giantess Anthro Pony. “Oh, fuck me!!” > Chapter 1: Did Not Think This Through. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, so… status report, let’s see. I’m currently a Cybran Commander, a Symbiont, meaning if I work it right I’m still immortal. I have an ACU with access to all Cybran constructs with a high-end fabricator so I’m not in any immediate danger. I’m on an alien world with anthropomorphic equines that look… really fucking hot, so dying a virgin might not be an issue. What else, what else… ah! How about the fact that I’M ON A WORLD OF GIANTS!! When I was coming here I was not expecting for my ACU to be proportional to a human in this super-sized world! Which means me, a normal sized human, is about the size of a fucking ANT! So the only safety I have would either be inside a base or in this ACU, which would be limited protection when you consider said base could’ve been totalled by a single one of the soldiers these Equines had, especially considering I had just been tackled by what I could assume was a hot-headed civilian. I blink at the thought, that was right, I was currently on the ground, with a Cyan Blue Pegasus staring me down after tackling what she assumed was a kind of demon. Thank god for AI-assisted cognitive thought or I would have been still for several good hours when really I’ve only been still for a second. Immediately two objectives were clear: A: She can’t learn I’m just a very tiny human in a mech, the giant metal faceplate is the only safety measure I have and the only form they’re ever going to take seriously. B: I need to show weakness, while a counter-intuitive strategy, she’s expecting a demon, and a demon could shrug this off. If I want to gain any kind of ally, I’m going to need to play the sob-story card and throw in a severely weak refugee act. I took a deep breath, and commanded the ACU to follow my instructions to make slow, shaky movements, and to temporarily drop the quality of the outward speaker. In this state ‘I’ meekly reached up to her with my fabricator arm, using whatever holographic systems I had to show a hand instead of a cannon-like implement, speaking softly. “W...why…?” The results were immediate, the instant confusion and creeping regret on her face as she heard my ‘broken and weak’ voice. “D-don’t play dumb! Why would a demon just-” “De...mon? I just came here, for help.” I left a pause with a few convincing coughs. “Please… help me, I can’t hold on…” And with that, I drop all except the most vital systems and the command link, a veritable silent running, causing the ACU’s hand to crash into the dirt as the lights of the eyes and body dimmed. Immediately I zoomed in on the command map so I could view the mare’s reaction. The pegasus was actually panicking around my ‘body’ with tears in her eyes, believing she had actually killed me through her brash assumptions and immediate jump into action. She was trying to drag me into town frantically, muttering about how someone named ‘Twilight’ can fix me up, followed by the repeated pleading to not be dead before finally rushing off to get some help. Knowing it wouldn’t be long before she arrived with other ponies, I decided to take a look around the control centre. There was a sleeping pod, a sonic shower, a Quantum-Net Computer- Oh cool! A food and beverage replicator!! ---------------- It was now tomorrow, I had emerged from my sleeping pod and got a good shower, and I’ve gotten myself some breakfast. Now all that was left was to relax and let myself enjoy my cheddar omelette and apple juice. “Good morning, world.” “[Good Morning, Master!]” a very cheerful… and british, voice emerged. “AH! What the fuck?!” “[Oh, sorry Master, was I not supposed to reply?]” “No, no. The reply was reasonable, the problem was I didn’t expect one, I thought I was alone.” “[Did you not read the note? The Creator of this ACU wanted to ensure you understood every part of it.]” “I didn’t believe much about it initially.” I admitted. “but yes, I did read it, I’m guessing you’re the assistant AI?” “[That’s right, Master! And I was created via the memories of who you’d find the most appealing to assist you, then collected the matching data accordingly!]” I blink, and finally caught why that accent was so familiar. “And so my ideal AI assistant is Seras Victoria from Hellsing Abridged?” “[Yep!]” I stared out before finally putting together the best response. “Fucking. Awesome.” “[Thanks, Master!]” “Alright, so… status report?” “[Well, after the pegasus and her friends