> The Mechanical Technomancer in Equestria: Technology is Magic
>  by Phantomdust
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> Prologue
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In a large laboratory in the capital city of the Human Kingdom, a lone hooded figure stood over a work table full of different tools, parts, components, crystals, and wires which were all perfectly organized with machine-like precision, as was everything in the lab. His featureless blue eyes were two polished and perfectly clear lab grown sapphire orbs that faintly glowed with an inner light due to the magic energy from the enchantments put on them that connected them to his brain and allowed them to serve as functional eyes. His noseless mechanical face had overlapping sliding plates over his mouth and jaws that served as "lips" and as the walls of his tongueless mouth which hid his high quality industrial steel artificial teeth which were mainly just for show, though he did use them to cut wires on occasion. When he spoke his voice had a slight metallic reverberation to it, the movements of his mouth didn't perfectly line up with his words, and a blue light flashed in the back of his mouth as his iolite vocalizer lit up with each sound it made. The entirety of his jointed metallic exterior consisted of bland unpolished copper.

His body was unnaturally still. He displayed zero body language whatsoever, save for the occasional blink if he was particularly surprised by something and very rarely even a slight facial expression. He made no gestures while he spoke nor any other unnecessary movements that a normal individual would make unless he very deliberately intended to do so, and even when he did move it just looked wrong somehow. How he moved wasn't anything like how an organic creature moved but neither was it quite like how a typical golem or machine moved. Instead his movements were like a disturbing mixture of all the wrong elements of both machines and organic beings. An effect that was made worse by the soft mechanical whirring and clicking his robotic joints made whenever he moved.

His head was covered by a black hood which obscured his mechanical copper face in the harsh, top down, artificial lighting of his laboratory so the only thing lighting it was the soft blue glow of his eyes. Covering the rest of his utilitarian metal body was his standard uniform meant for everyday work. He had heavy polished black steel-toe military boots covering his feet. He wore a thick black hooded robe with a metallic grey trimming — the fabric of which was made from super thin thread-like wires of pure silver — with a large gear symbol with fifteen spokes that encircled a perfectly measured pentagram with a short series of runes just below the symbol all in metallic thread made from wires of pure gold which served to indicate his military branch, rank, and office sewn into both shoulders. On his legs were thick black pants that perfectly matched his robes even having the same silver trim made of metal fabric.

This mage — as while 99% of his body was artificial he was indeed still in actuality a human mage — was the High Lord of the Research and Development branch of the Human Kingdom's military government, Gerhardt Mechanica. One of the five High Lords that ruled the Human Kingdom and the world's leading expert in purely scientific fields of magic such as technomancy and alchemy.

At the moment, he was just putting the finishing touches on the prototype of an experimental new device that Isabel Sano — the current High Lord of the Medical branch — had requested he work on developing. It was a significant upgrade to the basic sterilization ray the medical branch already made frequent use of which only cleaned whatever the beam hit, be it surgical equipment or a wound. This upgraded version was specifically meant to kill any harmful bacteria, viruses, or any other negative pathogens within a person's entire body and to boost the individual's immune system. It was an idea they both came up with in response to a recent plague that had been running rampant through the kingdom as well as a very concerning rise in the use of and startling recent advancements in biological warfare by the Kingdom of the Wraiths, the Orc and Ogre Tribes, the Serpentine Republic, and many of the Human Kingdom's other enemies.

If the new anti-plague gun worked as it was supposed to then it should instantly cure any pathogen based disease a person may be experiencing even before they begin showing symptoms. However, since he had never built something like this before and was mainly working with concepts and ideas that were largely theoretical at this point, he was certain he was going to have to build dozens upon dozens of models and iterations in order to perfect the technology before it could go into mass production and use. Unfortunately, that would take time and the more time he took the more innocent people would die from this plague and possibly from the bioweapons being utilized by Humanity's enemies. It didn't matter if they were men, women, children, infants, young, or old they would die and it would be his fault for not working fast enough. It was always his fault for not working fast enough. Such was his role as a High Lord.

He had oceans of blood on his hands already from people killed by the weapons and vehicles he had made, the combat golems he had designed, and from those he had failed to save or was forced to abandon. And that was just all the people he had killed indirectly. There was plenty more blood on his hands from the countless enemy soldiers, assassins, spies, and innocent civilians whose only crime was getting caught in the crossfire that he had personally — and sometimes accidentally — slaughtered without remorse over the centuries and every minute he didn't have a finished model of this device added another crimson drop to that ancient rotting sea of blood.

When he was young, killing and death used to affect him greatly. However, he had experienced centuries of almost perpetual war with very brief periods of relative peace scattered in here and there every so often and had personally seen and experienced some of the worst horrors and crimes ever committed by some of the most insane, depraved, sadistic, and outright evil — truly, undeniably, objectively evil — minds the world had to offer. So he was quite jaded to all of the proverbial oceans of blood on his hands at this point and all the death and violence that was an almost daily occurrence for him as a military leader. In his position he couldn't really afford to care about any of the deaths he caused or could not prevent, he simply had to focus on keeping as many of his own people alive as he possibly could.

However, that did not mean he enjoyed having the deaths of innocent civilians — especially human civilians — on his shoulders like this. He absolutely hated it. He was just forced to accept that it was simply the reality of his situation and continue working as he always did. So he hummed a soft and familiar tune to himself, which would sound almost like a child's lullaby to any who might hear it, while recalling pleasant memories from his now ancient past as he worked in an effort to comfort himself and help himself relax.

He remembered his parents and how proud they had been when he had made his first golem when he was just a child and had only just been drafted for his ability to use magic. He remembered how he used to enjoy his work so much when he was an apprentice and lower ranking technomancer, how he would lose himself in the wires and components of complex machinery as one might lose themself in reading a particularly interesting book. He would become so invested in certain projects that he would lock himself alone in a random lab and would spend anywhere from hours to days on end building, repairing, or improving upon different devices or bits of machinery while completely forgoing all of his former organic body's needs for food or sleep until he was completely finished. This would sometimes end up with him being found unconscious if not half dead on the floor before being rushed to the emergency ward of the Medical Branch in critical condition, whereupon he would be scolded by the doctors and medical mages, but that never mattered to him. He remembered how proud he was when he first invented brain augmentations, which allowed him to surpass nature and become effectively immortal which could never have been achieved with the conventional augmentations that existed at the time on their own. He even remembered the moment all his hard work was finally recognized and he was informed that he was to become the next High Lord of the R&D branch after his predecessor had been killed in action while testing and defending an experimental artillery cannon in the middle of some large battle.

Those had all been the best times of his life and were by far his most cherished memories. Unfortunately, those days were long since gone. It had been centuries since he last felt even the tiniest spark of happiness, pride or even so much as the slightest most infinitesimally meager bit of satisfaction while working or for anything he designed or built. His duty as a High Lord and how long he had been one had sucked all the happiness and enjoyment out of his work leaving nothing behind. He could never be satisfied let alone proud of anything he ever built anymore as it was simply never good enough.

Nothing he could do was ever enough. There was always over a hundred different crises that demanded his attention at once and by the time he finished one thing a dozen more would pop up and/or the problem would have escalated past the point that whatever he had done or built could reasonably deal with it and he would have to start over and do or build something else entirely. He tried to delegate as much as possible but even then he struggled to barely keep up as his job was not typically a particularly fast one and required a lot of patience and precision to do correctly.

When Gerhardt finally finished bolting on the device's exterior plating he sighed. Well technically his vocalizer only made a sound that was extremely similar to a sigh with a bit of a static sound in the background, but it was the closest approximation to a sigh that he could physically make since he didn’t have lungs or an actual throat. "I'm finally done. Good. Now I just have to see if I can even turn it on or if I'll have to scrap it, start over, and completely redesign it from scratch... Gods above, I hope this works..." He muttered to himself in a mixture of stress and anxiety.

He was about to attempt to flip a switch to activate the device but paused and simply let his hands fall back to his sides as his sensors suddenly detected energy readings consistent with the presence of a lesser god currently standing directly behind him. "Hello, Gerhardt... Working on another abhorrent toy in a futile effort to control the natural course of life, I see." A familiar, angry, and spiteful voice growled from behind him.

Sighing in extreme frustration Gerhardt turned and saw Silvanus, a relatively young lesser god of nature who used to be kind and helpful but had become disillusioned and cruel, and had a very serious grudge against him. Fortunately he was unable to do anything to Gerhardt or any other mortal directly because of the rules the Greater Gods enforced upon all gods that ever came to the mortal world. He wore a green robe made from plants, had long green hair and a long tangled beard that were reminiscent of vines, grassy green eyes, pointed ears, very pale almost glowing skin like that of an Elf, and he was currently sneering at Gerhardt in complete and utter disdain.

"Greetings, Silvanus. I suppose I should have been anticipating a visit from you seeing as today marks the eight hundredth anniversary of the day that you first requested that I build those Funerary Séance devices for you. I see you are still very clearly upset about how that turned out. I, on the other hand, continue to fail to understand why you refuse to simply let go of your petty, misguided, and completely impotent grudge against me and move on with your life even after eight hundred years, nor why you refuse to accept the facts as they are. The facts being that you give me far too much credit for something I had little to no hand in. If you had never commissioned my services and had never given me those Arcane Equations then Caedes — or the "Father of Liches" if you prefer that completely asinine title he gave himself — would have never been able to use the equations you gave me to invent the study of Necromancy in the first place. I had nothing to do with it beyond developing and building a few machines. So if you truly wish to blame someone you should honestly blame yourself and Caedes rather than me, but I digress..." Gerhardt growled dismissively, irritated by the unwelcome interruption by this very unwelcome intruder. He had neither the time nor the patience to listen to a god blame and vilify him for something that was not his fault by any stretch of the imagination. He already blamed and vilified himself for a lot of things, but Necromancy was most definitely not one of them.

The lesser god’s sneer grew absolutely murderous and he backhanded Gerhardt across the face causing his pain receptors to activate as Silvanus knocked the ancient technomancer’s mechanical jaw out of alignment and very nearly dented the magically reinforced copper plates that made up his face. The shear force of the blow spun Gerhardt a full 180 degrees and very nearly sent him crashing onto the work table behind him which would have destroyed the table and wrecked everything on it due to the sheer weight and momentum of his magically reinforced metal body had he not managed to catch himself on the edge of the table — which happened to be bolted securely to the ground just as all of the many other work tables in the room were, to ensure the safety of the dozens of delicate tools and projects laying on them — before this could happen.

Standing up straight once more Gerhardt turned around to face Silvanus again before reaching up with his right hand and forcing his jaw back into alignment and calmly letting his arm drop back to his side again. Other than that he was completely unphased by the futile act of aggression, knowing the deity couldn't actually do anything to kill or permanently injure him so directly unless Gerhardt threatened him first.

"Silence, you insolent metal abomination! How DARE you attempt to place any of the blame on me! All I did was attempt to give you damned mortals a nice gift, like the naive fool that I was! It was one of your former apprentice who warped and twisted my gift into that grotesque blasphemy you dare call a field of magical study, you bastard! So it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" he growled furiously. With his fists shaking, he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "It doesn't matter. Soon you will be gone forever! You see, while I can't kill you — at least not here — I have finally found a loophole in the rules that I can exploit to at the very least get rid of you, permanently!" He smiled wickedly.

"I... I see... Well then." Gerhardt immediately overclocked his brain, drastically speeding up his perception of time and thus causing everything to seem like it was moving at little more than a crawl from his perspective. He quickly turned to the side and raised one of his hands in front of him which was suddenly engulfed by a bright copper colored aura as he cast a spell and created a portal leading to the main courtyard of the castle. With that done, he immediately began bolting towards the portal as fast as he could causing his joints to loudly whir and click in protest as his body was pushed to the absolute limits of its mechanically enhanced abilities.

He knew full well that he didn't stand a chance against a deity on his own, even a lesser god like Silvanus, but if he could at least get to the court yard then there would be hundreds of mages and soldiers there who could help him hold off Silvanus until everything the human military could possibly bring to bear could arrive to help fight him off. He had already sent a signal to remotely activate the castle's invasion alarms and had sent the other High Lords a message explaining the situation, so all he really had to do was buy as much time as he possibly could. 

This was an absolute disaster. Far worse even then the recent plague or the bioweapons being utilized by Humanity's current enemies. If Silvanus caught him then for the first time in over twenty thousand years the Human Kingdom would be forced to declare war on a lesser god which hadn’t happened since a lesser god had declared war on them during the War of Survival, the very event that had forced the greater gods to create their rules in the first place. This was especially bad as it meant Silvanus would be allowed to kill directly in order to "defend himself" according to the rules laid out by the Greater Gods and he was far more powerful than the first lesser god humanity and their allies had fought. Granted, the Human Kingdom was also far larger and more powerful then it had been during the War of Survival, but that was not necessarily a good thing. In reality all of this just meant that this situation had the potential to absolutely dwarf the War of Survival in terms of scale, devastation, and bloodshed.

Still, he might be able to mitigate this before it escalated to that point and prevent this war from ever occurring if he could just get away. Hell, he would even go so far as to publicly execute himself later if that's what it took to stop this from happening. After all, he would be eliminating the source of the conflict (himself) by doing so and it would be removed in a way that the kingdom would not be forced to declare war due to politics.

Unfortunately, it seemed fate had different plans. Before he even got a quarter of the way to the portal, Silvanus appeared in front of him again and he was now moving just as fast if not faster then he was. "Where do you think you're going, you mechanical freak?! You know damn well you can't escape me!" The lesser god growled as he grabbed Gerhardt by the throat and lifted him up into the air, as he was unable to stop his momentum or change his direction in time to get away. He felt his brain be forced out of its overclocked state by an external force and time returned to its normal pace for him. "So, do you have any parting words before you never see this world again?" Silvanus mocked triumphantly.

Gerhardt sighed and decided to accept his fate since he knew full well that there was absolutely nothing he could do at this point. It wasn’t like he could teleport away or something to that effect. Teleportation magic had yet to be perfected and was millions of times more likely to kill the one being teleported than actually work as intended or he would have used it instead of making a portal, which was a far safer, if less efficient, means of travel. And those numbers were by no means an exaggeration. Out of all 89,053,270 (recorded) trials and experiments with teleportation that had been conducted by almost every intelligent species across the entire world there had never once in the entire history of the planet ever been a single attempt at teleportation magic where the test subject had not been completely destroyed, be it an inanimate object or a living creature. As a result, a few centuries ago a small team of technomancers had decided to simply weaponize it instead and those weapons were extremely effective to this very day, but that was all teleportation magic was good for. Only gods and spirits had ever truly managed to use it as an actual means of travel. And despite all of Gerhardt’s augmentations and intelligence he was still only human so teleportation was far beyond his means.

Gerhardt couldn’t even attack Silvanus in order to force the god to let him go otherwise the deity could kill him outright and claim it was an act of “self defense”. That being said, he was only human, as was previously acknowledged, so he wasn’t exactly sure if he even could harm Silvanus enough to force the lesser god to release him even if he went so far as to pour 98% of his entire magic energy reserves into either the most powerful combat or war spell he knew and then spent another 1% of his remaining magic energy reserves not required to power his body to lace said spell with some of the most vile, cruel, destructive, and outright lethal curses this world had ever seen. It would take the work of a small army of combat and/or war mages working together to pose any sort of threat to him, a single technomancer like him simply wasn't sufficient.

“I have only this to say.” Gerhardt growled, despite his mechanical face displaying no emotions. “While I know full well that I myself am by no means a saint or anywhere near perfect as despite my augmentations I am still only human, you, Silvanus, absolutely disgust me. Not only because you are a god of nature — which as a technomancer is something I absolutely abhor to the point it would induce intense feelings of nausea in me were I still physically capable of such things as it is so pathetically weak, flawed, inefficient, impotent, overall incompetent in terms of design and engineering, and is completely devoid of purpose or direction — but because you as an individual are by far one of the most childish, narcissistic, arrogant, self righteous, spiteful, and hypocritical beings I have ever had the immense displeasure of meeting. You can never accept any fault for your own mistakes, always trying to push the blame off to others, such as myself, when things do not do your way. You believe you are perfect, infallible, and can never be in the wrong simply because you are a god, yet you are so pathetically immature and barbaric that you get angry and violent whenever someone even slightly challenges this idiotic assertion. You—”

Gerhardt could feel Silvanus grip around his throat tightening in anger with every word he spoke to the point the overlapping magically reinforced copper plates that made up the exterior of his throat were on the verge of buckling under the pressure while the lesser god’s expression grew darker and darker yet the technomancer still continued to speak, completely undeterred. He was hoping if he got him angry enough his patience and self control would ultimately shatter and Silvanus would end up harming or killing him in a fit of rage. If he did, the Greater Gods would punish him for breaking their rules and would never allow him to return to the mortal world ever again, thus ending this war before it ever had the chance to begin.

This, however, did not make any of what he was saying any less true. Well, except for the part about how he hated nature. Perhaps in his youth it was true to an extent, but even then what he said was exaggerated to a fairly significant degree. He never liked nature but he never truly hated it either, he merely claimed as much as an admittedly crude — but hopefully effective — attempt to get under Silvanus’ skin.

Unfortunately, while he believed he was fairly competent at psychological manipulation —  not only as a result of the fact he had dealt with international politics for hundreds of years, but also because he needed to know how to build devices with which to conduct psychological warfare effectively, among many other issues that came with his job and the fact that he was born a mage — he was by no means a true master of it, plus he had a bit of trouble understanding body language, social cues, and the emotions of others. As a result he had no idea how effective or ineffective his words were being or even if they were having the effect he desired. All he could really tell was what was clearly obvious such as the fact Silvanus was indeed growing angrier based on how hard he was gripping Gerhardt’s throat and his very obviously angry expression.

“Silence…” Silvanus hissed furiously, cutting Gerhardt off as he talked.

Gerhardt shook his head as best he could and said, “No, you asked me if I had any last words and I am not yet finished. While you may be a deity you are far from omniscient, omnipotent, or perfect. Like nature itself or like any of us mere mortals you presume to lord over, you are so disgustingly flawed that you even put Caedes himself to shame and your current actions only serve to prove this beyond even a shadow of a doubt. You may get rid of me in whatever way you are planning, but in the end it won't truly matter. Necromancy will continue to exist and it will continue to be your fault, not mine.”

“After all, had you ever stopped to consider that perhaps the other gods had never done something similar to what you did by giving us access to those arcane equations for a reason, then perhaps this magic you hate so much would have never existed in the first place, or at least would not have ended up in our hands. However, you did not stop to think of this. You didn’t think at all. And as a result of your lack of thought countless people died and were turned into undead, entire species went extinct and were turned into undead, countless souls were outright destroyed, vast swaths of land were forever rendered completely uninhabitable, and people continue to suffer from rogue necromancers, liches, wraiths, and undead to this very day. And to think, none of this would have ever happened without you. So I truly must congratulate you Silvanus. Despite being a Lesser God of Nature, you have done more damage to the natural order of the world than Caedes could ever even dream of through your sheer incompetence alone. So I do truly hope you feel proud of yourself because that is quite the achievement. You truly are the most pathetic failure of a god to ever—”

“ENOUGH!” Silvanus’ voice boomed with supernatural force loud enough that it shook the entire castle and could easily be heard across the entire city, cutting Gerhardt off mid speech once again. Everything became unnaturally silent for a moment but this silence was quickly shattered by the sound of the reinforced concrete, stone, and metal walls, floor, and roof of his lab cracking and splitting open as plants and vines rapidly began to grow straight through them. Loud hurricane force winds began to blow outside and everything got darker as the sky outside was rapidly filled with pitch black swirling clouds which poured unnaturally heavy rains and began crashing violently with more thunder and lightning then was possible from a natural storm. As a result Gerhardt’s faintly glowing artificial eyes, the portal — which had long since turned a dull grey by this point, indicating that it was currently cut off and experiencing interference of some sort —, and the overhead lights, which were starting to dim and flicker ominously from the plants that were starting to interfere with their wiring, were now the room’s only sources of illumination.