grabbed your ‘Carcass’, after discerning that you were still ‘alive’ they took you to the local hospital, the ACU is currently being directly fed magic via an IV drip.]” “Is it causing any risks to the main core?” “[no, it seems the Nuclear Core is being altered by it, nothing major right now but it seems our power efficiency’ll get better if we take in more.]” “Alright… power up the ACU while I get ready, it’s time for me to wake up.” I finish my breakfast and head to the command chair. Once I sat down upon the throne-like seat I saw the cables lower down and link, allowing me to be fed the full tactical readout. I decided to leave the Neural Link Software disconnected as it didn’t seem hardened enough for safe use. A second after the connection completed, the front view-panel activated, revealing a sterile white ceiling, and the speakers opened to the sound of a low buzzing hum of the light. Since I was inside, the sensors of my ACU were all I had available to see my surroundings, so I decided to get up slowly and look around. As expected from my audio feed, I was alone in the room, it was night so I was most likely outside of visiting hours or at the least the pegasus would be here out of a sense of guilt. With the lack of devices on me, I assumed with my ACU’s alien materials, they cannot monitor it’s vitals, so that means they won’t detect when I leave. I got up, intending to do so, turning to the door, I walked over and reached my hand out to turn the kno- Wait… I look down at my arms, seeing only two thin cannon-shaped devices for forearms, then back to the knob… the round, twisting knob that cannot simply be opened through a weighted push. “...ffffffffffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-” > Chapter 2: I Really Need To Make A Plan. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “[Master… are you-]” “Yes, Seras… I’m fine, thanks for shutting off the outward speaker before I gave us away.” Quite, after I had realised my mecha’s lack of functioning digits I was… let’s go with ‘perturbed’ and move on. Either way I was stuck in the room with no method of exit, and yes, I checked the windows. The problem with using the windows was while I was the same height as the average pony, I was no way near the same width, especially considering the large kick-ass shoulder spikes I had, good for flair, not so good for manoeuvrability. So yes, I was a bit too bulky to crawl out a second story window. There’s also the fact that I was indeed on the second story, and if this ACU got knocked over and jostled by a hostile native, I’m not so sure it could survive a heavy impact with the concrete with no method of propulsion. With the basic methods of escape not possible, I looked into ACU upgrades. Teleporter, being the obvious, would fail, as I need to have full view of my surroundings, and unfortunately for some reason Fog of War was still a thing! So I could not teleport far enough away from the hospital without risking me vertically bisecting an innocent pony. Really did not need that mental image-GAH! I did NOT need the tactical simulator to render said image!! Okay, moving on immediately before I hurl. I decided to keep searching, immediately I disregarded the use of weapons to break down the door, I’m attempting to ensure an alliance with these creatures, and showing that I can vaporize a door literally after making myself look weak is a very stupid idea. That fact negated the microwave laser upgrade. My search then settled on a strange new back upgrade. [Gauntlet Drones] [Offers hand-like manipulators at will] “...Seras.” “[yes, master?]” “That was not there before…” She sounded very sheepish. “[w-well, you sounded very upset about the ACU not having hands so…]” I give a disapproving glare at a camera in the room. “I’m not upset that you did that, I’m upset you did not mention you could create and edit schematics to begin with.” “[Sorry, master.]” I shook my head and decided to build the upgrade, despite the unwelcome surprise, I could still use the upgrade to help in my situation. Immediately I sat back and watch as the self-repair systems flooded out to begin construction on the new devices, already able to see the outline of two clawed gauntlets placed on my back and held using docking clamps. I sat back and relaxed, my body blocking the door, which meant nopony will be able to enter while I was doing this and interrupt the upgrade. “[...Are you still mad, Master?]” Seras chimed in after a good while. “I… *sigh* no, I’m not mad… but I am disappointed you didn’t trust me with this information, you are supposed to help me in my duties, and I can’t do that if you withhold these things from me.” “[okay daddy… eep!]” she went silent at the mistake, and I was silent too and not wanting to look her in the ‘eyes’. DAMMIT BONER GO DOWN!! [upgrade complete] “OH THANK FUCK!” I activated it, I did not bother to watch the drones encompass my forelimbs or be awed by how they worked and articulated as I opened the door and ran out of the hospital. I reached outside, turned to the forest, I was close, I was home free, I was- *WHAM!