Gerhardt could feel an external force shut down his vocalizer rendering him completely incapable of speech. As such, the only thing he could really do was close his mouth and glare at the deity gripping his throat while mentally cursing to himself.

“Do you think me so stupid that I don’t realize what you are trying to do, you insolent metal defilement of the human form?! Do you truly believe that I would be so easily manipulated?! That alone is a thousand times more insulting than all of those malicious lies you just spouted combined!” He growled furiously.

Gerhardt rolled his eye, though one would not be able to notice this unless they were looking very closely as the clear glowing sapphire orbs in his metal skull were completely featureless as they lacked the irises or pupils that organic eyes had. Unable to say anything with his iolite vocalizer currently offline the ancient mechanical technomancer instead opted to raise a fist and hold up his middle finger. A bright copper colored aura engulfed his other hand, which was currently dangling limply by his side, as he also cast an illusion spell in order to create a series of translucent silver glowing letters in the air in front of him that spelled out, ‘I did not speak a single lie you deluded sociopathic whoreson’. It was extraordinarily crude by his usual standards, but he didn’t exactly have many other options at this point since he could no longer talk so he would just have to make do with what he could for the moment.

Seeing this Silvanus narrowed his eyes slightly but he otherwise ignored the rude hand gesture and the illusory message. He waved a hand in front of the portal Gerhardt had created earlier and turned it into a pure white swirling vortex of pure magic energy. "Whatever. So long as you no longer taint this world with your disgusting presence your pathetic insults mean nothing to me... Now, BEGONE!" He shouted before physically throwing Gerhardt into the swirling white vortex of magic energy.

Gerhardt felt an absolutely immense wave of magic energy wash over him and everything turned white with the peripherals of his vision being the only color he could see as they were filled with ever changing fractal-like patterns that made it appear almost as though he was looking through some demented kaleidoscope. As soon as he was fully inside the vortex and it closed behind him, he began to experience a sensation as though the world had fallen out from under him and he was falling through reality itself, for lack of a better term.

Realizing he wasn't dead, at least not yet, he attempted to analyze the wild raging magic in the pure white space surrounding him but oddly he found it utterly impossible. It was as if he were trying to analyze an ever changing and ever moving fluid that operated in a non-euclidean space rather than studying actual tangible magic. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Attempting to manipulate this "fluid" or change it in any way, shape, or form he found was equally impossible. It was like trying to mold air or water like clay with his bare hands in a universe where the laws of physics worked completely differently to those of his own universe. Trying to use actual magic from his own energy reserves on this "fluid" did absolutely nothing but slowly drain what remained of his energy reserves.

Opening a writing program in his head, he began writing down notes and observations about this strange unusable pseudo-magic. His iolite vocalizer was no longer being shut down by an external force and out of habit he unconsciously started muttering to himself as he wrote his notes down. After a moment, however, he noticed something that made him pause. He just realized that he couldn't actually hear his own voice. Blinking in surprise, he tried saying something again. True absolute silence was all he heard. He couldn't even so much as hear the sounds or vibrations of his own body as he moved. It was as if his audio processors had been completely removed from his head entirely but a quick diagnostic check assured him that they were still there and were all working properly.

Curious, he reached into the chest of his robe and pulled out his ornate gold and silver concealed magic pistol he always carried with him. Flipping a tiny switch on the side and setting it from "Silent" to "Shriek" he fired a single shot off into the ether as an experiment to see if he might be able to hear something louder then his voice. Nothing. It appeared that sound just didn't exist in whatever this place was.

Even stranger, however, was what happened to the beam his pistol had fired. As the silver colored ray of magic energy shot off into the vast nothingness, Gerhardt watched as it bent, stretched, twisted, expanded, shrunk, turned numerous different colors, disappeared, reappeared, turned and shot back towards him only to pass harmlessly through his body as if either he or it didn't really exist, and many other things before it eventually just vanished again seemingly for good this time. Simply put, what happened to that beam was complete and utter bullshit. Hell, at this point he wouldn’t have even been surprised if the beam had turned into literal bull shit at some point during whatever the hell it was he had just witnessed.

Out of habit Gerhardt sighed to himself inaudibly. ‘I suppose that means this place’s laws of physics operate on non-standard logic then. Damn it all.’ He thought to himself in frustration. That meant if he wanted to figure out how this place truly worked he was going to have to use “Chaos Theory” which had always been something he absolutely hated ever since it had first been invented, yet had still been forced to use on multiple occasions as it proved to be extremely useful in certain circumstances. He had very little patience for dealing with the underlying patterns, interconnectedness, constant feedback loops, repetition, self-similarity, fractals, and self-organization inherent to Chaos Theory and found working with it extremely frustrating and tedious. He very much preferred the pure solid logic and order of technology and standard physics over supposed “chaos” any day. As such, he very much so wanted to get out of whatever this place was and back to a realm, plane of existence, or whatever else so long as it at the very least had a relatively normal set physics where things were relatively simple to understand and actually made sense, as soon as physically possible.

Not really sure what else to do, and having lost all interest in figuring out how the physics of this place worked upon discovering that he would have to use chaos theory to do so, he put his pistol away and continued to "feel" around in this pseudo-magic fluid for a few minutes, slowly reaching deeper into the seemingly endless ocean of the stuff. Eventually he found something that he could only describe as "solid" in that infinitely vast expanse of "fluid". It felt strange, alien, yet oddly familiar. As if with the instincts that he should technically no longer even have he almost immediately knew exactly what it was that he had found, though how he knew this was still a complete and utter mystery to him. It was a world, an entire universe even. Yet, while it felt somewhat similar to his original universe, he knew it was definitely not his original universe. He also felt himself rapidly being dragged away from it as if he was being pulled by the rapids of a raging river, while it was simultaneously moving away from him as it was also being dragged in a completely different direction.

He took a few microseconds to think, which for him was the equivalent to several hours for an unaugmented human due to his brain's drastically enhanced processing power. According to his internal chronometer he had in fact spent close to half an hour in this "place", if it could even be called that, already and he calculated that if he was being dragged this rapidly and this universe was being dragged just as rapidly in a completely different direction then he was already much too far away from his original universe to ever be able to find it again, let alone return to it. 

The universe he had just found felt somewhat different but he estimated that it should probably be close enough to his original universe that he believed he should be able to survive in it. There was no guarantee if or when he would find another universe if he passed this one, and even if he did find another there was no guarantee he would be able to survive in it like there was with this universe. The gods only knew how long it would take for him to find another potentially habitable universe in... whatever this was. He also had no idea where he would end up if he just let this "current" continue pulling him along as it was. That was assuming it was even taking him anywhere since it could easily just be throwing him around completely randomly and without direction, like a leaf caught in a hurricane or a tornado.

After much deliberation he decided he had no other choice and followed these strange instincts he shouldn't even have in order to "latch on to" the universe he had found. Suddenly he felt his "direction", for lack of a better term, change and felt himself rapidly being pulled towards the universe he had latched on to. Finally he collided with the universe and felt himself being thrown towards a seemingly random location within. Suddenly he felt something — possibly multiple things — watching him and detected his "velocity" shift ever so slightly to send him somewhere else entirely. He immediately assumed his uninvited entrance to this universe had caught the attention of a few of whatever spirits or deities managed it and they were the ones who were changing his course for whatever reason. If he were to guess, they likely altered his course to force him to end up in the center of a star or a black hole or something to that effect to dispose of him as they would view him as an intruder. If he was correct, he was effectively doomed as it was much too late for him to do anything about it now.

With a noiseless sigh, he accepted his inevitable demise. He had been expecting this day to come for a very long time, he just never knew how, where, or when it would happen. Honestly, he was more surprised it hadn't happened sooner, especially in his line of work and with his political position. He had simply been lucky enough to survive this long, with quite a bit of help from his augmentations, but he was still mortal so his luck was not infinite and it seemed that it had finally run out. His only regret was that he didn't have salivary glands, lungs, or mouth muscles so he was physically incapable of spitting in Silvanus' face before he threw him through that vortex as a last great act of defiance, but he supposed that his words alone would just have to suffice.

As the bright white light vanished and along with it the feeling of being watched, Gerhardt realized he was still alive and had apparently been incorrect in his assumption about the intentions of whatever had redirected his course. However before he could register anything else, his sensors — which had a one mile effective radius — had very nearly exploded from a sudden influx of an absolutely massive amount of data as they immediately began detecting hundreds of thousands if not millions of energy readings all around him in every possible direction. It was almost as if he was in the middle of a city and every living thing in said city, from the people that inhabited it down to the very birds, rodents, insects and every other living thing that wasn’t either a single celled organism or microscopically small had some sort of connection to magic. Not only that but only a fraction of the energy readings he was detecting were consistent with actual mages while most of the rest were not even remotely consistent with anything he had ever encountered before — though he was able to tell that almost all of them were mortal — and effectively all of them were somewhat unique in some way shape or form. None of which should have been even remotely possible based on everything he knew about magic.

A mortal being born with a connection to magic was a highly uncommon trait and was almost completely random as it had to do with how an individual's soul formed before birth rather than biology or genetics (though two mages reproducing did have a far higher chance of having their offspring be born with such a connection, however this phenomenon had absolutely nothing to do with genetics). Furthermore, when something — be it a member of a sapient species or even just a mere animal — was born with a connection to magic, they were always capable of using magic and thus were always, without fail, a mage. Every. Single. Time. Without exception. It was completely binary. Either one was born with the ability to use magic or they were not, there was absolutely no middle ground. As such all of these strange energy readings made no sense to him whatsoever.

However, he was unable to really consider these issues for very long as he was very quickly forced to lower the effective range of his sensors to a maximum radius of approximately 50 feet as they were not designed to handle anywhere near that much raw data all at once and were in grave danger of overheating and melting to a useless puddle of slag or outright exploding inside of him which could have potentially damaged a few of his other systems.

As soon as the range was lowered and he was no longer being absolutely bombarded with excessive amounts of data, however, he finally noticed something somewhat alarming that had previously gotten lost amongst the millions of other energy signatures. Within the current drastically lowered radius of his sensors were two energy readings consistent with those of two demigods, multiple mages, a few not mages, and a few mages that were simultaneously also not mages surrounding him on all sides. He panicked for a microsecond believing he had been sent straight into a trap of some sort, when he noticed something odd about the demigods, mages, and sort-of-mages. Their energy signatures all seemed to lack proper control and coherency and seemed strangely weak, atrophied even, as if they lacked proper training and had never in their lives taken the time to properly maintain their magical fitness. Realizing this, he was no longer concerned about being in any danger but he was now more confused than ever.

Curious, he finally looked around and found himself standing in the middle of what looked like a wedding venue filled with strange, horrifically deformed, almost unnaturally colorful, tiny, mutant, equine-esque parodies of creatures with extremely exaggerated features that wouldn't look out of place in a child's picture book. Some of said pseudo-equine creatures had traits such as long spike-like horns sticking out of the center of their skull or uselessly tiny presumably vestigial wings on their backs that made them vaguely resemble unicorns or pegasus from ancient Elven and Dwarven mythology respectively, while others lacked either, and more still had different features entirely. 

One of the demigods he was currently detecting — which appeared to be slightly larger than the rest of the pseudo-equine creatures and seemed to be some sort of pink hybrid pegasus unicorn creature — appeared to be somewhat disheveled, had its hooves glued to the ground by some strange green substance, and was standing underneath the wedding altar. Next to it was one of the unicorn-esque creatures. This one happened to be wearing what looked like some strange red uniform of somesort and judging by its eyes it was under the effects of a potent mind altering or perhaps — if the poor bastard was particularly unlucky — even a mind erasing illusion spell. Next to those two was a similarly strange and mutated large bipedal purple reptile of somesort, who appeared to be wearing a formal suit and a tophat.

The second and slightly more powerful of the two demigods — which also seemed to be a hybrid like the pink demigod creature — was currently hanging upside down from the roof in a translucent green cocoon-like sack or pod that appeared to be made of the same green substance that currently had the hooves of the pink demigod glued to the ground.

There were also several insectoid faux-equines with strange perfectly circular holes in their legs, sharp jagged horns sticking out of the center of their skulls, pitch black carapaces, and insectoid wings on their backs that should have been far too small and thin to produce even a fraction of the force that should be necessary to lift their bodies but were somehow violating the laws of physics and allowing the creatures to fly anyways.

Upon seeing this Gerhardt really wanted to capture one of these creatures in order to study them in an attempt to determine the exact mechanism behind how it was even remotely possible for them to fly with those pathetic little wings. He suspected some sort of magic had to be at work, especially since they seemed to be the sort-of-but-not-mages his sensors were detecting — which still made absolutely NO sense to him —, but he couldn’t truly be completely certain without dissecting one as well as running a few tests and experiments on them. Either way he just wanted to figure it out so he could adapt it for use in his own machines. However he knew that was likely just a pipe dream as they were probably sapient creatures and as such he would most likely have to jump through all sorts of legal and political hoops and spend a fortune — which he did not have — just to get permission to be given even so much as a corpse for study let alone a live subject, likely in the form of a dangerous criminal whom has been given the death sentence. So ultimately it simply wasn’t worth the trouble.

Refocusing on the matter at hand Gerhardt also noticed another of the strange black insectoid creatures only this one was larger than the other insects like the demigods though according to his sensors it was very much still mortal if just a bit more powerful than any of the other creatures in the room save the demigod in the cocoon thing. That wasn’t saying much, however, since said demigod was only about as powerful as an above average mage with its magic atrophied as it was. The larger insectoid creature’s wings appeared to have been horribly mutilated in a way that looked as though it had been quite painful, it had what looked like a strange crown-like growth attached to its head just behind its jagged horn, it lacked the compound eyes of the rest but had green snake-like eyes, and it lacked the pitch black full body carapace of the rest but instead had what looked like a bright green carapace that only covered its back and chest while the rest of its body save for its strange membranous mane and tail was covered in pitch black fur.

All of the creatures were apparently capable of unsettlingly humanoid facial expressions and were all staring at him in a mixture of surprise, shock, confusion, and even a little fear in a few cases.

He assumed that the larger insectoid creature was probably the leader of the insects while the two demigods were the leaders of the other group of faux-equines. Furthermore, based on the fact that the demigods seemed to have been captured, the two groups were probably at war or something and this was likely a very important battle. However, a wedding venue was a rather odd choice of location for a major battle like this in his opinion, but he assumed there was probably a reason for it and he simply lacked context. Perhaps there had been a wedding planned for today and one group decided to use this as an opportunity to attack the other group while they were distracted or something to that effect? That would certainly explain it.

Either way he really didn’t want to get involved in any of this if he didn’t have to as whatever conflict they had with each other did not concern him in the least. Plus he did not know anything about this world, its current political climate, or either of the two sides and their respective goals or beliefs. So even if he wanted to get involved he simply didn’t have enough information to make a sound judgement about which side he should ally himself with.

With that in mind the first thing he did was activate the universal translation device that was built into his brain while carefully raising a single hand so as to not provoke any of the creatures and lowering his hood in an attempt to look slightly less intimidating or suspicious. He then let his hand fall back to his side and said, “Greetings. I come in peace. My sincerest apologies for the interruption, my sudden arrival here was not by choice. I have no intention of involving myself in whatever this is. So if there are no objections, I will be leaving now. Good day to you all.”

He was about to bow politely and turn to start heading towards the massive door that he could only assume was the exit. Before he could, however, the larger insect shouted. “Capture that huge metal freak as well, my changelings! He may not be a pony but his love can still serve as food for the hive all the same!”

Gerhardt froze in place. “Changelings?” he asked in surprised confusion. These things were changelings? They certainly didn’t look like any kind of Changelings he knew of. Then again, when it came to changelings appearances hardly mattered since they could take on essentially any form they desired. More importantly his sensors told him these insect creatures were all mortal, but Changelings were a type of Fae which meant they were decidedly not mortals. So these things couldn’t possibly be Changelings. This made him wonder if his universal translator was malfunctioning.

He didn’t have time to run a systems diagnostic in order to check, however, as all eight of the smaller insectoid creatures in the room hissed at him, revealing long snake-like tongues and sharp fangs, before they started flying towards him, some having green auras surrounding their horns indicating they were channeling their magic through them.

Gerhardt simply frowned slightly and reached into the chest of his robes with his right hand. Grasping the handle of his concealed magic pistol but leaving it in its holster for the moment he stated in a dangerously calm voice, “I said I do not wish to become involved in whatever quarrel you have with each other. Please just allow me to leave or I will be forced to defend myself.” The so-called “Changelings” just ignored him and kept coming. A few fired beams of green energy from their jagged glowing horns. Two missed while another slammed into his face causing his pain receptors to activate but doing little to no real damage to the magically reinforced copper that made up his exterior plating.

The ancient technomancer sighed and pulled the magic pistol out of its holster and flipped the switch on the side from “Shriek” back to “Silent” as this was a fairly enclosed space and he did not wish to permanently deafen anyone by rupturing their eardrums plus he did not believe this was the best time for psychological warfare tactics, which that setting was specifically designed for. “So be it...” He muttered in frustration. Deciding not to kill the creatures as he wanted to avoid making enemies if possible and because he only really needed to make a point, he twisted the very end of the barrel to change its focusing crystal’s settings and raised the ornate weapon. Allowing an advanced targeting program to take control of his arm, the limb began to move on its own as it very quickly aimed his sidearm at each of the creatures in turn and pulled the trigger of his weapon eight times in very rapid succession. There was a soft Bzzzt sound every time he pulled the trigger as the weapon quickly unleashed eight flat wide beams of bright silver energy from its barrel one after the other.

Each of the beams slammed into their targets exactly where he wanted to hit them and instantly severed one or two limbs from each of the eight “Changelings” as any atoms that came in contact with the beams were instantly teleported randomly across the universe. They each flinched as the beams came near them but otherwise didn’t react until they heard clattering and wet splats on the floor beneath them. Then almost as one they each looked and saw their missing limbs laying on the ground beneath them, as well as the bloody stumps where they used to be attached. Finally their bodies seemed to register the fact that their limbs had been cut off and they each fell out of the air screaming in a mixture of mind numbing agony and absolute horror while clutching desperately at whatever stump they could with whatever forelimbs they still had. A few even passed out, likely more so from the pain or perhaps shock rather than blood loss as they had not had enough time to lose that much blood yet.

As the “Changelings” hit the ground, Gerhardt finally lowered his ornate magic pistol and raised his other hand, which became engulfed by a bright copper aura. As he did not want the creatures to bleed to death either he cast a simple wound cauterization spell. Suddenly the profusely bleeding stumps the creatures limbs used to be attached to were engulfed with intense arcane flames. The smell of burning flesh and carapace rapidly filled the room and several more of the creatures passed out from the pain while the screams of the few that continued to remain awake grew even louder and more intense. Once it was the stumps were thoroughly charred and no longer bleeding, the flames dissipated. Finally, the ancient technomancer decided to be a bit merciful and cast a sleep spell on the few “Changeling” soldiers that remained conscious, and with that the screams came to an abrupt stop and the room became completely silent.

Gerhardt saw the non-insectoid pseudo-equines staring at him in a mix of shock, disgust, and fear, except for two in particular. The first and most notable of the two was the white unicorn-esque one with the purple mane. Witnessing this sort of violence appeared to have been too much for it as he watched it dramatically fall over onto the ground appearing as if it had passed out, though he highly suspected that it was still awake and was just being over dramatic. The second was of the two was the yellow pegasus-esque one with the pink mane, who was currently huddled in a corner with its fore-hooves covering its head while its entire body trembled in what appeared to be genuine terror.

‘They must be civilians.’ He noted mentally while twisting the end of the pistol’s barrel once more to return it to its default beam setting before turning back to face the large “Changeling” creature who was just standing there looking at the unconscious bodies of her soldiers with a dumbfounded expression that eventually gave way to one of shock, horror, and what appeared to be genuine concern for her soldiers. Having long since become jaded to such things Gerhardt simply ignored this and walked towards her saying, “Do not worry, they are all still alive and are in no danger of dying. I truly did not want to do this, ma’am, but unfortunately I am in a very bad mood right now and you have just forced me to pick a side.” His voice was completely cold and remorseless.

The creature glared furiously at him and opened her mouth to speak but Gerhardt cut her off by aiming his pistol at her head and saying in a deathly serious tone that brokered no argument, “I was not finished. Do not attempt to interrupt me again or, unlike what I did to your soldiers, rather then simply removing limbs I will instead aim for your head and kill you before you can so much as blink let alone attempt to defend yourself. You are to remain silent until I explicitly tell you to speak. Do I make myself clear?” She continued to glare hatefully at him with a defiant expression on her face but closed her mouth and silently nodded.

He lowered his pistol and came to a stop a few feet in front of her. “Good. So now that you have decided to involve me in this conflict between your people, here is what is going to happen. As I still do not wish to take a side, first, you are going to release those two demigods over there, whom I can only assume are the leaders of these “Ponies”, as you call them.” He said while pointing towards the two captured hybrid creatures. “Second, assuming I am not mistaken in my assumption and this is indeed some sort of attack or invasion, you are going to call off any and all of your soldiers that are in the area and those two are going to do the same. Finally, you and those two are going to sit down and you will negotiate some sort of compromise, peace treaty, cease fire, or whatever else — I really don’t care which — and I am going to act as a completely neutral third party mediator to ensure things remain perfectly civil between you. Do these terms sound fair to you? You may speak.”

“No! Celestia hates Changelings simply because we feed on love, she will never agree to negotiate with us let alone help us! My hive is starving, we need the ponies love to survive which is the entire reason I invaded Equestria in the first place! If you are going to execute me then so be it but I will never call off my subjects! Not when we are so close to securing a permanent food source! Especially not on the orders of some sort of metal monster that just maimed and tortured eight of my subjects in front of me!” The “Changeling” hissed defiantly.

Gerhardt rolled his artificial eyes at her accusation, though it was almost impossible to see as they were glowing and were completely blank as they lacked any irises, pupils, or even any noticeable flaws. “Please... They are soldiers. Such injuries are expected in this line of work. Furthermore, I did not “torture” them I merely cauterized their wounds so they wouldn’t bleed to death. Would you have preferred I let them die instead? Ultimately I did not do anything to them that I myself can not fix, assuming I have the right materials. Merely replacing a lost limb is a trivial matter. After all, I was not always a “metal monster” as you call me, but that is besides the point. Now, I remember hearing you mention feeding on love when you ordered those soldiers to capture me. I have no idea how that even works and I would be very interested to learn or perhaps study it at some point in the future, but I digress. If this “Celestia” truly vilifies your species for that then I believe there must be a root cause of this hatred. Does your feeding on emotions perhaps harm the Ponies in any way shape or form?”

She shook her head. “It can if we take too much but we actively try to avoid that! We are starving so why on Equis would we want to harm or kill off our main food source?!”

“I see. If that’s the case then I still believe a compromise could be reached between you. Setting up a system where ponies could willingly donate love, perhaps? Bah, it is irrelevant either way. I believe I have a few ideas that would be a far better solution anyways. Ideas that will ensure your species will never have to worry about starvation again but also do not involve you having to feed on Ponies or indeed any other living creature ever again and I am willing to work with you on these ideas. However, you must first agree to negotiate with the Ponies.”

She gave him a suspicious look. “Why? You just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of our invasion, maimed eight of my subjects, and are now demanding I negotiate with Equestria while offering to help us. It’s all too convenient. Who are you? What do you even get out of this?”

He frowned slightly and decided he should probably tell the truth for the moment for two reasons. First, he believed it was likely a wise idea to start building this creature’s trust at this stage so she could be more easily manipulated later, if necessary. And second, if these “Changelings”, as they call themselves, truly feed on emotions then they likely have some way of sensing emotions which would make lying to one far more difficult and getting caught lying at this stage could very easily ruin any progress he had made up until this point, which was something he really needed to avoid right now.

“When I said I did not arrive here willingly, I meant it. Allow me to explain. My name is Gerhardt Mechanica, and up until a short while ago I was one of the five High Lords who ruled the Human Kingdom on planet Earth. In that sense, you may consider me an extraterrestrial of sorts as this is not my world. To be a bit more specific I was the High Lord in charge of the Research and Development branch of our kingdom’s military government, and while I was in the middle of developing a device that was of vital importance to my own people in my personal lab, I was accosted by a very powerful and highly malevolent entity by the name of Silvanus. He then banished me from my world against my will. The fact that I ended up here after being banished is merely poor timing and an unfortunate twist of fate.” He explained, attempting to remain as brief as possible while still giving as much of the full story as he could.

”So when I arrived I knew absolutely nothing about this world or either of your species so I did not wish to attempt to ally myself with either of you or get involved in your conflict. However you decided to involve me anyways by ordering your men to capture me. Now I am simply trying to salvage this situation to the best of my abilities. To be perfectly honest I simply can not afford to make powerful enemies such as you or these Ponies respective kingdoms at the moment as having to avoid assassins and/or groups of soldiers constantly attempting to hunt me down and kill and/or capture me would make my life extremely and unnecessarily difficult at this stage. So I am hoping that by improving relations between your respective kingdoms I will be able to avoid becoming enemies with either of you. Furthermore, this also gives me something to focus on other than the unfortunately rather dire situation that my own kingdom is in at the moment, even if only temporarily. Otherwise, I gain little to nothing from doing this. So, now that you know all of this, do you finally agree to have peaceful negotiations with the Ponies?”

The creature stared at him evaluatingly for a few seconds before looking behind him towards the eight unconscious bodies puddles of their own blood on the floor with a bit of remorse. Finally she sighed in resignation and nodded reluctantly. “Assuming you’re telling the truth about having an alternate solution to prevent my Hive from starving, I have no choice but to agree… But I only agree if the ponies agree as well, and you replace the limbs of my subjects as you claimed to be able too! And if it turns out you’re lying about having a solution to keep us from starving or if these negotiations go badly, I will do everything within my power as Queen of the Changelings to ensure you are hunted down and executed for your crimes against the hive, so it would be in your best interest to try your best to make sure that doesn’t happen!” She growled viciously.

Gerhardt ignored her threat for the moment, though he most certainly kept it in mind, and nodded at her. “Very well then. I have a few materials with me currently, though I will need more to work with in order to do as you have asked. However, we may discuss that in more detail at a later date.” He acknowledged. Finally he turned and looked at the two demigods who were both still trapped and appeared to have been listening very intently to his entire conversation with the insect creature this entire time. “Thank you both for remaining patient up until this point, not that either of you really had much choice in the matter but it is still appreciated nonetheless. So, as it appears that only one of you is able to speak at the moment, it seems that you will have to be the one to make this decision.” He stated, looking at the pink one. “Do you agree to have peaceful negotiations with the Changelings?”

The demigod remained silent for a moment looking somewhat conflicted. After a full thirty seconds of silence Gerhardt was on the verge of raising his pistol and repeating the question a bit more forcefully but finally the demigod nodded and said, “I agree, but only if Queen Chrysalis releases my Shining Armor from her spell and I receive a public apology for her ruining my wedding!”

“Ah, so there really was a wedding. I will admit, I had been wondering about that.” Gerhardt muttered to himself. Looking back towards the newly dubbed Queen Chrysalis he asked, “Very well. So, your highness, do you accept the demigod’s terms?”

Queen Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine whatever. I was going to release your little coltfriend anyways, and I’ll apologize after the negotiations are over. That is assuming they don’t fall through.”

The demigod sighed. “Alright, I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get right now.”

“Excellent!” Gerhardt stated, both surprised and extremely relieved that he had somehow managed to pull this off. Putting his pistol back in its holster under his robes, he raised a hand which became engulfed by a bright copper colored aura as he cast a spell. Suddenly a line of copper colored light ran up the side of the green cocoon-like sack that held the other demigod. Said sack then promptly split open as if it had been sliced open by a razor sharp blade allowing the demigod within to free herself with relative ease. He then cast another spell and the green substance gluing the smaller pink demigod’s hooves to the ground almost seemed to melt into a liquid state freeing her as well. “Now that all of that is settled, I assume you three will need to discuss a time, date, and location for these negotiations to take place. I am fine with whatever you decide as my entire schedule has, unfortunately, been completely cleared up for the foreseeable future.”

The larger white demigod cleared its throat and said, “Actually, while Queen Chrysalis, Princess Cadence, and I all have a few things we need to take care of before we start, I believe we should get to this as soon as possible. So, how about we hold these negotiations in a private meeting room in the castle in let’s say, one… maybe two hours?”

“I agree, the sooner the better.” The pink demigod who was apparently called “Princess Cadence” nodded.

“Let’s just hurry up and get this over with. We all know it’s just going to end up being a complete waste of time anyways.” Chrysalis grumbled impatiently.

Gerhardt stared at them for a moment, not having expected this. “As you wish. I certainly have no objections. I am surprised, however. In my experience politics and bureaucracy are typically rather slow and tedious processes that often take quite a bit of time. The fact that this can be done so quickly here is actually quite convenient and is a welcome change of pace.”

The larger white demigod chuckled at that. “Oh, don’t misunderstand. Both of those things are exactly the same here too, it's just that this is a unique situation.” She said with a slightly amused smile. “Now, High Lord Gerhardt, I need to talk to my student Twilight and her friends alone for a few minutes since this is the first time any of them have ever seen violence like this and I need to make sure they're all okay, then I’ll lead you to the castle and will have a servant show you to the meeting room.”

“Very well.” Gerhardt acknowledged.

She nodded and started walking towards the group of six smaller faux-equine creatures on the opposite side of the room before pausing mid stride and looking back towards him with a stern disapproving glare. “Oh, and by the way, after the negotiations are over the two of us are going to have to have a very serious discussion about your use of excessive violence against these eight Changelings.” She stated in a very serious tone.

Gerhardt simply stared at her, unsure how to respond and not really caring either way. As far as he was concerned he had merely acted in self defense. In fact, he had even been quite merciful considering all of them were still alive when he could have just as easily killed them all and been done with it or even cursed them instead. It wasn’t his problem if this demigod was a bit squeamish about something so trivial as a few severed limbs.
> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The larger white demigod, who Gerhardt still didn’t know the name of, had spent a little over ten minutes speaking with the six civilians before she finally returned and led Gerhardt to the Castle and told a maid lead him to the meeting room before going off to take care of whatever business she needed to. As they walked through the castle Gerhardt noticed the maid that was leading him and all of the other servants and even the “Royal Guard”, as he learned they were called, all seemed to be avoiding him or be giving him startled or disturbed looks. This was something he had grown more then used to over the centuries. Honestly speaking, he would have found it odd if they weren’t bothered by him. Almost everyone who saw or met him for the first time tended to act this way around him as most people found the way he looked, moved, and behaved to be somewhat unsettling. 

He knew he could have done something about it if he truly wanted to simply by redesigning his metal exterior to resemble a skeletal frame then by covering it with a self repairing artificial skin substitute made of silicone to make his body look like his old organic body and by altering his joints a bit and by tweaking the programming of his motor cortex slightly to make his movements look more natural. In fact, most individuals with particularly extensive augmentations typically did both of these things. He simply never bothered as he honestly just didn’t care. In fact, not only did he not care but he actually found the psychological effects his augmentations had on others to be quite beneficial most of the time. This was because, since he unsettled people they tended to avoid him unless they had an actual reason to bother him which usually allowed him to work for longer periods of time without any interruptions that were not strictly necessary. 

For this reason he would have actually even gone so far as to make himself look even more unsettling to others and would have given his body several other alterations and improvements as well if he could have. Unfortunately for him he was unable to do so because of the laws around augmentations that essentially stated that an augmented individual had to closely resemble their original species and could not significantly alter their basic bodily structure by adding external parts. Despite having been a High Lord — or to be more accurate specifically because he had been a High Lord — he still had to follow the laws or he would have lost his office and would have been publicly executed, as the punishments were far harsher on High Lords then they were for anyone else in the Human Kingdom.

Eventually the maid led him to a door in one of the castle halls and opened it revealing a smallish room containing a large circular table with ten oddly designed chairs set around it. The ancient technomancer looked down at the maid who had led him here and thanked her before choosing a chair at random and sitting down. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing he had ever sat on as the chair had very clearly not been designed with creatures like him in mind, let alone ones that were made of metal like him. Plus he was slightly too big for it as it had been designed for smaller creatures like these ponies and he was fairly large even by human standards standing at 6’5’’, though despite his height he was actually fairly thin. On average these ponies only seemed to come up to his waist, in terms of height, with the white demigod being the tallest he had seen coming up to just below his chest, not counting her horn.

Having nothing better to do at the moment, Gerhardt decided he may as well build a proof of concept for what he promised Queen Chrysalis. As such he unlatched the rolled up portable toolkit made of thick durable cloth from the back of the belt of his robes and set it on the table in front of him. It only contained a few small basic tools, but it would be sufficient for what he intended to do. He then reached into several of the pouches and satchels that also hung around the middle of his torso on the belt of his robes and pulled out several spare parts and components, various types of crystals of different sizes, small individual roles of gold, copper, and silver wire, and several small sheets of different types of metal and set them all on the table one after another.

He knew this was going to eat up a significant portion of the very limited materials he had with him but he didn’t want to risk experimenting by using his own Emotion Processing Unit to generate love for the “Changeling” to attempt feeding on to see if it was even possible, because if something went wrong and his E.P.U. was damaged it could prove to be a very bad thing. So he decided it was better to be safe than sorry and began the process of building a separate E.P.U. entirely. He didn’t have either the time nor the tools to make one the same quality as his own at the moment, so the one he was building would be far more crude and primitive but it would be sufficient for the purposes of demonstration and experimentation. In fact, it was better that it was so crude as that meant it didn’t matter as much if it was damaged in the experiment which he fully expected it to be.

He spent a little over an hour working on the device, making sure to be careful so he didn’t scratch or otherwise damage the table he was using. When he was finally finished he had what looked like a square box made of silver with a switch and dial on the top that were both made of steel, no larger than the palm of his hand. With that finished, he cleaned up and put everything away once more and set the freshly made device on his lap before continuing to wait patiently for the others to arrive. After a few minutes his mind drifted back towards the situation on earth and his current predicament.

“What am I supposed to do?" He muttered to himself uncertainly. "It's impossible for me to return to my own universe and even if it were possible it would simply be pointless as Silvanus would just send me away again or more likely would outright kill me since the kingdom is likely now officially at war with him... which is probably exactly what he wanted to gain by doing this in the first place, damn it all...”

Gerhardt sighed in a bitter mix of both frustration and resignation. The situation was out of his hands, there was nothing he could do about it anymore. As much as he hated it — and by the gods did he absolutely despise it — he just had to hope for the best. The other high lords may have been young when compared to him but they were each still very competent military leaders that were each the kingdom’s leading expert in their respective crafts at minimum and even the newest of them — the current High Lord of Aviation, Alexander Sky — was a highly accomplished war veteran and tactician who has held his office for well over fifty years at this point. If anyone could possibly lead the kingdom through this disaster it would most definitely be them and whoever replaced him as the High Lord of R&D, he was absolutely sure of it. Yet for some reason he couldn’t help but worry.

Desperate to take his mind off of this, he began humming the same gentle lullaby from his past that he had been while he was working on the anti-plague gun in his lab earlier that day. The same tune he always hummed to himself whenever he was particularly stressed or otherwise worried in an attempt to help himself calm down and relax. This time, however, the melody sounded slower and much more melancholy, more along the lines of a mournful lament or perhaps even a funeral dirge rather than a simple child’s lullaby. He continued on like, this losing himself in memories of happier times in his life so he didn’t have to think about what was happening on Earth, until his sensors finally detected four energy readings approaching the room causing him to immediately stop humming and look towards the door. Three were strangely weak demigods, one was a sort-of-but-not mage that was about as powerful as them. He recognized the unique energy signatures of Queen Chrysalis and the two demigods he had met when he had first arrived, but the third demigod was new which put him slightly on edge.

A few seconds later the door opened and the four of them walked in. The new demigod was a hybrid creature like the other two but this one was slightly larger than the one known as Cadence but was still smaller than the larger white one, and she had dark blue fur and an illusory mane and tail similar to those the largest of the three demigods had but Cadence oddly lacked for some reason. All four of them sat down at the table, the demigods all sitting next to each other while Queen Chrysalis sat on her own away from either the demigods or Gerhardt.

Gerhardt felt slightly embarrassed that he wasn’t using a more formal body or wearing a more formal uniform for this meeting seeing as he had not been expecting to act as a mediator in negotiations between two alien kingdoms today. He actually felt somewhat tempted to apologize to all of them for it before the negotiations began but after a microsecond of thought he ultimately decided against it. They did not know he had, or use to have, more than one body he could switch his brain between and both the Ponies and the “Changelings” appeared to come from cultures that were largely nudist much like the Trolls or the Ogres, so they likely didn’t care about his clothing in the least. So instead of apologizing he merely decided to get to the point and asked, “Am I correct to assume that everyone that needs to be here for these negotiations is present?”

The largest of the demigods nodded and said, “Yes, but before we begin I would like to address something Queen Chrysalis said earlier.” She looked at the Changeling. “You claimed that I hate Changelings and would never agree to negotiate with you or agree to help you. That simply is not true! If you had sent somepony to set up a meeting I would have been more than happy to discuss this with you earlier.”

Queen Chrysalis scoffed. “Oh please… Tell that to the Changelings I sent to do just that only for them to be chased out of your city or be arrested by your Royal Guard!” Chrysalis hissed back furiously.

All three of the demigods appeared shocked by this claim. “W-what?! What do you mean?! I never received any reports of any changeling diplomats being arrested!” The demigod exclaimed.

“This is merely a theory based on personal experience but perhaps your guards were falsifying their reports or simply just never informed you, or perhaps it was ordered by other high ranking or otherwise politically powerful individuals under you?” Gerhardt suggested. That kind of thing was frustratingly common in his experience and he had to deal with it more times then he even bothered to count.