* I get decked in the face by an AUTOBOT INSIGNIA! “MOTHERFUCKER!!” I screamed inside the cockpit as the object clattered to the ground, angrily I picked it up. "To all Displaced out in the multiverse-” “NO! FUCK YOU! Fuck your stupid message and your bullshit! I am on an alien planet! I’ve had my ass handed to me by a lesbian bird-horse! I have been taken from a cozy lifestyle and now live in a world of technicolor throw-up! The world is full of magic, monsters and apparently demons! Every inhabitant is some furry’s wet dream! And I could barely square up to an ant here when outside of my JAEGER-SIZED MECH! I am in a world I cannot understand, facing certain death unless I stay inside the giant robot that could go nuclear if it gets hit too hard. The inhabitants have far more capability to fight than I ever could, and I may be facing gods for all I know if I piss somebody off! You know what I had to do on day one? I had to act weak! I had to act like I was in front of a bear and play fucking dead! And now someone’s deciding to fuck with me with some sort of transformers medal?! What, do you expect me to stick it on my chest and go ‘Autobots, roll out!’ FUCK YOU! I’ve had it with whatever interdimensional piece of shit feels the need to bend me over the table this week like some fucking secretary! So no! You do not get to talk, you are going to shut up and bring whoever the fuck sent you over here, or I am not going to hear a peep out of you! Got it?!” The medal was silent. “Good, now I can-” *FWOOM!* Suddenly a rift opened in the air, causing the light around to fade as darkness surrounded me and the portal, sparks shooting out from the event horizon. In the centre I saw a strange blocky silhouette falling, getting bigger and bigger. Eventually the object fell, causing a crater to erupt where it fell. Eventually the rift closed and I was able to get a good look at the individual in the light. There, in all his glory, stood Optimus Prime, the massive and imposing leader of the Autobots. But in this world, he was about the size of a mouse. “...okay, this actually makes me feel better.” > Chapter 3: Freedom Is The Right Of All Sentient Beings. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- {James’ POV} I can’t believe this, first I find out that the Elements of Harmony are Primus’s kids, second I’ve been summoned to a world where everything seems a little... bigger? Even the grass was bigger, to where it goes right up to my knees. This is weird. I thought before I heard a voice say,  “Okay, this actually makes me feel better.”  “Who is-” I turned around to see a robot, THAT’S THE SIZE OF A JAEGER FROM PACIFIC RIM!!! “SWEET MOTHER OF THE ALLSPARK!!! Who the heck are you?!” I shouted, in response, the massive construct seemed to go into thought. “Hmm… you know, I’ve figured everything out except for my name,” he replies. “I’d say… just refer to me as Delta-12, first of the Cybran-Equestria Battalion. To be honest, you arriving at this size has answered a lot of questions for me, and you may not see my face right now, but I have the biggest grin… this is just hilarious.” “Oh really?” I snapped my fingers and became taller than him by 10 feet, “You were saying?” In response he seemed to just stare. “You know, that’s not very fair, man. I’ve been rather upset already about how the ponies here stand around the same height as my ACU, I don’t need someone with Chaos Magic making me feel even smaller.” after stating that, a small hatch opened up at the top of his head. Upon it opening a human climbed out and stood there, in this world he was about the size of an ant. I stood there just watching, then burst out laughing, “HAHAHAHAHA!!! That is rich! A human the size of an ant! Oh man I’m sorry it is not funny! I’m trying to stop! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!”  