The blue one scowled. “Thou may be correct, eerie metal creature. Indeed, I can think of several who I believe would be capable of such treachery!” She exclaimed, apparently outraged.

Gerhardt stared at her for a moment wondering whether she intended what she called him as an insult or a mere observation, but said nothing.

The white one sighed. “In either case this is a very serious problem that I am deeply ashamed I ever allowed to happen under my rule. I take full responsibility for this and I promise that my sister and I will begin investigating this matter as soon as this meeting is over and as soon as we find those responsible we will punish them accordingly, assuming this isn’t just a particularly bad case of miscommunication. I sincerely apologize to you and your hive. Had I known about this I would have done something about it far sooner.”

Chrysalis huffed in annoyance and glared at the two larger demigods and the room quickly descended into an awkward silence.

“R-right, um…” Cadence muttered, clearly feeling uncomfortable. “A-any ways… I also have something I would like to bring up from earlier. High Lord Gerhardt, you called me and my aunt demigods on multiple occasions, why is that?”

This caught the white and blue demigods’ attention and they both looked at him. “Yes, I wasn’t going to bring it up but I would like to know this as well.” The white demigod stated.

Gerhardt turned his head and looked straight at her. “It is because you are demigods. I have lived a very long life and in that time I have encountered all manner of divine and immortal beings from gods, to spirits, and even other demigods such as yourselves, and my body’s built in sensors indicate that both of you as well as the blue one are in fact demigods based on the semi-divine energy readings that I am detecting from all three of you. On the other hand Queen Chrysalis and the other Changelings all appear to be mortal and all of them appear to be something along the lines of mages but somehow not. It also seems that every living thing in this world has some connection to magic and not all of them are mages but are other things entirely, but as far as I am aware neither of those things should be even remotely possible.” 

“On that note, all of your magic seems to lack proper control or coherency and is abnormally weak to the point it seems almost atrophied, almost as if none of you ever received proper training and have never once taken the time to maintain your magical fitness. It is honestly, quite strange to me. Now please keep in mind that I do not mean any of that as an insult, it is merely a scientific observation from an individual who is not familiar with this world or its inhabitants.”

All of them appeared greatly disturbed by this revelation. “Judging by his emotions, he’s dead serious.” Chrysalis stated, appearing slightly offended as well as disturbed.

“... None of this information is to ever leave this room, are we all agreed?” The white demigod asked, looking around at everyone at the table. Chrysalis, Cadence, and the blue demigod all muttered their agreements.

“Which parts and why?” Gerhardt inquired. “I fail to see how any of it needs to be kept secret. In fact some of that information could potentially benefit your respective societies such as the need for proper training and the need for maintaining magical fitness among your mages.”

The white demigod took a deep breath and said, “Mainly the part about the three of us being demigods but none of this should ever get out. At least not right away. I, for one, have a school where talented young unicorns go to learn how to use magic. Imagine the backlash if the public believed their Princess was either incompetent or not giving their foals a proper education!”

“Princess? I thought you were a queen or part of a council or something. Either way, I suppose I see your point. Though I would still recommend beginning to improve your education system as soon as possible and perhaps at least teaching certain trustworthy members of your respective militaries about magical fitness while continuing to keep the general populace in the dark about it, assuming there are civilian mages in your kingdoms. That way you are able to maintain an edge over any mages that go rogue and can eliminate them before they are able to do any significant damage.”

“Oh, right. You know Queen Chrysalis and Princess Cadence’s names already but I suppose you probably still don’t know who me or my sister are.” The white demigod stated, apparently only just realizing this. “I’m sorry, I’m just so used to everypony knowing us instantly that it slipped my mind. I am Princess Celestia and this is my younger sister Princess Luna, we are the diarchs of Equestria and rule the day and night respectively. My sister and I don’t really like to use the term “Queen” as we believe that would make us sound less friendly or approachable to our subjects.” The white demigod explained. “And we will take your recommendations into consideration, though for us to do anything about it you may have to provide us with some notes on how to improve our training and how to maintain magical fitness. Though, I do have to ask, why aren’t you following your own advice by not keeping us in the dark about this? Wouldn’t you want to keep that advantage yourself.”

“Ah, so you call yourselves “Princesses” as a tactic for a subtle psychological manipulation of your people. Good to know. I will keep that in mind.” Gerhardt acknowledged. The two so-called “princesses” almost seemed to choke upon hearing this while Queen Chrysalis seemed to be having to hold back laughter, even Princess Cadence had a slightly amused expression. Gerhardt didn’t understand what the issue was or what was so funny but he decided to ignore this strange behavior for the moment as he continued speaking.

“As for why I am sharing this information with you, I am used to living in a world where it is fairly common knowledge. So as long as we are not enemies then I honestly just don’t care since I have no intentions of fighting any of you or your kingdoms in the first place. Furthermore, so long as I continue to remain on peaceful terms with all of you, then by improving the quality of your soldiers training and strengthening their magic I make your respective kingdoms safer and thus I make myself safer by extension so long as I remain within the borders of one of your kingdoms. Plus, if I truly had no choice but to defend myself, I’m neither stupid nor suicidal so I would not do it by fighting either of your kingdom’s soldiers and especially not any of you yourselves head on let alone until I had an army of my own first.” He explained, intentionally avoiding going into any further detail as to what he meant by that last bit.

Fortunately for him, all four of them seemed to accept his reasoning easily enough and none of them seemed to notice his wording or simply didn’t think much of it and thus didn’t bother questioning him for the moment. Even if they had called him out on it however, he fully planned on simply playing it off as having misspoken and apologizing for it before moving on. “Now then, assuming someone gives me something to write with and either a notebook or a sizable stack of papers, I’ll see what I am able to come up with in regards to the notes you have requested once the negotiations have concluded. Speaking of the negotiations, may I suggest we cease with these meaningless pleasantries or whatever one would call this pointless conversation and actually begin? That is the entire reason why we are all here right now after all.”

“Agreed. Not that this hasn’t been… “enlightening”, so to speak, but let’s just get on with it already. To get this started, you said you had an idea to keep the hive from starving, I want to know what it is before I agree to anything.” Queen Chrysalis demanded, glaring at Gerhardt.

“Several ideas actually, but the rest only matter if my main idea doesn’t work as I am almost certain it will given the fact that you can apparently sense my own emotions.” Gerhardt explained before picking up the square metal device in his lap and setting it on the table in front of him. “I built this with what basic tools and some of what limited materials I have while waiting for all of you to arrive. It is effectively a crude and hastily slapped together version of a brain augmentation meant to replace the amygdala of an organic brain and take over its role in processing emotions, though not its role in memory as that is the job of another augmentation all together, but I am getting off topic. These augmentations are called Emotion Processing Units or E.P.U.s for short. I have one myself, which is why the fact that you can sense my emotions at all makes me so certain this will work.”

All four of them looked somewhat surprised when he explained that it was designed to replace part of a person’s brain, and Queen Chrysalis leaned closer slightly in an attempt to get a better look at it.

“Now, that being said, this one is significantly different from my own E.P.U. First and foremost, I currently lack the appropriate tools and materials and did not have enough time to make it to anywhere near the same level of quality as my own. Second, I designed it so that it can function entirely on its own without being attached to the rest of a person’s brain, which augmentations are not normally designed to do, thus why it resembles a silver box more than anything else. As such, I suppose it’s effectively a sort of “emotion generator” or a type of magic energy converter rather than an actual brain augmentation. Finally, I designed it to only “feel” one thing, that being love since that is what you claim to eat. Now, I am not totally sure which type of love Changelings feed on but since this invasion apparently took place during Princess Cadence’s wedding I could only assume it’s romantic love rather than familial or platonic love, so that is what I designed it to “feel” if that makes any difference?” He said questioningly.

“It doesn’t. Changelings can feed on all forms of love. Different types of love do taste different, with romantic love being the sweetest tasting, so the preferences of any given Changeling may vary depending on the individual. Personally, though, I have no preferences in regards to the type of love I consume.” Chrysalis stated, her eyes never leaving the little silver device sitting on the table.

“Thank you, I will have to keep that in mind while developing the finished product. Now, let’s test this. The device is currently turned off and the dial is set to zero so it is currently not producing any love. I’m going to activate it and turn it up to, let us say… twenty-five percent of its maximum capabilities to start off with, just to be safe. Then I would like for you to see if you can feed on it. However, I would request that you be careful and go slowly at first — assuming you are able to — as since you claim that draining too much love can have adverse effects on organic beings such as Ponies I am uncertain as to what effect it will have on this device, if any.”

“Fine... I’ll be careful not to break your stupid machine, just get on with it.” Chrysalis grumbled in a mix of annoyance and impatience.

“Very well.” Gerhardt acknowledged. With that he flipped the switch on the top of the device and turned the dial up to 25%.

Queen Chrysalis then opened her mouth and a stream of pinkish energy began slowly flowing into it from the device. Chrysalis’ face scrunched up slightly in displeasure as the pinkish energy entered her mouth. After a few seconds, however, the device started smoking and before anyone could react it erupted in a shower of sparks of pure magic energy, cutting off the pink energy Chrysalis was consuming. The sparks continued on for a few seconds before eventually dying down and coming to a stop.

Chrysalis shook her head in disgust. “Blech… I think it worked all up until the point it blew up but the love it creates tastes like metal and is extremely sour. Ugh…” She stated, very clearly not having enjoyed the experience.

Gerhardt picked up the now completely ruined and still smoking device off the table in front of him. Deciding speed was more important than efficiency at the moment, he decided to forgo tools and instead cast a quick telekinetic spell to undo four small screws and opened up the top panel the switch and dial were connected to. Giving the insides a quick once over he noticed several of the circuits had far too much strain placed on them causing them to overload, several crucial wires had actually melted, the magic battery had all but exploded, and the enchanted quartz crystal that served as the ambient energy collector which charged the magic battery had completely shattered and was now little more than a pile of a fine dust-like powder laying on the bottom of the silver casing. He was now very glad he hadn’t used his own E.P.U. for this experiment.

“I believe I see what went wrong... Well... The important part is that this showed that the concept can work which means we will not have to resort to growing working genetically engineered organic brains without souls in large vats, which was one of my alternative ideas. Simply building a single machine or mass producing many machines to generate love will be much faster, cheaper, more efficient, and will require less maintenance than any of the alternatives. We can work on refining the taste of the love the machine or machines produce later while I work on trying to improve the design so the machine doesn’t utterly annihilate itself every time a Changeling attempts to feed on it.” Gerhardt explained while closing the top back up and using telekinesis to screw the bolts back in before setting the destroyed device back down on the table in front of him.

“So with that now out of the way, unless I am directly spoken to or things start becoming less then civil between you, from this point onwards I will be completely silent for the remainder of this meeting.” He stated before closing his mouth and proceeding to watch them all silently.

Princess Celestia nodded and said, “Right, well moving forwards we would like for the Changelings to pay reparations for any and all damages incurred during their invasion today and for them to release any Equestrian citizens they may have imprisoned or have held hostage. We would also like to note that in return we are willing to open our borders to the Changeling Hive and will allow your subjects to enter Equestria peacefully so long as they remain undisguised and follow our laws while within our borders. We are also willing to assist you and your Hive by setting up temporary locations where our citizens could willingly donate love to the Hive until research and development into these love generator devices can be completed so long as you agree to have your subjects abide by certain rules and regulations to ensure the safety of those who choose to donate. It would be very similar in operation to a blood bank.”

“And you still have to publicly apologize for ruining my wedding after this is over.” Princess Cadence quickly added, earning an amused chuckle from Luna and a stern slightly frustrated look from Celestia.

Queen Chrysalis was silent for a moment as she considered this, completely ignoring Cadence’s demand beyond a simple roll of her eyes. “Very well, but the same applies to any Ponies crossing the border into Changeling territory. They must follow our laws or they will be arrested and will be punished accordingly. We will send reports concerning Ponies being arrested for breaking our laws within our borders to you, but you must agree to do the same for any Changelings arrested within your borders. And thank you Princess Cadence, you just gave me an idea. I also want the punishment for whoever is responsible for arresting my messengers and diplomats to be completely public and I want what they did and why they are being punished for it to be made perfectly clear to your citizens.”

Cadence winced and gave Celestia an apologetic look.

“A-are you sure? We don’t know for certain why this was happening yet and I don’t exactly like the idea of humiliating anypony like this…” Celestia said, sounding slightly nervous and uncomfortable.

Chrysalis sneered and slammed a hoof on the table. “If it weren’t for them none of this would have ever happened and my Hive wouldn’t be on the verge of starvation right now, so yes I’m absolutely bucking certain! Just be glad I’m not demanding they be executed or sent to Tartarus instead, Hive knows they deserve either one for what they did! Luckily, for us both I’m not that short sighted. Doing this instead should actually help mitigate the common pony’s fear and prejudice against me and my Changelings and improve their perception of us somewhat by showing them exactly who’s truly at fault for all of this in the first place.”

Luna raised a hoof to her mouth and cleared her throat. “Sister, I am afraid I must agree with Queen Chrysalis on this matter. Her request is far from unreasonable. Furthermore, whomever is at fault for this more than deserves such a fate for the damage they hath inflicted upon the Changeling Hive and for harming diplomatic relations between our kingdoms to such a degree.”

Celestia stared at Luna for a moment seemingly not having expected her to side with Chrysalis and sighed in resignation. “Alright... I don’t like it, but I suppose I have no choice but to agree… Now, moving on, what is your stance on the Hive becoming official allies with Equestria?”

“I’m completely bucking opposed to it!” Chrysalis hissed furiously. “I’m not stupid, Celestia! Don’t you dare think I don’t know what it means for a foreign power to become so-called “allies” with Equestria! If I agreed the hive would completely lose its independence as a country and would become part of Equestria in all but name alone! So long as I am Queen of the Changelings, I refuse to allow my Hive to ever become subservient to you imperialists! I take personal offence to the fact you would dare even ask me such a thing!”

The three demigods all looked taken aback by this. “Please calm down and try to think about this rationally. We aren’t—” Celestia attempted to say, only to be cut off by Queen Chrysalis.

“I AM thinking about this perfectly rationally! It’s happened time and time again throughout history! If I agreed to become allies with Equestria, you would demand my Hive demilitarize, if we didn’t agree you would force us into compliance by threatening us through displays of military force and using your control over the sun and moon until we would have no choice but to agree! Then you would send your Royal Guard in to patrol within our borders given that we would no longer be able to do so ourselves! Then you would start sending ponies in to immigrate into our territory under the guise of “friendship” and “wanting to learn about our culture”! Then you would start making demands about making changes to our laws to “better accommodate” the bucking ponies living in our territory! Eventually it would end up with my Hive paying Equestria taxes for the continued “protection” of your Royal Guard and even more from there! So the answer is, buck no we are not going to become allies and we never bucking will!” Chrysalis ranted, all but shouting at this point.

Gerhardt stared at her, feeling extremely confused. What on Earth did she mean by their “control over the sun and moon”? Was that supposed to be a metaphor or something? Did it have something to do with the strange tattoos, brands, or whatever the hell those strange pictures on their rumps were, which seemingly every pony he had seen thus far had? After all, he remembered Celestia’s sort of looked like a sun and Luna’s sort of looked like a crescent moon.

Luna scowled at Chrysalis. “How DAREST thou speaketh to us in such a manner! Why, I ought to teacheth thee a lesson in proper manners and respect!”

Princess Celestia gave Princess Luna a sharp look. “Sister! That’s—”

Queen Chrysalis cut her off mid sentence as she slammed her front hooves into the table with her jagged horn glowing green with magic as if she were preparing to cast a spell and retorted, “Oh yeah?! Bring it on Nightmare bitch! I beat Celestia earlier and I still have more than enough energy from the love I consumed from Shining Armor left over to take down the lesser of the two celestial sisters! I’ll gladly make you wish you were banished to the moon again for another thousand years!”

Luna looked completely shocked for a moment before her previous anger returned a hundred times over as her wings flared out in absolute fury and her own horn started glowing with blue light.

Gerhardt stood up out of his seat, his hands glowing with copper colored light as he cast an illusion spell on himself meant to invoke an intense sense of fear and intimidation in whoever looked at him. It could be countered pretty easily if one knew what it was, but fortunately all of them appeared too distracted to really notice at the moment so he estimated that it should affect all of them for a few seconds, which was all he really needed to calm things down. In an attempt to add to this effect he also made his eyes glow brighter in an attempt to look more intimidating, turned up the volume and brightness of his iolite vocalizer to make his voice louder without him having to actually shout, and in as commanding a tone as he possibly could demanded, “Stop!” 

The room fell silent and all four of them were now staring at him with wide eyes… wider eyes… Seriously, how the hell were those things not falling out of their skulls? After standing there for a few more seconds just to make absolutely sure no one was going to try anything, he turned the brightness of his eyes and vocalizer and turned the volume of his voice back down to their default settings and released his hold on the illusion spell he was casting since he knew it would only be another second or two at most before someone in here countered it.

“I am cutting this off now before it has a chance to escalate any further. As the acting mediator for these negotiations, I will not tolerate anything less than perfectly civil discussion. Queen Chrysalis, such an antagonistic response was entirely uncalled for, as were the insults. A simple “no” and a polite explanation as to your reasoning would have more than sufficed. Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis’ response does not warrant you allowing your emotions to get the better of you and letting yourself threaten her as you did, nor do her insults. Please remember that you are one of the two main leaders of your country and as such your people require you to retain a certain measure of self restraint and a level head in situations where you might otherwise become upset or angry, even if it is difficult to do so. Both of you please refrain from repeating such actions for the rest of the duration of this meeting.” With that, Gerhardt sat back down once more looking as if nothing had even happened.

The room descended into silence once again with both Luna and Chrysalis both clearly still being upset and completely refusing to look at eachother or Gerhardt. Princess Celestia had a mentally and emotionally exhausted look on her face, and Princess Cadence looked as though she was at a loss as to what to do. Eventually though it was Princess Cadence who broke the silence, once again.

Clearing her throat, clearly still uncomfortable, she asked, “Ehem… So, um… While I think Queen Chrysalis’ information may be a little… out of date, I think I might have an alternate suggestion I think might work, if I may?” She looked at Celestia who gave her a warm smile and nodded. Cadence smiled back thankfully, looked at Chrysalis and said, “If you don’t want to become allies with Equestria, how about becoming neutral unaffiliated trading partners instead? That way our kingdoms can at least maintain cordial relations with each other without having to be official allies. That would work, um... right?” She asked uncertainly, very clearly showing that she was still fairly new to dealing with international politics. So, while it was going to take time and experience for her to build up her confidence, Gerhardt could tell she had the potential to become an excellent politician, which he honestly didn’t find surprising in the least given that he assumed she had been trained for politics from birth as most members of royalty were.

Queen Chrysalis actually thought about this for a few seconds. “Perhaps… I will admit, that does sound more acceptable... We’ll have to discuss the terms of this arrangement in more detail as well as go over potential trade routes before I actually agree to anything, however.”

After that they continued on for a few hours, discussing terms, setting up trade routes, and other such things. Fortunately, from there on out there had been no further incidents that required Gerhardt to intervene. Eventually Celestia summoned a large blank document seemingly out of thin air along with a quill and inkwell and the four of them began the process of writing up a peace treaty.

The fact she had seemingly teleported something to her didn’t surprise Gerhardt in the least given that he knew she was a demigod. However, the ancient technomancer had very much so been extremely shocked to see the quill and inkwell as while he had indeed heard of such things he had honestly never seen one of either in person before as they had long since been completely replaced by pens thousands of years before even he was born. He didn’t show it visually, however, and he recovered fairly quickly, though he was still fairly certain Queen Chrysalis knew anyways given her frankly unsettling ability to sense emotions. He made a mental note to work on developing something to hide his emotions from Changelings while working on developing the love generators for them.

Granted, he had also seen the steel spears held the Ponies’ “Royal Guard” and the archaic gold armor they wore, the only enchantment on which was a minor light based illusion enchantment that made them all look exactly the same, but he had thought those were both intended to be ceremonial. After all, how could they not be merely ceremonial given the fact that the Ponies lacked the necessary physiology to use spears effectively in combat and the fact that unreinforced gold was a terrible metal to use for armor? 

Seeing the quill and inkwell, however, made him wonder if he had been mistaken and this world was truly thousands of years behind his own in terms of technological development. Even if that were the case, however, it still didn’t explain why they used non-magically-reinforced gold for armor. It just didn’t make any sense to him unless the armor, if nothing else, was ceremonial rather than practical given that he knew for a fact they had steel. Having little to nothing to do with the rest of the goings on in the room, he had little else to do but think about things and thus became hung up on this unusual discrepancy for quite some time. Something so mundane as simply asking someone about it never even remotely crossed his mind as he continued to mentally speculate and theorize about the subject.

Eventually he was torn out of his train of thought when he heard Princess Celestia say his name. “Well, Mr. Gerhardt, I believe this pretty much concludes the negotiations. Although, if I’m not mistaken, you currently don’t have anywhere to stay and as of right now you’re currently unemployed seeing as you are stuck here until you can find a way to return to your own world. So, I’m curious, what are you planning to do from here on out?”

“You are correct in that I have no were to stay and am currently unemployed, however, even if it was remotely possible for me to find a way to return to my own world — and honestly I am not confident that it is — there would simply be no point. If I did somehow manage to return then Silvanus would simply banish me again or more likely would outright kill me. So I essentially have no choice but to stay here in this world for the foreseeable future. As for what I plan to do while I am here after I finish developing the love generators for the Changelings… Hm… Well, your kingdom and presumably the rest of this world seems to have fairly primitive technology compared to my own and, well… I am a technomancer so I imagine I will just start a business building, selling, and repairing my technology and will use whatever profit I make to fund my research since I have literally nothing else to do.”

“What’s a technomancer?” Princess Cadence asked curiously before anyone could say anything else.

“A technomancer is what we humans call a mage who combines magic and technology. Also, just in case it is not already plainly obvious by now, a mage is what we humans call individuals who are born with the ability to use magic.”

Celestia smiled and said, “I see... Well, Mr. Mechanica, I would like to make you an offer, if you would be willing to listen?”

Gerhardt immediately became suspicious and stared at her for a moment before replying with a simple, “I‘m listening, for now at least, but I make no guarantees that I will actually agree to anything.”

Celestia nodded understandingly and said, “I would be willing to grant you citizenship here in Equestria, as well as give you a house with a large storage shed attached to the back that you could convert into a small lab or workshop, and even offer some assistance in starting your business and in distributing your products. In return, however, I would like for your business to at least start off with somewhat of a focus on selling your medical technology to our hospitals, I would like us to be your main supplier so I would like for you to order at least 55% of your materials from the castle, I would also like you to prioritize any commissions from me or my sister and give us a 50% discount on anything we order from you.”

He considered this for a moment. “A couple things before I agree to anything. First, what if instead I order 65% of my materials from you but only for the first five or so years? Later, assuming you turn out to be a reliable and trustworthy business partner I may continue purchasing most of my materials from you. Second, I believe 50% is a bit too high of a discount. How does 35% sound to you?”

“Hmm… How about you order 60% of your materials from us for eight years and give us a 40% discount.” Princess Celestia countered.

“40% is still quite high but I suppose it is not exactly unreasonable given how much I would be receiving in return… Very well, I agree to your terms.”

She smiled at him. “Wonderful! Then I suppose that means this meeting is officially concluded. Queen Chrysalis, I will have a copy of the treaty sent to you as soon as possible. I’ll also have somepony inform you where to send the materials for Gerhardt to work with while developing these love generators for your Hive in a few days after I finalize some paperwork.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Chrysalis grumbled dismissively as she got out of her seat and began heading for the door. “Just hurry it up! I want those generators as soon as possible, and he still has to replace the limbs of the eight subjects of mine that he maimed.”

Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and Gerhardt all got up out of their seats and were about to do the same when Celestia cleared her throat and said, “Actually, Gerhardt, please sit back down. What Chrysalis said just reminded me, you and I still have to discuss your actions regarding those Changelings earlier.” Her smile was gone and had been replaced with the same stern disapproving glare from earlier.

Gerhardt stopped, sighed in annoyance, pulled his chair back out from under the table and sat back down. When Luna and Cadence finally exited the room and the door closed behind them he said, “As far as I see it, there isn’t much to discuss. They attacked me and I acted in self defense. End of story. In fact, I was actually being quite merciful by only removing a couple limbs. I could very easily have placed unbreakable curses on them or could have simply aimed for their heads and killed them instead, but I didn’t. Plus, I am willing to replace their limbs so it's not as though they are going to be crippled for life, which is yet another thing I could have done to them but didn’t. I fail to see anything wrong with my actions.”

Celestia seemed completely unphased by this and simply retorted, “I realize they attacked you first and you had to defend yourself, but you went too far! I saw you cast that sleep spell on them after cauterizing their wounds, you could have just as easily done that to begin with instead of resorting to mutilating them!”

“Ah yes, that. Yet another thing I didn’t have to do at all.” Gerhardt scoffed dismissively. “Now, even you have to know better then that. Sleep spells are easily countered by anyone paying any attention whatsoever, even mages with atrophied magic like you or them. The only reason it worked on them when it did was because they were too distracted by their wounds to even notice me casting the spell and were in too much pain to care let alone try to stop me even if they did. Furthermore, even if they hadn't been able to counter my spell for whatever reason simply putting them to sleep would have rather ironically resulted in an even bloodier outcome and would have completely ruined my chances of avoiding making enemies with her Kingdom."

Celestia scowled at him but quirked an eyebrow curiously. "I could say the same to you. You should know better. If you craft it well enough a sleep spell should be almost impossible to counter for anyone other then a particularly skilled or powerful magic user.  Now, could you please explain how you can possibly believe that putting them to sleep would have ended up being even bloodier then severing their limbs or how maiming those changelings somehow improved your chances of not making enemies?"

Gerhardt blinked at her once. "Really? Do you honestly need me to explain the obvious? Please just take a moment to think about it. It really is just simple logic, I assure you."

"It's really not!" Celestia retorted.

Gerhardt sighed in exasperation. "Very well... Since you appear to enjoy pretending that you lack the intelligence to follow logical trains of thought then I will put this into simple terms that even an idiot could understand." Continuing on he began speaking a bit slower, causing Celestia to bristle slightly. "Based on her personality and behavior I assume we can both very clearly tell that Queen Chrysalis is an arrogant bitch. Not only that, but she had every reason to fight in order to secure a food source for her hive to prevent her people from starving to death. So if I simply put her soldiers to sleep rather then killing or mutilating them in someway she would not have been intimidated enough to even bother listening to me even when I had a gun to her head, especially since I highly doubt she would have known what my gun was even capable of without witnessing it in action first." While he talked he pulled his teleportation pistol out of its holster concealed under his robes and placing it on the table in front of him, after switching on the safety, just to display the ornate gold and silver weapon he was referring to.

"Since I would not have been able to intimidate her into submission, she would have attacked me and I would have been forced to defend myself. Our resulting fight would have inevitably ended up spilling out of that building and dozens upon dozens of civilians would have been killed in the crossfire at bare minimum, and that would more then likely include those six civilians that were in the room at the time. And that is to say nothing of how many would have been hurt or seriously injured or all the property damage that would have occurred in the process. Finally, I would have been forced to either maim or kill Chrysalis along with any more of her soldiers that attempted to assist her by attacking me. That would mean I would have automatically become a very serious enemy of the Changelings as well as a major target in their eyes for harming or killing their queen and who knows how many of their soldiers. Now do you understand why simply putting those eight to sleep would have been far worse then temporarily crippling them as I did?"

Celestia was clearly horrified when he explained how many people he estimated would have died in the crossfire. When he finally finished talking she appeared to struggle for a few moments, very clearly trying (and failing) to come up with a valid counter argument. Eventually she shook her head with a huff slammed a hoof into the table in front of her and exclaimed, "No, I refuse to accept that! Violence is never the right answer, especially not violence to the extreme you took it! There had to have been a way this could have been resolved peacefully without anypony getting hurt and you're at fault for not even bothering to find it before cutting eight Changelings bucking limbs off like a bucking psychopath!"

Gerhardt rolled the glowing sapphire orbs that served as his eyes, though this was extremely difficult to see. "Oh please... You seem to believe you have the moral high ground in this argument, but I'm sorry to inform you that is simply not the case. So dispense with the petty insults, would you? First, those Changelings were not innocent civilians or anything to that effect, they were hostile soldiers who had attacked me. Losing a limb or two is just one of the many risks one takes when joining the military. They are just lucky to have not lost their lives instead as I had every right to kill them to defend myself and I probably would have if they had been even slightly larger of a threat to me."

Celestia seemed to want to object but he did not give her the chance as he continued speaking. "Second, if you truly believe that assertion than you are a naive idealistic fool because, like it or not, that is simply not how things work in real life. This isn't some fantasy world where everything is sunshine and rainbows, nothing bad ever happens to anyone, and every one can just get along and be friends at the end of the day, not in the least. In reality the world is a cold cruel pit of agony, despair, and constant struggle where hellish monsters that put your worst nightmares to shame exist lurking in the shadows and people constantly fight, suffer, and die while only those who are strong, clever, or lucky enough survive in the harsh and merciless process that is natural selection. Sometimes violence is not just the right answer but the only answer. Whether you choose to accept this or not is completely irrelevant to me."

Celestia just stared at him silently for a moment with an unreadable expression on her face. Finally she asked, "That's... a very grim outlook on life, Gerhardt. I don't think it's a very healthy way to look at things. What could have possibly happened to you in the past to make you think like this? As, if I'm not misinterpreting this, you seem to be speaking from personal experience."

"Almost a thousand years of constant war and having seen and personally experienced some of the worst atrocities ever committed by a few of the most insane and truly evil people and monsters in the history of my world. Hm..." Gerhardt paused for a second to consider an idea he just had. "I suppose it would be easier if I just show you. I'm not in my world anymore after all so it is not as though I have a reason to keep any of this classified anymore. Let us see just how long you can keep your naive pacifistic beliefs after seeing a mere fraction of the things I have experienced throughout my life from my perspective. I believe this should be a rather interesting experiment."

Celestia gave him a confused look and she seemed to be about to ask him what he meant by that when a bright copper aura surrounded his hand and he cast an optical and audio based illusion spell. Suddenly a large rectangular illusory projection almost like the screen of a computer or television appeared floating in the middle of the table between the two of them. This illusory screen began playing some of Gerhardt's worst memories one after the other in the form of videos taken from his perspective from his eyes and audio processors. Sounds of weapons fire, combat and war spells being cast, buildings collapsing, people screaming, begging, and crying, and many other horrible things filled the room as Gerhardt played the first memory he planned to share with Celestia.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Earth, 802 years in the past]

The sounds of both magic and physical based Artillery fire roared all around Gerhardt as he quickly double checked and recalibrated his primary weapon. It was a custom designed large caliber Heavy Assault Rifle with three separate barrels that could be swapped between with the press of a button, each of which fired something different in order to best overcome effectively any defenses his enemies could possibly use.

The first barrel was made of silver and fired 1 in bolts of magic that exploded on impact to annihilate most basic magic shields. The second barrel used an advanced recoil-less telekinetic system that fired 15 mm tungsten carbide rods mass enchanted to reduce drag and the loss of kinetic energy over distance at mach 9 to pierce through most physical armor. The third and final barrel fired 1 in beams of concentrated coherent photons and could easily be calibrated to shoot at any frequency ranging from microwaves to gamma rays if the enemies defenses were too advanced or complex for the other two modes to penetrate effectively or to shoot straight through them if they were even slightly transparent.

Satisfied with the condition of his primary weapon Gerhardt looked out over the battlefield — once a beautiful major city on the eastern border of the Human Kingdom, now little more than a bloody war zone littered with the rubble of collapsed skyscrapers, craters from aerial and artillery bombardment, and the broken, shattered, and sometimes burning remains of aircraft, armored vehicles, combat golems, and other such war machines that had yet to be recovered for repair or recycling — and scowled as he watched an enemy artillery shell slam into the side of another skyscraper before exploding, causing the entire thing to collapse. His heads up display informed him that had been one of the few remaining buildings that had yet to be fully evacuated. Exactly 637 civilians had still been inside, now they were all dead or were going to die eventually since no one had the time to dig them out.

The dark crimson perfectly clear lab grown rubies that served as his eyes glowed brighter in utter rage and his mechanical silver hands gripped his rifle slightly tighter as he used the flight path, angle, and speed of the artillery shell to calculate the exact position of the gun that fired it. He then used video feeds from the few Combat Golems in the area to confirm his calculations were correct. “High Lord Mechanica to all functional Super Heavy Combat Golems and Artillery Cannons within a three mile radius of my current coordinates. Confirmation Code: 34TM921B. I want zone D9-47J wiped off the gods damned map. Begin bombardment immediately until the total destruction of everything within the area then return to firing at your assigned targets.” He ordered through the communication system built into his head with nothing but cold fury in his voice.

Sure giving that order may have been a bit vindictive and unprofessional of him, but he was in a bad mood right now and he highly doubted anyone would call him out on it. If they did, he would simply call it a strategic decision to take out a seemingly valuable enemy artillery platform as soon as possible. It would be very difficult to prove otherwise as with his brain wirelessly connected to all 250,000 Combat Golems in the city he could see through 500 of their eyes at once allowing him to see almost everywhere across the city just by switching between their video feeds. Thus he had a massive strategic advantage over the Serpents and a far greater perspective of the battlefield then anyone else, meaning all but the few individuals in the entire Kingdom who were the most skeptical and critical of him would be willing to simply take his word for it.

However, while his brain was connected to the golems that didn’t mean he was controlling them all. They were all just as autonomous as combat golems typically were, and they were all in several thousand platoons and other units under the direct command of the soldiers from the R&D branch that they were assigned to. His current unaugmented motor cortex wasn’t powerful enough to control even so much as two bodies at once let alone 250,000, nor could he possibly hope to give commands to so many individual units at once. Even the bleeding edge technology of his occipital processors was barely advanced enough to handle processing his own vision plus even 500 of the 250,000 live video feeds at once.

Having given his orders he adjusted his grip on his weapon and ordered the squad he was leading to begin marching forwards. Their current mission was to escort an “Executioner” class Heavy Combat Golem safely to the center of the city, where the bulk of the fighting was currently taking place. The golem itself was two stories tall, had very thick magically reinforced steel armor, weighed several hundred tons, had well over two dozen small guns to obliterate enemy troops, two arms with two huge cannons with three barrels each where the forearms should have been which operated similarly to Gherhardt’s custom built Heavy Assault Rifle but were designed to destroy enemy tanks and bunkers rather than individual soldiers, and two shoulder mounted cannons that fired canisters of poisonous gas and powerful military grade gaseous super-acid respectively.

As they passed by the building that collapsed, Gerhardt saw something crawling out from under some of the rubble. He thought it was a woman but it was extremely hard to tell as she was very badly burned, was severely mutilated, was covered in blood and dust, was bleeding profusely, had bits of shrapnel, glass, and wood of various sizes sticking out of her body, and was missing both of her legs below her knees.

“H-hep… eee… iii hurrrsss…” she struggled to beg through a severely broken jaw, though Gerhardt could guess what she meant easily enough. She wanted help, as anyone would in her situation. Unfortunately, given the severity of her wounds Gerhardt was honestly surprised she wasn’t already dead and he knew that even if she were to receive healing by the best medical mage in the world that very instant, she would still die in a few minutes to an hour at maximum, and that was in a fully stocked hospital. As such, he did the only thing he could in this situation.

He reached under his combat robes to the side of the belt of his pants and pulled his side arm out of its holster. It was a fairly basic but reliable telekinetic pistol that fired hollow point 9 mm rounds made of solid lead at mach 5, meant to put a hole through either the head or the heart of the average enemy soldier. Flipping the safety off he aimed the pistol straight at her head and with a sigh he said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I wish I could help you, I really do, but unfortunately this is the only mercy I can offer you. May you suffer not in death.” He then pulled the trigger. There was a loud BANG as the lead hollow point round broke the sound barrier before slamming into the slowly dying woman’s skull, killing her instantly and ending her suffering.

He then simply re-holstered his pistol and continued marching. This was not the first time he had been forced to deliver a mercy killing and he very much doubted it would be the last, so he wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it. If he had still been physically capable of sleep that is.

(The scene fast forwarded)

Gerhardt had finally reached the center of the city and it was like a scene from the end of the world. Exactly 43 minutes and 25 seconds after he finally reached the center of the city and began fighting, those gods damned Snakes from the Serpentine Republic had conducted a blood ritual using the countless corpses littering the city and all of the pain and suffering this battle was generating to open a massive portal to the infernal realm allowing numberless hordes of demons to spill out into the world. The Serpents were now retreating and the demons were killing, torturing, and destroying everyone and everything they could get their gods forsaken claws on, be they civilians, soldiers, or even mere animals.

He and what remained of his squad were trying to hold off the demons to the best of their abilities but they were quickly being overwhelmed. Their “Executioner” class Heavy Combat Golem had already been destroyed by the demons and most of  what remained of his squad were using its burning half melted remains as cover. Unfortunately the hellfire the demons were throwing at them was about to melt all the way through it.

“This is High Lord Mechanica to all Human forces in the city, military and civilian alike. Confirmation Code: 34TM921B. The Serpents opened a massive portal to the Infernal Realm. We are being overwhelmed by demons. I repeat, we are being overwhelmed by demons. I am now ordering all members of the R&D branch to retreat and evacuate the city immediately and I highly recommend that all units from all other branches and any civilians that may be hearing this do the same. This city is lost. I will be approving the use of Arcane W.M.D.s in order to destroy that portal as well as this city in approximately two hours, Priority Code: Alpha. Haste is highly recommended.” He announced through his built in communication system, which he currently had set to transmit on all frequencies.

Firing fully automatic salvos of 15 mm tungsten carbide rods from his custom built Heavy Assault Rifle at any demons he saw since while their magical defenses were damn near impenetrable their physical defenses were almost pitiful, he followed his own orders and began retreating. A ball of pure hellfire slammed into his right shoulder, burning through his now tattered and torn combat robes and melting his arm completely off his body making him lose his grip on his weapon. His artificial pain receptors flared agonizingly in response causing him to cry out in pain. Gritting his artificial teeth, he tried his best to focus despite the pain and used a telekinetic spell to lift his Heavy Assault Rifle off the ground before grabbing it with his left hand. It would be very awkward and unwieldy to use with only one hand due to its size, as it was designed for use with both hands, but he was just going to have to make do.