I could see him scowl. “I’m not a human! I’m a symbiont!” “Wait what? You look like a human though.” “A Symbiont is something that was human, if you took time to notice the cybernetics, my existence comes from the merging of a human brain and an artificial intelligence.” “Oh, that kinda makes sense, kinda like a cyborg, I get it.”  “Not really we’re considered a whole new race, I’m not gonna go into it but there’s a lot of bad stuff that my people had to go through because of humans.” he hopped back into the mech. “Anyways, I didn’t exactly intend to drag you here, I kinda got miffed at this autobot medal smacking into my face and I just ranted at it.” “Oh really, well you just want to hang out and talk?”  “I would but I kinda broke out of hospital after faking that I was frail, weak, and that a Rainbow-maned mare knocked me into a coma, all for the sake of not being seen as a demon from Tartarus.” “Oi, stinking Rainbow Crash, she attempted to hit me, you know what happened, she broke her hooves and had a serious case of bleeding, second time minor bleeding,” “Funny considering she shook off crashing into the side of a mountain at top-speed, but in all seriousness, it was a smart move, she thought I was a danger, so I made myself to be severely weak and close to death… I mean if I was in your position I would’ve used my chaos powers to have my entire chest break apart on impact, I know it’s a hit to your pride to show weakness, but if their xenophobia’s going to get in the way of that, then showing weakness might have caused them to reconsider you as something less that a threat.” “Yeah, but enough of that need help getting away? Because I can give you a lift,” I said, transforming into my vehicle mode, it was about 2 feet taller than him, he nodded and climbed atop. “Yeah, head to these coordinates, and try not to run over any of the destroyed structures in the area.” He transmitted a map to me with a marker showing the destination deep in the Everfree. “Will do,” I drove away from the hospital and towards the Everfree, “By the way, who are you cosplaying as?”  “Some guy called Sid Roc sent me a magic ACU costume, sending me to a super-sized pony world as a Cybran Commander in an ACU, you ever heard of the game Supreme Commander?” “Can’t say that I have, what can you do?” “My left arm holds a Fabricator, which allows me to construct structures directly onto the battlefield, the ACU is designed around being able to set up a base and construct an army anywhere at any time, thus the acronym ‘Armoured Command Unit’... this thing also has a nuclear reactor powering it.” “Really?! If that thing got damaged wouldn’t you kill everything if it blew up?!” “Well in the games, the mission boils down to destroying an ACU, and as such, you get to see a lot of very big explosions, though unlike a normal nuclear reactor, it does not cause any fallout and has a limited explosion radius that you can get away from… unless you’re the pilot, of course. Though really the reactor core is so well protected, it’s hard for something to cause a rupture, and the self-repair systems ensure it stays that way.” “Phew, I was worried there, if we got hit by something and that thing got damaged, goodbye life, hello lady death. By the way, you said the fabricator can make an army?” I asked, thinking of something good. “Not exactly, I can make a base with factories and resource structures, but I can’t build the army in an instant, also if you can find an alternative to my reactor, I’d appreciate it, so that when I do face something I don’t go boom, know what I’m sayin’?” “Yes, well I was thinking if you did make an army, make an army of dragon sized Godzillas, that way no evil can hurt the innocent, also can you make a bunch of different ACUs? And I know a way to solve the nuclear reactor as an energy source.” “I have actual limits, and I have something far better than those units, why would you need ACUs? And what solution?” “Dang, reason why is because I’m king of the Crystal Empire, and a king’s got to protect his people, also the solution is me giving some energy from the Matrix, and make a new power core, which can probably give you an unlimited amount of power,” I noticed something in the corner of where ever my eyes are, but thought nothing of it. “Sounds like a great idea! Now, I can’t give you ACUs but once I finish up this base, I can give you a horde of tech 3 engineers to build you a full Cybran installation.” “Cybran installation?” “As in a base of operations with which to build Cybran units, and with tech 3 engineers and enough resources, you’ll be