Once he eventually ran completely out of magazines of tungsten carbide rods for the telekinetic barrel of his gun, he used telekinesis to press one of the buttons on the side causing the three barrels to rotate until the third barrel which shot concentrated beams of coherent photons was on top of the “triangle” of barrels. Quickly calibrating it to fire gamma rays, as that was one of the hardest frequencies of light to defend against, he began firing his weapon while trying his best to duck and dodge out of the way of balls, beams, and waves of hellfire that were flying towards him. There were flashes of bright purple visible light every time he pulled the trigger that was meant to serve as an indicator to let him know whenever his weapon was firing since while his eyes were designed to see in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums they were most definitely not designed to see on the gamma spectrum, which was something he decided he would have to try his best to rectify at some point

As he retreated he saw a child being skinned alive by one of the demons, one of the soldiers who had been in his squad being hung from a street light from a noose made of his own entrails, people being burned alive, and countless other horrors as what remained of the ruined streets gutters were slowly starting to fill with fresh blood. Gerhardt shot and killed a few of the victims to end their suffering and to deprive the demons of another victim whenever he could, utterly infuriating their tormentors who would always immediately attack him for “ruining their fun” or “breaking their toys”.

All the while, aircraft continued to fly over dropping bombs and sharp steel flechettes while pelting streets with a variety of physical and magic projectiles, artillery continued to fall from the skies like rain, and buildings continued to collapse all around him as the parts of the Human Military that were still outside or flying above the city tried their damnedest to slow down the spread of the demons in an attempt to limit how many of them escaped before the bombs fell. Sadly this had the unfortunate side effect of limiting how many humans could get out in time as well. Fortunately for Gerhardt, he had the added advantage of being a mage which meant, while portals were too dangerous to use at the moment due to the blood ritual the serpents had conducted, he was still able to use telekinetic magic to carry himself over any rubble that was blocking his path that he couldn’t simply go around or climb over and he could use magic to create shields to protect himself whenever necessary.

Even so, a sizable chunk of his stomach was blown off by another ball of molten hellfire that caught him off guard, one of the rubies that served as his eyes had been completely shattered, 46% of his systems were either broken, offline, or barely functional, and one of his legs was damaged pretty severely causing him to move with a heavy limp. It was all so agonizing he was forced to shut down his pain receptors entirely. Still, despite the damage he had sustained, he pressed on trying his best to fight his way out of this doomed city within one hour and thirty seven minutes, which was all the time he had left before the W.M.D.s began falling and everything still inside was destroyed.

It had been 73 years since he officially became old enough to participate on the front lines in active combat. He was almost a century old now and In all his decades of service he had honestly thought he had seen the worst horrors this world had to offer especially after having fought the Ghouls and seen what they do to their victims and their victims' corpses. But he had been naive, oh so horribly naive, and now he was paying for it.

Yes the Ghouls were a grotesque species of vile sadists who tortured almost all of their victims before actually killing them. Yes they eviscerated their victims’ corpses and ritualistically hung their horrifically mutilated corpses and entrails out to rot so they could eat them later and used their victims bones to make everything from tools to ritual implements. All because Ghouls were a species of extreme carrion eaters who’s bodies actually required much of the bacteria present in rotten meat for digestion and they worshiped certain sadistic and malevolent gods of death who demanded such forms of sacrifice from their worshipers. They were by far the most twisted vile species of mortal creatures in existence and he would love nothing more than to see them eradicated off the face of reality itself.

However, even the worst atrocities ever committed by the most vile Ghouls in existence paled in comparison to what these Demons were currently doing. To be frank, the few victims he saw that were being skinned, burned, or hung by their own entrails while still alive were honestly meeting down right merciful fates compared to some of the other horrors he was currently witnessing and was actively trying to stop or prevent while he retreated. For the first time in his life he was witnessing evil. True, undeniable, objective evil and it was like a living nightmare he couldn’t wake up from no matter how much he desperately wanted to. Unfortunately, he knew full well that this wasn’t one of the infrequent times he had accidentally fallen asleep while working in a lab prior to the invention of his new brain augmentations. This was all truly happening and there was very little he could do to stop it other than what he had already done and was currently doing.

If his body were still capable of it, he was certain that he would have vomited by now. That his vision would be obscured by the tears that would have been streaming down his face from the sheer horror of it all. That he would either be dead or laying on the ground thrashing and screaming in agony from his wounds by now, in which case he would have very likely ended up becoming one of the countless victims of the demons. That he may have even gone insane by now if it weren’t for certain redundant fail-safes, systems, and programs installed in his head that were constantly correcting the code of the very few artificial parts of his brain and the brain activity of the parts that were still organic in order to prevent that from ever happening.

As he was running through the streets as fast as his damaged leg and ruined body would allow while shooting pretty much anything in sight that he reasonably could, he honestly couldn’t even tell if being forcefully kept sane like this was a blessing or a curse. Mentally he knew he would appreciate it later on, right now though it most definitely felt far more like a particularly cruel curse he had unwittingly put upon himself.

(The illusory screen paused)

By the time Gerhardt had paused the memory Celestia was in tears and had summoned a bucket which she was currently vomiting into. “Oh calm down, would you? It wasn’t that bad. This memory is hardly worth being upset over, let alone this upset over. Especially given the fact that it all happened over eight hundred years ago.” The technomancer stated, unperturbed. He had intentionally blurred out the worst bits so she wouldn’t have to see them, so from his perspective she was overreacting by quite a bit.

Ignoring him for the moment, she continued to vomit the last of the contents of her stomach into the bucket. Finally she teleported it away and collapsed onto the table glaring weakly at the technomancer. “If...ugh… If this is one of your… m-memories then how can see-seeing this… this… atrocity again no-not affect you in the least…?! What the buck is wrong with you?!” She growled furiously, still recovering from having just thrown up.

“As I’ve told you, almost a thousand years of experience. One does not survive in my previous occupation for as long as I have by being overly emotional about every little thing they have survived. Also, while that may have been one of the worst memories I have, it is hardly the absolute worst, but I will be keeping those particular memories to myself as they are rather… well not quite personal, but somewhere close. Now, I have a question of my own.” He explained while mentally drawing up a few designs for an improved version of the love generator that wouldn’t break the moment a Changeling attempted to feed off of it.

“The Serpents of the Serpentine Republic are extremely over zealous religious fanatics who want to destroy humanity in the name of the god they worship and they have ever since the War of Survival when their god attempted to commit mass genocide on us. So they used their attack on that city to generate enough blood and suffering to conduct a blood ritual to open a portal to the Infernal Realm in hopes that the Demons they unleashed would kill us all for them so they wouldn’t have to waste their own resources doing it themselves. A rather short sighted plan given that the Demons wouldn’t have just stayed in our kingdom but would have spread across the world and would have destroyed the Serpents too had we not deployed arcane bombs to destroy the city and disrupt the portal before too many of them could get through so they could open even more portals elsewhere. That being said, I doubt they even thought of that or would have cared in the least even if they did since as a species they have always been unbelievably arrogant and overconfident in their own abilities, but I digress.”

“So, do you believe this situation could have been resolved peacefully without anyone getting hurt? That violence was not the only answer? That we could have simply talked with the Serpents and avoided all of this entirely? What about the demons? They are evil in its purest form and revel in the death and suffering of others, so how could we have possibly avoided fighting them? Pacifism can only get you so far, so instead of fighting the Serpents or the Demons as we did do you believe we should have just sat back and let our species be exterminated? Tell me honestly, as a pacifist what would you have done differently were you in our situation? Please keep in mind that we are mere mortals, not gods, spirits, or demigods so we are limited in what we are actually capable of doing.”

By this point Celestia appeared to have mostly recovered from her earlier nausea, however she still seemed to have been caught slightly off guard by his question. “I… I don’t know… Violence is wrong but… Those demons...” She shuddered, looking nauseous again as she apparently recalled the horrors they subjected their victims to.

“Indeed. Truly horrible entities, demons. Interestingly, while there are many spirits that are hostile for various reasons, demons are actually the only lesser spirits in existence that are well and truly “evil”. And while I fully realize that good and evil are typically all based on perspective, I do mean that objectively in this case. They are the literal embodiments of evil and malevolence given physical form, as all spirits are the literal embodiments of whatever concept they represent.” Gerhardt stated in acknowledgement. Saying this however, brought out his academic side a bit as he started thinking about spirits and how they functioned.

“Actually — continuing to use demons as an example for the moment though this very much applies to all spirits —, our concepts of what evil even is are likely very different from one another. As such, while the appearance of the demons might possibly share a few common features between our perceptions, there would still be slight variations between what they look like to you versus what they look like to me. Maybe they were larger to you or perhaps they were shorter, or maybe they had larger, smaller, longer, shorter, more, or less teeth, fangs, mouths, horns, wings, arms, legs, tentacles, claws, hooves, eyes, tails, scales, fur, etc. Unless a spirit intentionally takes on a very specific form then their actual appearance all depends on the perception of the individual looking at them at the time. In fact, after watching this memory again, the demons actually look vastly different to me right now than they did 802 years ago when I first saw them. Fascinating is it not?”

Awaiting a response, he looked at Celestia who was currently just staring at him silently. It took him a few microseconds but he eventually realized why. The overlapping copper plates that served as his lips slid down somewhat into a slight frown. “Oh… How embarrassing… It appears I was rambling. I should have realized this sooner and stopped myself… Gods damn me and my blasted vocalizer! My sincerest apologies for my rudeness, Princess. Please just forget I said anything and let us continue our conversation.”

Celestia chuckled slightly and shook her head. “It’s fine Mr. Mechanica. Honestly, it reminded me a bit of my student Twilight. Sometimes she goes off on tangents like that whenever she’s talking about a subject that she finds particularly interesting too. I’m sure you two would get along wonderfully. Well… That is, assuming you don’t kill or dismember anypony else or show her any memories like this one.” She motioned to the paused illusory screen floating slightly above the table in front of her. “Anyways, to answer your earlier question… I honestly don’t know what I would do in that situation. I can only hope I never am.”

“Then I highly suggest you think about it in case you ever are. In the meantime, I will be showing you yet another memory. It won’t be quite as bad as the first, as there will be no demons committing acts so evil that just witnessing them could drive a person insane. However, I do recommend you steel yourself, and perhaps prepare another bucket for yourself since you appear to have a weak stomach, as it will be very close to as dark and gruesome as the first just in a slightly different way.”

Not waiting for a response he waved a hand and caused the illusory screen to change. It began depicting a scene from another of his worst memories, taking place only a few short years after the first memory. It was one of the largest battles Gerhardt had personally fought in during the single largest assault ever conducted by Caedes and his army of undead, necromancers, and liches after he went rogue.

The battle the screen was showing was Caedes’ attack on the Elven kingdom. Not just one or two cities within the kingdom, but the literal kingdom itself. This was because, unlike most species the Elves were not spread across multiple settlements. They had what was effectively one absolutely immense city that was spread across the entire Aeternus Forest, which was the third largest forest in the world and was filled with trees that very nearly rivaled small skyscrapers in size. Unfortunately that’s also what made the attack so devastating.

While the Elven kingdom’s defenses were damn near impenetrable against traditional armies, against Caedes and his undead ripping through it was practically childs play because of the fact undead and necromancers positively thrived inside large cities. The attack was so spread out the Elves military couldn’t put up an effective resistance. Undead were still a very new concept that no one really knew how to combat effectively at that point in time. Every living thing that died would immediately be forced to join Caedes’ ranks as not just one but two separate undead, the victim’s reanimated corpse as well as their enslaved disembodied spirit. The Nature spirits that resided in the forest were aggressive towards both the Undead and the Human Military, which made things far more complicated and difficult than they needed to be. Plus Caedes had apparently somehow managed to kill a gods damned dragon and used it to set almost half of the forest on fire before they were actually able to destroy the undead monster's body and soul.

Unfortunately, fighting the undead out of the forest had been deemed effectively impossible. As such, Gerhardt’s mission during this attack was to lead his troops and the search and rescue golems in finding and evacuating as many Elves from the forest as physically possible before they could be killed and turned into more undead while the Army branch held off Caedes’ forces to the best of their abilities. It had been horrible. He had to watch as hundreds of men, women, and children were ripped apart, eaten, had their souls ripped out and their corpses reanimated, all while trying to defend and evacuate countless others.

By the end of it all the Elven kingdom had effectively been destroyed, the Elves had lost well over half of their total population, their line of succession had been wiped out, Caedes’ undead’s numbers had increased by hundreds of millions, hundreds of Nature Spirits had been corrupted by necromancy turning them into the first Spirits of Undeath, the Human Kingdom had to contend with millions of new refugees who were now all in need of medical attention, food, water, shelter, psychological counseling, and so much more. It had been nothing but an absolute disaster from start to finish. After the war was over, half the remaining Elves decided to stay in the Human Kingdom as citizens while the other half returned to the Aeternus forest to rebuild their kingdom. It took the Elves centuries to repair the majority of the damage to the forest even with as much assistance as the Human Kingdom could reasonably provide them, and to this day their kingdom still has yet to fully recover.

Celestia appeared somewhat nauseous again as the screen showed mutilated and decaying zombies and skeletons ripping people apart and eating them like a bunch of rotting cannibals, to her credit though she did not actually throw up this time. She also appeared devastated as the screen played scenes of families being torn apart as children or their parents had to be forcefully dragged away in tears while their loved ones were slaughtered and turned into more undead, and other such tragic scenes that were of a similar nature.

After a few minutes of showing her some of the worst clips he had of this entire event, Gerhardt finally paused the illusory screen again. He then proceeded to give Celestia a brief summary of the battle and the war, leaving out everything he could about necromancy by simply calling it “dark magic” and by not providing her with any details about what it actually was or how it worked. “Now, do you have any questions or comments?” He inquired, frowning at the illusory screen as he recalled all the atrocities his former apprentice had committed. The destruction of the Elven Kingdom was horrible, yes, but it was by no means the worst thing he had ever done. Gerhardt sort of wished that he had been the one to kill that bastard, but some Combat Mage from the Army branch had gotten to him first.

“Oh, I have plenty of questions. However, I feel like we would be here until next week if I were to ask everything that I want to.” Celestia stated, clearly unhappy and unsatisfied with everything she just learned.

“Very well. Just know that our wars are typically not like these two memories I have shown you. Wars in general are always horrible and anywhere between hundreds and millions of people usually die on both sides, yes. These two events, however, are rather extreme and can more easily be classified as disasters. However, disasters like these are still fairly common. In my experience they happen every few decades or so. Now tell me, if you were in my position and were mortal like me rather than a demigod, between constant wars where your enemies will kill or enslave you if you don’t fight back no matter how much you try to negotiate and disasters like these do you honestly believe that you could possibly remain a pacifist? Would you still believe that violence is never the right answer? Would you still be criticizing my actions today?”

Celestia sighed and shook her head. “No, probably not.” She admitted reluctantly. “However, I am not in your position and, Harmony willing, I never will be. As such, I still believe your use of excessive force more than warrants punishment.”

Gerhardt stared at her. “Really? You do realize that I am already going to have to waste my time building each of them new limbs, correct? Is that not punishment enough?”

Celestia gave him a stern look and snorted. “If you had a slightly different attitude about it then maybe. However, since you seem more worried about your time then the health and wellbeing of the Changelings you mutilated, no it isn’t.  Granted, given what I now know of your past and your world I don’t believe I can give you too harsh a punishment. Plus you have done Equestria a great service by brokering peace between us and the Changelings, so I do believe you deserve a bit of a reward as well… Hm… I’ll have to think it over. As soon as I come up with something I’ll let you know. Until then I’ll have a servant show you to one of the guest rooms. After everything that’s happened today you must be absolutely exhausted.” She yawned. “I know I am.”

“Actually, no. Not at all. My body’s need for sleep was one of the first things I removed when I first invented brain augmentations. I am now actually completely incapable of it. Instead, I would appreciate it if you could have someone show me to the medical facility the Changelings are being held at so I may get a few measurements in order to design their prosthetics to fit their respective bodies. After that, all I will need is materials I can use and a place to work. Also, I would like to know where the nearest public library is so that I may read up on this kingdom’s laws, culture, and history among other things. Oh, and I still need a notebook or a sizable stack of papers and some ink so I can write those notes you have requested. No need for a quill though as I would much prefer to just build myself a fountain pen to write with.” Gerhardt explained.

Celestia rested a hoof against her face in exasperation and said, “At this point I’m not even surprised… I would recommend that you fix that as soon as you have the tools and materials to do so. Luna may enjoy having somepony new other than her night guard staying awake to admire her night for awhile, but that will wear out fairly quickly once she realizes that you legitimately never sleep. When she does she might be slightly offended as she tries her hardest to give everypony pleasant dreams just as she tries her hardest to make the night sky as beautiful as possible. While the night sky has always been her favorite, recently she has started taking a lot of pride in both of her duties.”

“Wait? Dreams? The night sky? Forgive my ignorance but what do you mean by that? I can only assume you are speaking metaphorically but I’m afraid I do not understand the metaphor.” Gerhardt inquired in confusion. He remembered Chrysalis mentioning something like this earlier and it made just as little sense to him now as it did then.

Celestia gave him a slightly confused look. “No… I mean that literally. I raise and lower the sun every morning and night and my sister literally raises and lowers the moon every night and morning. As an extension of that my sister also controls the stars and protects everypony’s dreams from nightmares as they sleep.”

“No. You do not.” Gerhardt stated with unfaltering certainty. “Manipulating people’s dreams? Perhaps. Manipulating celestial bodies let alone at such vast distances? I’m sorry but no. You are not even close to a quarter as powerful as you would need to be to alter the rotation of the planet let alone move a moon or a star. Not to mention the fact that that’s not how physics works. Day and night happen on their own due to the rotation of the planet and its orbit around the sun, and seasons occur due to the change in the planet’s tilt as it slowly wobbles as it spins.”

Celestia frowned at him in annoyance. “Yes, I do. I have raised and lowered the sun everyday for over a thousand years. It has been extremely well researched and documented throughout history. It's about time for me to lower the sun today anyways so I can even prove it.” She stated, as she stood up and got out of her seat.

Gerhardt followed suit assuming she was going to lead him somewhere else in a futile attempt to prove her ridiculous claims. It turned out that his assumption was incorrect for as soon as he stood up, her horn began glowing and she teleported them both to a balcony with a clear view of the evening sky. Not waiting for him to say anything, she walked forwards towards the edge and her horn began to glow again. Gerhardt took this as his que to look up towards the sky. Strangely enough, the sun appeared to be picking up momentum as it rapidly began to grow lower and lower in the sky. As soon as it disappeared beyond the horizon, Celestia’s horn stopped glowing and she turned to face Gerhardt again seemingly awaiting a response.

“Fascinating.” Gerhardt commented, completely nonplussed by the sight. “Did you create that self perpetuating mass illusion across the sky yourself or did someone place it there for you?”

Celestia scowled at him, clearly taking offense to his question. “Illusion? There is no illusion! I just lowered the sun!”

“Yes there is and no you didn’t. To do anything even remotely approaching what you seemingly just did, you would have had to rotate the planet itself, not move the sun. However, it would take a Lesser God or Greater Spirit of immense power to force a planet to rotate like that. Not to mention the fact that once it begins rotating it would never stop rotating due to the laws of motion which state that an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. So, based on the process of elimination there has to be a massive illusion obscuring the actual sky that you can somehow alter otherwise that would have never happened.”