able to get some of the high-end experimentals.” “Cool so basically-GAAAAAAGH!” I was interrupted by a magic shot to the side, a strong one too, managed to tip me over. I transformed, and looked to see the Main 6, looking at me and Delta, with looks of surprise, and hatred, well the hatred was from Twilight. “OW! What are you doing! You could’ve killed us!!” Delta said in shock and anger. “I wasn’t trying to kill you, I was trying to stop you, monster!” she was about to fire another blast, when she heard coughing, “Ow, that hurt,” I said getting up, showing how beat up and damaged I was, thank you Chaos magic, “Why would you do that, we’re not monsters, we just want a new place to call home,” Twilight looked at us in fear and uncertainty, “We meant no h-harm, we just wanted a new hooooommee,” I fell on my back and I faked passing out, hearing Delta shouting. “YOU! You call us monsters? When I limped to your town to find help! And now you attack my friend?! I was right to actually flee the hospital when I could! I only see six monsters here!” ‘Nice work, Delta, giving them the guilt trip,’ I thought and heard Rainbow Dash speak, “I’m sorry!! I didn’t know!!” I heard her crying, then Delta continued speaking, “Oh, so you don’t know anything about a creature, so you ATTACK IT?! That makes you out to be worse, well how about some lessons? I am from a race that demanded independence from the Earth Empire, so they activated a program which enslaved half my people! And this guy is the leader of a faction of machine beings fighting tirelessly against a tyrant who not only slaughtered those that wouldn’t serve him, but killed his homeworld! You like that? You like that you attacked isolated and weakened freedom fighters?!” I could hear the ponies whimper, and sniffle, ‘Okay a bit too much but effective,’ then I felt a spell washing over my body, the wounds I made began to heal, I realised it was a healing spell, I opened my eyes, and saw Twilight heal me, I let out a fake groan, and got up, “We’re sorry for attacking you, please forgive us.” she said, “I forgive you, but next time, get to know someone first, if good become friends, if they’re evil, then you shoot them.” “Yes, don’t be xenophobic, sometimes the unprovoked attack is what makes enemies.” “We’ll remember that next time,” “Now that we are on peaceful terms, how about introductions,” The Main 6 introduced themselves, not that we didn’t already know about them, then it was our turn, “My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots,” “And I am Delta-12, the first of the Cybran forces on Equestria.” “Wait, you mean you were going to help defend Equestria?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yes, not only for the Ponies’ sake but so my fellow Symbionts would have a sanctuary far from the warring factions of the UEF and Aeon Illuminate.” “Whoa, that’s cool!” “And I was searching for a relic of my world to bring it back online, after I defeated the one who killed it.” the ponies looked at me with sadness, I knew they were about to say how sorry they were about Cybertron, I told them it was alright, I turned to Delta-12, and sent a private ping from my commlink. Which he accepted. -Your advice worked like a charm, they thought that shot really damaged me.- -Of course, say when you get back to your world, I have some other advice.- -Like what?- wanting to hear what other advice my friend has. -Give a speech, but with the speech, fall into the character, like really be Optimus Prime, though I’m sure whoever there may have attacked you out of paranoia, Seras tells me your home is at great risk… so it would be better to forgive and befriend, so not only are you seen as the bigger person-metaphorically-but will also ensure powerful allies in the coming battles.- -Not sure I want to be friends with the princesses, the main 6, except for Fluttershy, allies sure, and how did you know about my world being in danger?- -Seras has been doing research, apparently people like us always bring trouble with us, even if pre-ordained or we don’t want it, and in such cases they begin to befriend the mane six through this hero’s bond. The ponies are not bad creatures, they’re just misunderstood and scared, they forget that Harmony is not Order, but rather both Order and Chaos, you just need to explain that.- -Alright, I’ll remember that, speaking of my world, I should probably get back to it.- -yeah, no problem, while we were talking I got the Mane Six to let us go into the forest alone, you should wait until we’re out of sight to poof away… and also revert to normal size for when you do.- -You got it, don’t want the Crystal Empire having a very large hole, also don’t forget about the engineers.- -I’ll send them by quantum gate, though you should hurry, if you stay here too long people in your world might think you got vaporised and attempt bloody vengeance or something.- -Yeah, Sari made it perfectly clear she was out for blood when I lost my right half of my body.- -Then seriously hurry, you can kiss any alliances goodbye if your girlfriend ends up killing anypony important!- by that point we were out of earshot and line of sight of the ponies. I snapped my fingers and reverted back to my original size, then thought of something, “Hey Delta, wouldn’t the engineers be huge in my world?” “In comparison the Tech 3 Engineer would be big enough for you to sit on without causing any weight-strain.” “So basically they’re still gonna be big, but that’s alright, also I should have your token in case I need your help.” “Uuuuum… I don’t have one… hm, I got it!” his fabricator became active and a spike-like object appeared in my hand. “That’s a Quantum Designator Beacon, it’ll be a temporary link to the Quantum Gate Network so you can contact me and allow me to teleport to that location, at least until you build your own Quantum Gate.” “Thanks, also keep my token ready, I’ll be sure to build that Quantum Gate, good luck on your mission!” He gave me a salute and marched off into the treeline. Then I felt the familiar tug of the multiverse, then I found myself back in the Empire with everyone looking at me with surprise, and by everyone, I mean both Autobots and the Princesses, and Main 6. “Looks like I got some explaining to do.” > Chapter 4: The Reveal (fixed). > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It took three hours once I arrived at the ruined base, but thankfully none of the structures became unsalvageable in my time away, so now I had a fully established base. Another bonus was I didn’t need to waste time or resources upgrading my fabricator so I was able to fully tech up much quicker as well. Speaking of ‘tech up’ I had already begun sending in some tech 3 engineers through the Quantum Gate to the beacon’s signal location and have received confirmation of their landfall and successful construction of a second Quantum Gate, linking me and Prime’s worlds together and to subtly keep an eye on my forces over there. I was rather disgruntled when he seemed to make only Monkeylords and not a single Megalith, but I wasn’t really risking my butt over there so I let him do his own thing. Me on the other hand, I started work on establishing a stable enough economy with what few Mass Deposits I had and a good amount of Storage, before working on an Experimental for myself, the Megalith, like I stated before. Before anyone has any gripes about me making such a monster so soon let me explain something to you… I. Am in. The EVERFREE FOREST! Sure a big enough group of Loyalists might be able to deal with Timberwolves or at best a Manticore, but what if I need to handle a Rok? A Cragodile? A Hydra? So yeah, I’m going to make the big fuck-off titan unit, sue me. As I had to wait a lot longer for this than the rest of the base since it’s from scratch and I need to reclaim a bunch of trees to make room, I was able to relax and begin to properly analyse what was going on outside while my ACU was on autopilot. First thing of note was the ports at the palms of my hand drones, you remember the hand drones right? From the second chapter? Well anyways another point was when they were installed on my arms, the antennas at the fingertips were acting in place of my main fabricator device. A simple gesture and I detached them from the arms, this resulted in them flying at my side and showing them to also be a replacement for my original remote drones. Not really an upgrade to them, just that little aesthetic touch, and I liked that. Unfortunately, as well as downright obvious for me, was that the Megalith was really freaking big, meaning I’ve essentially relayed the location of my base to anyone with eyes. So I decide the best situation is to start work on a Soothsayer, using the tactic of having a tech 1 engineer continue to work on the Megalith while me and the ‘tech 3’s work on the big observation tower. Side note: I have found out that I can’t call any SACUs, I suspected as much since it made more sense that I was requisitioning support command units from