Celestia took a deep breath and said, “You know what? I’m too tired and have way too much of a headache to try arguing with you about this… There’s a library here in the Castle where you can read as well as request some paper and ink to write with, I’ll have a servant show you where it is. You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow morning to go to the hospital to get those measurements and I’ll have to try to find somewhere in the castle you can work until the paperwork for your new house is finished.” With that she turned and began walking away. Gerhardt heard her mutter something to a maid as she passed by them. Said maid nodded and began approaching him.

Not having anything else to do, Gerhardt followed the maid to the Castle library. As soon as they arrived, he thanked the maid for leading him and immediately approached what he assumed was the librarian sitting at what appeared to be the front desk, requested a stack of paper and some ink, lying and telling them he already had something to write with but was out of ink. The librarian seemed intimidated and nervous but gave him the stack of paper and ink anyways which he immediately took to an empty desk.

Setting the paper and ink off to the side, he cast a noise dampening illusion spell on the area around him, took out his tools and some of the few remaining materials he had and set to work building himself a new fountain pen. The entire process only took him a few minutes and when he was done he had a brand new fountain pen which had a rather bland steel tube for a body with a button on the side that made it suck in ink to refill it and a very fine pointed nib made of gold. After making a cap for his pen to cover it whenever he wasn’t using it so ink wouldn’t get everywhere he cleaned up his tools and scraps, filled the pen with ink, and put it in one of his robe’s pockets for later use.

He still had to work on translating the Equestrian’s written language before he could start writing his notes otherwise the Princesses and Queen Chrysalis would be unable to understand a thing he wrote down as his universal translator unfortunately only worked on spoken language not on writing. As such, he walked over to one of the first shelves of books and began using telekinesis spells to pull books out one after another and rapidly flip through each and every last one of their pages before returning them to the exact spots they were before. His brain’s enhanced processing speed allowed him to record each page in a matter of milliseconds which meant he could finish each book in a matter of seconds even when it would take an unaugmented individual hours of dedicated reading.

As he had expected, the books were all filled with what looked like utter gibberish to him. As such, while he was reading he began trying to decode and translate the language. He knew that it was going to be an agonizingly slow, tedious, and difficult process since he didn’t have even so much as a picture book a parent might use to teach a child how to read to work with. Fortunately the more writing samples he had the faster the process would be and he had access to plenty of samples since he was currently in the middle of a library.

However, even if he read every last book in this place it was still going to take him until tomorrow morning to translate the language at minimum, and that was according to his most optimistic estimates. If he was particularly unlucky it could potentially even take him decades to do on his own depending on how different this language was to any he was familiar with, but he would request assistance long before it came to that.

As soon as he finished recording all of the books on the one shelf he moved on to the next one and then the next one and so on. This process continued like this for about ten minutes until he felt something tap on his leg. Quickly finishing the book he was currently recording, he levitated it and the other books currently in his telekinetic grip back into their places on the shelf and turned around. Looking down he saw a purple unicorn-esque pony staring at him in a mixture of curiosity and fear. It wasn’t the disturbed or unsettled look most people had when they saw him but legitimate fear. Running a quick scan of the creature’s biosigns confirmed that she was indeed well and truly terrified of him for some reason. He couldn’t help but wonder why.

It was then he realized that he actually recognized this pony. She was one of the six civilians that had been present during his arrival and had witnessed his earlier act of self defense in person. Well, that certainly explained why she was afraid of him. While he had no intention of hurting her unless she tried to kill him, it was still quite brave of her to approach him like this after what she had seen. “Ah, I remember you. You are one of the civilians from earlier. I can tell you are afraid of me, which is rather unnecessary as I have no intention of harming you or anyone else but is completely understandable given the circumstances. I do apologize if my presence here is distracting you. I can move to a different location where you will not have to see me if that is of any assistance.” He stated, trying his best to be polite.

The pony seemed genuinely surprised for a moment and shook her head. “N-no, no! It’s fine. Really! You apparently helped create peace between the Changelings and Equestria, so I know you can’t be that bad. It’s just…” She trailed off, seemingly trying to think of what to say.

“You aren’t used to seeing such bloody acts of violence?” Gerhardt finished for her.

She winced at that. “Er… Yeah… That… Um… Anyways, is it true that you’re an alien?”

“Honestly, there’s actually quite a bit more to it then that but for the sake of simplicity, yes I am. I am not originally from this world therefore by definition I am indeed an “alien”. Why?” He asked, not understanding the purpose of this line of questioning.

“Well, would you mind if I asked you a few questions? You’re the first actual extraterrestrial to ever visit Equis in history! If possible I would absolutely love to have the chance to learn as much as I can about you, your species, and your world!” She exclaimed, all her earlier fear and nervousness vanishing in a flash as excitement and eagerness took its place.

“I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the moment. I am in the middle of trying to gather writing samples in order to translate your species written language. Unfortunately my universal translation device can only translate speech, not text.” Gerhardt informed her.

Hearing that she seemed to deflate slightly in disappointment. However, an idea seemed to strike her and she perked back up almost immediately. “I can help you translate our language! It would be a perfect opportunity to learn a bit about your language too, and you could answer a few of my questions while we do that!” She suggested eagerly.

Gerhardt stared at her for a moment, considering her offer. “I suppose that would speed things up quite a bit… Very well. Ah. How rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Gerhardt Mechanica, former High Lord of the Research and Development branch of the Human Kingdom, though I am sure you likely remember that from my earlier introduction. What is your name, if I may ask?”

“Oh, I’m Twilight Sparkle. While your arrival may have been a little… erm… rough, to say the least, it is still a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mechanica.” She responded happily.
> Chapter 3 (Edited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerhardt sat down at the desk where he left his stack of papers and took out his pen in preparation for writing down his and the Equestrians' respective alphabets and such. Twilight walked over to one of the shelves and a purple aura surrounded her horn and a large book as she used telekinetic magic to levitate it out of the book shelf. She then walked over to the table and sat down in the chair directly next to Gerhardt and set the large book down on the table between them, opening it up to the first page. While Gerhardt couldn’t read any of the words he immediately recognized the format of the book. It was very clearly a dictionary.

“May I record the contents of this dictionary? I believe it should speed things up quite a bit and judging by the dimensions of the book and the average size of the lettering I estimate that recording the entire thing should only take approximately 3.25 seconds in total. After that we can begin.” Gerhardt asked in an effort to be polite. He believed it may be rude to just snatch it off the table and flip through it without at least asking first since Twilight had been the one to retrieve the book from the shelf in the first place.

She gave him a curious look. “Sure, I did notice you were flipping through all those books pretty fast. Though I do have to ask, how do you know this is a dictionary if you can’t read our language. Also how can you possibly read that fast?! Are you using a spell or something and if so, could you explain to me how it works? Being able to read that fast would be unbelievably convenient and would save me so much time! Also, it doesn’t look like you have a horn so how is it even possible for you to use magic at all?”

The moment he got approval a bright copper aura engulfed his hand as he picked up the dictionary with a telekinetic spell and rapidly began flipping through it while Twilight continued to speak, setting it back down on the table on the first page as soon as he was finished. 

“While I can’t read any of the words, I could tell this book is a dictionary because the overall format and layout appears to be extremely similar to the dictionaries my species use, and considering the context of our conversation it is only logical that we would be using a dictionary. I can read as fast as I do because my augmentations allow me to process information far faster than would be possible for anyone whose brain is entirely organic, as yours is. The only magic involved is the magic energy my body runs on and the various enchantments in my brain augmentations. As for horns, I fail to see why I would need one. The ability to use magic has to do with the conditions present during the formation of an individual's soul prior birth. It has absolutely nothing to do with biology whatsoever.” He explained while taking a single sheet of paper off the stack of papers next to him, taking the cap off of his pen, and proceeding to write down the human alphabet.

Twilight looked at the fountain pen curiously as he started writing. “What are augmentations exactly? Also, you do realize that souls don’t actually exist, right? Furthermore, it has already been proven that there is a link between biology and magic. That’s the reason why earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all have different types of magic. It’s also why alicorns can use the magic of all three races as they are something along the lines of a hybrid with the features of all three. Other species also have their own unique forms of magic that we don’t.”

Gerhardt turned his head and stared at her for a moment. Considering this was a completely different universe he had fully expected there to be differences in how things worked here, but if this was true and magic really was related to biology here — at least for the most part considering he had exceedingly little in the way of biology and he had not lost his abilities upon his arrival here — it had some particularly interesting implications. He wondered how difficult it would be to replicate the biological components of this via augmentation. Hopefully it would only take a few months to a decade or so at most for him to figure out. During his time as a High Lord he had grown to absolutely loathe long term projects as he had tended to need almost all of his projects to be finished as soon as physically possible. 

It also meant certain fundamental laws of physics worked very differently here than they did in his universe thus throwing into question absolutely everything he knew about magic. If magic was biological here then what else might have changed about it that he didn’t know about? How much of his centuries worth of knowledge of magic might potentially be wrong, inefficient, or outright useless in this world? He would have to run numerous experiments to see exactly what was different and what was the same between this universe and his, and he would have to do so as soon as possible. This took precedence over damn near everything else except what he had to do in the immediate future, a.k.a. replacing those eight changelings limbs and starting development on those love generators.

After a second or two of thinking silently to himself Gerhardt finally said, “Fascinating. If what you claim about all life in this world having a biological connection to magic actually turns out to be true then that would certainly explain all of the anomalies my sensors have been experiencing ever since my arrival here. It would also have several other very interesting and potentially disastrous implications which warrant investigation on my part as soon as possible. Anyways, to answer your questions, almost my body is almost entirely made up of augmentations so you need only look at me to understand what they are. I hope you realize that I was not always made of metal. I am or was originally an organic being not some sort of sapient golem. In regards to souls, I have reason to disagree with you but believe what you will, I suppose.”

Sliding the paper with the Human alphabet and his fountain pen over to her he continued, “Now, we should begin translating your written language, wouldn’t you agree? I only need help learning the very basics. Mainly the alphabet, a few fundamental words, and basic sentence structure. After that I should have enough of a start to be able to decipher the rest on my own. Since you do not appear to have a writing utensil of your own with you at the moment, you are welcome to use my pen. I only request that you be careful not to break or otherwise damage it as I only just built it a few minutes ago and it is currently the only one I have.”

A purple aura enveloped both Twilight’s horn and the pen as she used telekinetic magic to pick it up and examine it for a moment, very clearly having never seen one before and seemingly curious as to how it functioned. “This looks waaaay different from any quills I’ve ever used before…” She muttered half to herself half to Gerhardt.

“That’s because it’s a fountain pen, not a quill. It has an internal reservoir that stores ink which allows it to write continuously for hours without ever needing to dip it into an inkwell before it eventually needs to be refilled. It’s a bit primitive but it's comparatively easy to make, it's refillable, and it's still much more efficient than a quill.” Gerhardt explained in disinterest. He knew Equestria was extremely primitive compared to all but a select few countries from his world but he failed to see what was so fascinating about a pen, of all things. Granted, it was likely Twilight had never seen one before but it was still just a simple writing utensil, not a piece of hyper advanced world changing technology or something to that effect.

Despite this, her eyes seemed to light up with excitement after hearing his explanation. “Say, Mr. Mechanica, would you be willing to build one of these fountain pen things for me? After all, I am helping you translate our written language and I would really appreciate it!” She asked with a huge smile on her face.

“No.” He stated bluntly causing Twilight’s smile to fall and an expression of disappointment and surprise to take its place. “Not this very instant anyways. I have very few materials with me at the moment and I would prefer to save them as much as I can in case I end up needing them later. You will simply have to wait to request one from me after I open my new business here in Equestria and have more resources at my disposal. Since you are assisting me at the moment and I am not completely unreasonable, I can build you one for free then. So please just have patience until that point. Now, shall we get started or will I have to attempt to translate your written language on my own after all?” He asked in slight annoyance, his patience starting to wear a bit thin.

Twilight still seemed slightly disappointed but nodded. “Okay, I guess that’s fair. Though I had no idea you were planning on starting a business! Where will you be setting up shop and what will you be selling, if you don’t mind me asking?” She asked as she began writing alien letters on the paper that made absolutely no sense to Gerhardt but matched the letters he saw in all the books he had recorded earlier.

“Yes, well, it is impossible for me to return to my world and it would be completely pointless if not outright suicidal even if it were possible. As such, I have absolutely nothing better to do then to just continue my research here in this world and for that I need funding. Thus I decided the best way to gain said funding for my research would be to start a business selling my technology. As for where I will be “setting up shop” as you put it, I honestly have no idea. At the end of the negotiations Princess Celestia made a business deal with me and she offered me a house with an attached storage shed that I could convert into a lab, among other things. However, she never informed me where it will actually be located.” Gerhardt explained while he waited for Twilight to finish writing.

“Wait, it’s impossible for you to return home?!” Twilight exclaimed, making a very obvious effort to keep her voice down to a reasonable level for a library. “That’s terrible! I’m so sorry, Gerhardt. It’s hard for me to imagine what that must feel like... It must be absolutely awful knowing you’ll never see any of your friends or family ever again.” She gave him a sympathetic look.

“Actually, no, not at all. Fortunately for me, the only family I’ve ever had were my parents and they died fighting a small cult of rogue mages 856 years ago. I do still miss them dearly, but I’ve long since moved on. Friends, on the other hand, are nothing but a waste of time that serve no purpose other than to hinder one’s productivity. Worse still, they are a weakness that one’s enemies can easily exploit. Family is a weakness and a distraction as well, which is exactly why I say it is fortunate for me that the only family I have ever had were my parents and they are already long dead. As such I have never once bothered to waste my time on such trivial matters as having friends nor do I ever plan to do so at any point in the future.”

Upon hearing him state his views on friendship Twilight let out a quiet gasp and gave him an absolutely horrified and slightly hurt look. Not understanding the reason for this odd behavior Gerhardt decided to ignore it and just continue what he was saying. “The only thing I will really miss are my tools and unfinished experiments, but I can easily replace those given enough time and resources. No, the worst part of all of this is not what I lost. It is the horrible situation my kingdom is in at the moment due to the unfortunate circumstances behind how I was sent here and by whom, and how I am now completely powerless to do anything about it.”

He sighed in resigned worry and frustration. “Anyways, I would prefer to not have to think about this and I want to discuss it even less… So, since it appears you have finished writing down your species alphabet, shall we begin? I shall start by telling you my species alphabet and the sounds associated with each letter, then you shall do the same for your alphabet. Then we can move on to fundamental words and basic sentence structure. Agreed?”

“Yeah… Sure… Sounds good.” Twilight said, seemingly somewhat upset and distracted by something or other. Gerhardt still had no clue what the issue could possibly be, and since he was not a god and was thus completely unable to read minds he decided it would be best to just ignore it. As long as it didn’t affect him, he honestly didn’t care. He was here to learn their language, not be Twilight’s friend. 

The Equestrian alphabet had nearly twice the amount of letters as the Human alphabet, and none of the sounds associated with them could be produced by natural human vocal cords, at least not properly. Rather unsurprisingly they sounded more like the vocalizations of horses than anything else, albeit significantly more complex. The ways their individual words were formed were about as complex as how individual words were formed in the language of the Elves. Finally their sentence structure was fairly similar to the language of the merpeople.

After teaching him all of that Twilight began reading him the definitions of several key words from her language. In return Gerhardt would teach her the equivalent word in the Human language, though there were times the human language didn’t have an equivalent for him to teach her. Human language had always been known as one of the most limited languages in his world after all, and that seemed to hold true even here in a completely separate universe. Thus the reason he typically recorded his notes and blueprints using the language of Elves when dealing with arcane concepts and the language of the Dwarves when dealing with technological and scientific concepts. Their respective languages simply had more words for those respective topics that the human language simply didn’t have an equivalent for. Twilight was absolutely fascinated by this fact when he informed her of it.

After about ten minutes of going over the dictionary with Twilight, Gerhardt finally learned just enough words to begin deciphering the Equestrian language on his own. A process that was sped up significantly thanks to Twilight’s assistance. As he deciphered more and more of the language he was able to start decoding the books he had already recorded, most of which turned out to be books on history. He found some of the information contained within them rather interesting. However that only seemed to apply to specific major events as the majority of recorded Equestrian history appeared to be nothing but peace and effective technological stagnation due to an extreme over reliance on magic and was thus extremely uneventful and boring to him. He made a mental note to not bother wasting his time reading any more about Equestrian history and to instead focus on significantly more relevant matters such as their laws and etiquette.

“Thank you, Miss Twilight. You have been of immense help. Thanks to you I have already begun deciphering the rest of your language and should soon be completely fluent. Now, please excuse me as I must begin writing a few things for Princess Celestia if I wish to get it done by tomorrow morning.” Gerhardt stated before picking up his fountain pen, grabbing another sheet of paper, and starting to write the list of materials he needed.

“Oh? What do you need to write for her?” Twilight inquired curiously, not taking his hint to leave him alone.

Gerhardt sighed in slight annoyance and said, “The first thing I need to write is a list of materials that I require to build the augmentations to replace the limbs of the eight changelings that I dismembered earlier today. The second Princess Celestia has requested I keep classified until she is ready to disclose it to the public in a more controlled fashion.”

“I see.” Twilight said in slight disappointment. “Well, I have a bit of a question that I’ve been meaning to ask, if you wouldn’t mind answering me while you write. It’s about something you said earlier that I find a bit… concerning.”

“Very well… What is it?”

“Well do you remember when you told me about your views on friendship earlier?” Twilight asked.

“Indeed.” Gerhardt confirmed.

“I was just wondering, why is it exactly that you view friendship so negatively?”

Gerhardt was silent for a moment as he thought about it. “I suppose it's a mixture of two things. The first was the way I was raised and the second was my role as a High Lord and the many risks and responsibilities that came with it. You see, my parents had taught me from birth that friendship is nothing but a distraction from your work and never allowed me to have friends Thus to make them proud I became… obsessed, for lack of a better word, with my work as a technomancer. Nothing else mattered to me except my work and my duty to my people. They were extremely proud of me... for a time. Then they began growing older and kept bothering me about finding someone in the Research and Development branch to marry and have children with. I never did as I realized by that point that family, like friendship, was but an unnecessary distraction to one's work and I enjoyed my work greatly. The rest, as they say, is history.”

“Oh… Well... Normally I would have a lot more questions about your home world and such but I suppose it’s getting late and you’ve already given me quite a lot to think about… Good night, Gerhardt, hopefully I can talk to you again tomorrow.” Twilight muttered dejectedly before getting up off of her chair and walking away.

“I’m afraid I will likely be quite busy tomorrow. Good night, Miss Twilight.” Gerhardt said in an attempt to be polite. 

He quickly finished his list of materials and started writing what was for all intents and purposes a guide book on proper training methods for mages and how to maintain magical fitness. At some point in the night he ran out of paper and had to go request more from the librarian that was taking the night shift, which was another breed of pony he had not seen before. This one had several bat-like features. He didn’t bother conversing with them other than to request more paper or ink.

Eventually night turned to morning and Gerhardt finally finished writing what was essentially a whole tome. He had originally intended to write some short notes on the subject but it had somehow turned into this. With a mental shrug he raised a hand and cast a spell to punch three  holes in the side of the “notes”. He then took out his tools and a couple sheets of steel cast a noise dampening illusion spell and began crafting a metal binding for the pages so they would not get mixed up in the event of an accident. When that was finished he quickly cleaned up and began searching for any law books he could find, which he proceeded to read immediately and put back when he was finished with them. 