Cybran space and not actually constructing them using a portal which had no factory-based systems, and since I haven’t heard so much as a peep on my communicator, my network was not strong or advanced enough to do anything more than connect to the internet (the only reason I could link up to Prime’s equestria was because that beacon was attuned to my signature, so it acted as a kinda pseudo-token that the two gates can piggy-back on). As the micro-cameras dispersed into the air from the Soothsayer, as luck would have it a couple of patrolling weather-ponies saw the forming outline of the massive mecha and immediately fled to inform the town. Seras crunched the numbers and it seems that in all likelihood, Celestia and Luna would be coming over to see for themselves, considering I don’t know the Equestrian schedules, that could also include Cadence and Shining Armor, and Twilight… and The Elements… and Discord-oh no wait, he’s already here, he’s just disguised as a tree. Thank you Omni-Sensor array! Getting around even Chaos Magic Bullshit to give me the info I need. Deciding I needed a distraction, I put my speakers on full and began to pull off the best act yet. “Damn, that tree is UGLY! I mean, I hear that statement about falling from the ugly tree but I didn’t think that meant for actual seeds, damn it’s somehow got a face that not even Mother Nature would love-” “OKAY! I GET IT!” The Draconequus yelled angrily as he flew right up in my ‘face’, his disguise now in tatters. “Oh hey Discord, you trying a new look? Doesn’t work for you, you should stick with your natural beauty.” I commented as I turned back to my work. “Well aren’t you a funny one, I guess someone has been enjoying my little present.” He said as he circled me, and I surprise him as my ‘head’ immediately turned to him, selected lights dimming out in my eyes to simulate a squint. “What you talking about Discord?” I ask, gaining an unnerving grin from the lord of Chaos. “Oh come on, with that Symbiont brain in that little ant-sized head of yours you would’ve figured it out.” Suddenly the memory of a certain box and a certain name flashed in my mind. “You motherfucker!!” “Yes, I decided to have a little fun and bring a Cybran to colorful ponyland! What are you going to do about it?” He said with the smuggest grin as he stares me down. I turned to him, letting my Engineers take on the rest of the work as I stared him down, reattached my arms, took a deep breath with an expression of pure rage and said one simple line. “I’m telling Fluttershy on you.” I stated calmly, and watched as he quite literally went paler than an egg, and I could tell because an egg wound up on his face. As a measure to ensure he could not respond, I turned and bolted through the forest to around where I knew Ponyville was in order to find her cottage. “Nononono! Wait! You don’t need to bring Fluttershy into this!” My serpentine acquaintance said, stopping me in my tracks as he appeared in front of me, so I decided to hear him out, crossing my arms as the ACU mirrored my actions. “I mean, you’ve just been attacked twice by overzealous ponies and despite Prime’s little promise, your core isn’t as stable as you want it to be. For the record, being big is rather overrated, there’s a lot of things you’ll be able to enjoy at your small size, and just to let you know that I didn’t install the neural-link system in there just so you ‘walk’ big.” he said, knocking on the… codpiece. My eyes widened to the point I almost turned the LEDs in my ACUs optics into Hi-Beams. “You didn’t.” “Weeeell… no.” I went deadpan. “But it’s not like you can’t, you don’t exactly have a limit on upgrades if you can design them all to fit together.” he patted me on the head. “I’ll let you finish up, you’ll be having some important guests soon! Tata!” he chuckles as he melts and slides down into a drain in the ground that wasn’t there before, and wasn’t there anymore after a brief flash of light. I slowly turned around, and asked the three questions I needed answered from Seras. “Seras, do my cybernetics ensure I won’t get alcohol damage?” “Yes?” “And can this ACU produce substances from this world using the information from the net?” “Well… yes?” “Could you please synthesize my lunch with Apple Cider today… Hard.” There was no verbal answer as I simply looked at the deployed table adorned with food and requested drink, I sat back and took a long swig from the large glass I was given that was soon refilled. “*sigh* Housten, we have nooo problems…”