Once he was confident he was familiar enough with Equestrian law to not accidentally end up getting himself arrested, he began looking for books on etiquette, then he moved onto books on magic and spell books. That was where he got hung up. Nothing any of the books said made any sense to him whatsoever. All of the purely academic books on magic were filled with what he saw as nothing but complete and utter superstitious nonsense. The spell books were even worse. They were filled with terrible poems about “harmony”, “friendship”, and other such nonsense. The use of equations was far and few between but even those equations always related to some superstitious nonsense. It was completely ridiculous.

He was still reading through some of the completely useless spell books when he felt something tap him on the leg. Looking down he saw a maid looking at him a bit nervously. “Er… Princess Celestia is requesting your presence in the dining hall. She would like for you to join her and the others for breakfast. If you would, please follow me.” 

Having already put away the useless spell book he had just finished reading, he quickly cast a spell and levitated his list of materials and his so-called “notes” over to himself and grabbed them out of the air. “Very well.” He said, deliberately motioning for the maid to lead the way.

Turning around the maid began leading him to the dining hall. Once they were there, she motioned to the door and said, “They should be waiting for you inside.”

“Thank you.” Gerhardt stated before pushing the doors open and walking inside. His sensors told him there were eleven presences inside, three of which were demigods while the rest were not. This was quickly confirmed when he saw all three princesses, Prince Shining Armor, and all six of the civilians from yesterday sitting at a long dining table in the middle of the room. There was an empty seat with an extra plate between Prince Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, which he presumed was for Queen Chrysalis.

As he walked inside, all eleven of them ceased their conversations and turned to look at him. The rainbow maned pegasus and the orange hat wearing pony were both glaring at him, the yellow pegasus seemed completely terrified of him, the white unicorn looked nervous, the pink pony looked happy, the lizard had a curious look on its face, and Twilight was frowning slightly. Prince Shining armor looked calm but having been in the military for centuries Gerhardt could easily tell that he was on guard and ready to attack him at the slightest provocation, while Princess Cadence seemed rather nonchalant. Princess Celestia and Luna were both smiling at him.

“Mr. Mechanica, I’m glad you could join us this morning. Have you finished the list of materials you’ll need and those notes I requested?” Celestia inquired.

“Indeed, I have them here. The list is on top of the notes which turned out to be quite a bit longer than I had originally intended.” Gerhardt said, levitating the stack of papers over to her. “Have you found a place where I can work on building the augmentations for the Changelings?”

“Indeed I have. It's a large storage room here in the castle that apparently hasn’t been used in years.” Celestia confirmed. “I will have a servant show you there later.”

“Excellent. Then I believe I should head to the hospital to get the measurements I need right away. If you could please have one of your servants show me the way, it would be greatly appreciated.” Gerhardt stated.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Actually, I would like to bring you there myself after breakfast, if you don’t mind. Please sit down and join us.” She said motioning to the empty seat.

Gerhardt sighed impatiently, but said, “As you wish. However, please forgive me if I do not eat as I am physically incapable of doing so.”

“WHAT?! THAT’S TERRIBLE!” Shouted the pink pony who seemed to have appeared as if from thin air directly in front of him. “If you can’t eat how can you enjoy yummy food like cake, cupcakes, donuts, or ANYTHING?! Even if you can’t eat you have to be able to at least taste right?!” She said, jumping up on to him, somehow grabbing his shoulders with her front hooves, and shaking him.

“No. I have not required sustenance to survive for over eight hundred years so why would I have given myself the ability to eat or even taste? It is completely unnecessary.” He responded, extremely confused by this.

“Unnecessary? UNNECESSARY?! WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOUR FRIENDS THROW YOU A BIRTHDAY PARTY?! YOU CANT EVEN EAT THE BIRTHDAY CAKE! Wait… DID YOU JUST SAY YOU’VE BEEN LIKE THIS FOR OVER EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS?!” The pink pony shouted in his face as if this was the most terrible thing in the world.

A purple aura suddenly enveloped the pink pony and she was pulled off of him and levitated back to her seat. “Pinkie! That’s very rude! Sorry about that Gerhardt, Pinkie Pie can get a bit… excited at times. Especially when it comes to things like sweets and meeting new ponies.” Twilight stated apologetically.

“It is no issue, Miss Sparkle. I have dealt with worse.” Gerhardt stated before approaching the table and sitting down in the empty chair. An awkward silence filled the room. This stretched on for about a minute until Princess Celestia cleared her throat and said, “Well, Mr. Mechanica, my student Twilight has told me all about your conversation with her in the library last night. I’m glad to see she helped you learn our language, though I will admit I had no idea we spoke different languages until she told me. Though there are other things she told me that I found somewhat concerning. In fact, it actually helped me decide what your punishment will be for mutilating those changelings yesterday.”

“Yes, I only sounded as though I spoke your language due to my universal translator, which operates on mental illusion magic working in tandem with several other forms of magic. I won’t bore you with the details. Unfortunately it only translates speech not text. As for my conversation with Miss Sparkle, what worried you if I may ask? Nothing I said was of any real significance. And I stand firmly by my actions yesterday. They were hostile soldiers and they attacked me despite my warnings to just allow me leave, so I acted in self defense. I know you remember the videos I showed you of my past so you know full well that I could have done far worse had I any reason to.”

Celestia winced when he brought up the videos of his past. Raising a hoof she said, “Ugh… Yes, please don’t remind me The things you showed me gave me nightmares that even my sister had difficulty with and I would rather not lose my breakfast, especially this early in the morning.”

“Your past? You were one of the leaders of your kingdom’s military right? Cadence told me. What could have been so bad about your past?” Shining Armor inquired.

“Prince…” Gerhardt leaned over to whisper to him so Celestia and the rest of the table wouldn’t hear him. “Have you ever watched a child, or I suppose in your culture, a foal be skinned alive by a Spirit that is quite literally the physical embodiment of the concept of evil? Have you ever seen soldiers hung from nooses made from their own entrails and watched them writhe in agony while you could do nothing but kill them to put them out of their misery? Have you ever watched hordes of ghosts and reanimated rotting corpses tearing innocent civilians apart and devouring their flesh only for that civilian’s bloody bones and even their very soul to be reanimated and enslaved through dark magic but mere moments later? Have you ever seen families be torn apart because it was too late to save a parent, child, husband, or wife from said ghosts and reanimated corpses? Because I have.”

Shining Armor’s expression turned to one of horror and disbelief with the very first sentence out of Gerhardt’s mouth and that expression only grew in intensity the longer Gerhardt talked.

“I have witnessed all of those things and far worse still. I cannot show you these memories at the moment as there are civilians present who I’m certain could not handle witnessing such horrors just based on their reactions to seeing those Changelings lose a couple of limbs. So for now just try to imagine it and what that’s like. I have seen things, experienced things, survived things that would drive all but the most jaded and heartless of individuals to utter insanity and have only remained sane because my brain augmentations have redundant fail safes that prevent me from going mad. So do you still wonder what’s so bad about my past?”

 “O-oh… Uh… No… That… uh… That definitely answers my question… and ruined my appetite.” Shining armor responded sounding rather shaken.

“Wait a minute! What did he say?!” The rainbow maned pegasus demanded.

“Just… Just trust me, you really don’t want to know… It’s actually pretty hard to believe…” Shining Armor stated.

“Well, uh… Whatever he said, I sorta get the feeling he was being completely honest with ya… Sorry, don’t know if that helps any.” The orange pony with the strange hat said with a rather odd accent.

Shining Armor didn’t respond as the orange one’s words clearly brought him no comfort.

Celestia cleared her throat once more, “Mr. Mechanica please at least try to refrain from telling anypony else about those parts of your past and I outright forbid you from actually showing anypony any of those memories. It’s for their own benefit that they never see such things. Now to pick back up where we left off, what concerns me about your conversation with Twilight is what she told me about your views on friendship.”

“What? That it’s nothing but a useless distraction from one’s work and an easily exploitable weakness?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Yes. That and your self proclaimed obsession with your work. That’s why your punishment will be learning about friendship from my student Twilight. Thus you will be forced to step away from your work and actually interact with and try to become friends with others.”

“You’re joking…” Gerhardt said disbelievingly.

“No. I’m dead serious. That’s your punishment. I’ve already asked Twilight if she would be willing to help teach you and she agreed. Plus your new house will be in Ponyville so this works out perfectly.” Celestia explained.

Gerhardt shook his head. “No... I refuse to waste my time on such a thing! Keep the damn house! I’ll mine all the resources I need and start my business myself!”

Princess Celestia looked at him in surprise. “My word, you’re reacting to this even worse than I thought you would. Well no matter, it wouldn’t be much of a punishment if you liked it. My decision on this matter is final, Mr. Mechanica.”

For the first time in a century Gerhardt actually gritted his teeth in rage. Normally it took quite a lot to make him angry let alone this angry, but interfering with his work in such a ludicrous fashion as this just managed to get under his skin, metaphorically speaking. Unfortunately he currently wasn’t in any position to refuse unless he wanted to flee the country, which risked making both Equestria and the Changelings his enemies which he simply couldn’t afford at the moment. “Grrr… Fine…” He hissed. There was significantly more mechanical reverberation in his voice than usual with the faint sound of static in the background. “Unfortunately it seems as though you are leaving me no choice in the matter…”

[Meanwhile on Earth]

Silvanus was in tears laughing as he watched Gerhardt through the tether he had tied to his soul just before throwing him into that vortex, just in case the Greater Gods learned of his actions and sought to punish him for it. They shouldn’t as there was nothing in their rules that said he couldn’t do this, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He was effectively exploiting a loophole after all and there was always a chance they may take exception to that. With this tether he could always pull that bastard Gerhardt back if he needed to, and hopefully minimize the punishment the Greater Gods would give him were he to receive one.

Time seemed to move quite a bit slower wherever Gerhardt currently was but that was simple enough for him to deal with. As he watched Gerhardt suffer in some strange world of pacifistic ponies however, he was in the middle of fighting the Army branch of the Human military. Not that it was very difficult. They had been thrown into complete and utter chaos the moment Gerhardt had disappeared.

He was the longest lived High Lord in human history and had been in office for centuries. Thus his disappearance disrupted an equilibrium in the R&D branch that had been stable for almost a millennia and had left a massive power vacuum that they couldn’t decide how to fill, throwing it into absolute anarchy as they scrambled to fill said vacuum but no one could decide who would step up to take his place as High Lord. Most of the particularly highest ranking members within the R&D branch that had the best chances of being chosen didn’t even want to take his place. For some it was out of loyalty or respect, their families having served under him for generations. Others didn’t want the job because they didn’t want all the stress or responsibility of being the High Lord of the R&D branch, and that was to say nothing of the massive shadow he cast to which they would be compared for the rest of their lives were they to take his job. 

Needless to say this threw the entire human military into disarray as the other branches relied on the R&D branch quite a bit and the other High Lords were now having to manage most of Gerhardt’s responsibilities on top of their own until someone replaced him all while trying to put out about thousand different fires at once while trying their best mitigate as much of the chaos as possible.

Had it been any other High Lord, it would have been dealt with in short order as each had very clear successors. Gerhardt didn’t. He had been in office for centuries, which no other High Lord to date had managed to do, and thus no one had bothered to think of who might replace him were something to happen to him as his existence as the high lord of the R&D branch had been a constant throughout a huge portion of recent history thus his death or disappearance was practically inconceivable to most of the Human Kingdom. Many had just assumed he was immortal and would reign as high lord of R&D until the end of time, or at the very least that he wouldn’t die or disappear anywhere near their lifetimes, or the life times of their children, or their children’s children. Most of the Human Kingdom were dead wrong. And now, they were paying for it.

Silvanus had not been expecting Gerhardt’s disappearance to have anywhere near the impact it did, and he was fairly certain Gerhardt hadn’t either otherwise he likely would have set up systems and procedures in order to minimize the damage as much as possible. Not that he was complaining. It all worked out amazingly well for him and he was loving every minute of it. The only thing that really disappointed him about how this all turned out was the fact Gerhardt hadn’t messed up in that wedding venue and made enemies with one or both of the countries. It would have been even more entertaining to see him being hunted down like a dog.

Then he was hit with the blast of the main battle cannon of a super heavy combat golem that somehow managed to catch him off guard and his good mood was instantly ruined as said blast actually hurt… a lot... Very thick vines quickly enveloped the offending combat golem and began tearing it apart as Silvanus turned all of his focus entirely to the battle.

[Meanwhile in Equestria]

The rest of the breakfast went rather smoothly after that. Gerhardt learned all the names of the seven civilians, counting the bipedal lizard that was apparently named Spike. Most did not seem to like him very much, if at all. Fluttershy was utterly terrified of him. Rainbow Dash seemed to either hate him or just seriously not trust him, likely for how aggressively he handled the Changeling situation, he honestly couldn’t tell which. Applejack was extremely wary of him and seemed to consider him a potential threat, likely for the same reason. Pinkie Pie was still quite distraught about the fact that he couldn’t eat and seemed to have absolutely no desire to. Rarity appeared more interested in his uniform and the fabrics it was made of than anything, she seemed particularly excited when he informed her that the silver and gold on his uniform were made of actual silver and gold wires that had been turned into a fabric that had been lightly enchanted to prevent them from growing brittle and breaking after too much movement. Spike seemed somewhat interested in his augmentations as they apparently reminded him of things he had read in certain works of fiction. Twilight, of course, was interested in his world, his kingdom, his world’s history, etc.

Otherwise they tended to keep conversation with him to a minimum and mainly just talked with each other about various other things instead, which suited him just fine. Well, all except for Twilight who continued to barrage him with question after question, which he found rather irritating especially after having learned what his punishment was. Even so, he tried his best to remain as polite as possible and answer her questions to the best of his abilities. If he was going to be stuck dealing with her on a regular basis for an extended period of time then he might as well be on polite terms with her after all, even if this completely asinine punishment was at least partially her fault for telling the princess about his views on friendship in the first place.

Eventually breakfast ended and Princess Celestia gave a servant the list of materials he needed before leading him to the hospital where the Changelings were located so he could get the measurements that he needed in order to build their replacement limbs. Fortunately they were either unconscious or too strung out on painkillers to attempt to engage him in conversation or otherwise be difficult with him while he got the measurements he needed. The only thing that truly annoyed him was Celestia hovering over him the entire time watching everything he did. He assumed it was because she didn’t trust him or something, he didn’t care enough to bother asking.

When he was finished she led him back to the castle and to the abandoned storage room where he would be working. There was already a table set up in the middle of the room and small crates containing the materials he had requested. There she left him to work. Having no hard set time limit like he had when he was building that prototype love generator yesterday, Gerhardt took his time setting up and preparing for the project. This process took about an hour 

When that was finally done he finally got to work. He heated and shaped sheets of metal with a small portable magic based blow torch and several other somewhat delicate tools along with several clever applications of magic in place of other tools or machines that he needed but didn’t have at the moment. He hand made several circuit boards by improvising with some of the materials he had inside the pouches on the belt of his robes and using magic in place of proper machinery. Then he used his magic to crush several carefully weighed and measured pieces of clear cuprite until the crystals were the consistency of a fine sand, each and every grain of which would be mass enchanted and used as a crude makeshift internal sensor that would allow the limbs to feel just like organic limbs do. He also crushed several other crystals he would need for all of the processors he would have to build. All of this took another several hours.

Finally he began the long process of building all of the mechanical mechanisms, steel endoskeleton, internal machinery, and the processors. Before he was even a twentieth of the way through he was interrupted by a knock on the door before a servant opened it and said, “Excuse me, the princess is requesting your presence in the Dining Hall. She would like you to join her and the others for dinner.”

“Please give her my sincerest apologies and inform her that I will unfortunately be unable to join them as I am currently quite busy. If she asks for an estimate as to how long this will take, inform her that my most optimistic estimate is a week, though it may very well take a little longer than that as I need to make quite a few augmentations entirely by hand with extremely limited tools. Thank you.” Gerhardt responded not pausing in his work or looking away for even an instant.

“As you wish.” The servant responded, closing the door once more.

Gerhardt continued working until there was yet another knock on the door and the servant opened it once more. “Sir, I’m afraid the princess insists you join them. She says it's part of your punishment for what you did to the Changelings yesterday?” The servant said questioningly, apparently unaware of Gerhardt’s actions yesterday

Gerhardt sighed in irritation. “Gods damn it… Very well then…” For a microsecond he vaguely considered taking the limb he was working on with him into the dining hall and continuing to work on it, just to spite them. However, he ultimately decided that would be quite petty and childish of him so he set down his tools and left his work where it was. Walking out the door of the storage room he said, “I will just take a portal there to save time. Thank you for informing me. You may go about whatever other business you may have.”

He then raised a hand and created a portal to the inside of the dining hall before immediately proceeding through it. Once he was through he closed the portal behind him and said, “Princess I’m afraid I must object to this. I was in the middle of working on the replacement limbs for the Changelings. A process which will already take a significant amount of time due to my lack of proper equipment. Trivial social interactions such as this will only add to the amount of time it will take.” 

“Thank you, Gerhardt, your objections are noted. Please sit down.” Princess Celestia stated, motioning to the empty seat, this time between Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

Gerhardt reluctantly took his seat. This dinner went about the same as breakfast had. Some of the Ponies occasionally tried to make a bit of light conversation with him but for the most part they just left him alone. He most certainly didn’t try to converse with any of them unless they spoke to him first. He spent the majority of his time using a program in his head to work on possible designs and blueprints for the love generators he was supposed to build for the Changelings. His main issue was trying to figure out how to make them robust enough to withstand the changelings feeding on them without them exploding in the process. He would work on tweaking the “flavor” later after he figured out how to build one durable enough to survive being fed on in the first place.

When dinner was finally over Gerhardt immediately stood up, created a portal back to the storage room he was using to work on the Changelings’ augmentation, walked through, and shut it behind him. Walking back inside the storage room, he immediately resumed his work. After a few minutes the door opened and both Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle walked inside. He would have said it was rude of them to enter uninvited but this was Celestia’s castle and he knew he would do the same to pretty much anyone else were he still in the Human Kingdom.

“Well I assume you two are here for a reason. What is it?” Gerhardt inquired neither pausing nor looking away from his work.

“Indeed, Twilight here was curious about your work so I decided to bring her here and let her see it for herself. Also, you barely interacted with anypony during breakfast or dinner. It seems like you’re not even trying to make an effort to learn anything about friendship.” Celestia explained.

“That’s because I’m not. I was unaware that I was supposed to start effective immediately. I had assumed I would at least be able to wait until I finished setting up my lab in the house you're providing me before this ridiculous punishment truly began. However, it seems as though I was a bit too optimistic in my assessment.” Gerhardt huffed in irritation, trying his best to ignore Twilight Sparkle who was standing on her hind legs with her forehoofs on the table just to get a look at what he was doing.

“Um… Mr. Mechanica, is there anything I might be able to do to help you? I know you prefer being alone, but I would really like to learn more about what it is you do, if you don’t mind.” Twilight requested hopefully.

“No. Were you a trained technomancer or at the very least a highly skilled and experienced biomedical engineer from one of the major kingdoms of my world, preferably one of my kingdom's allies, then most certainly. However, you are not. Thus there is little to nothing you can do to help me.” Gerhardt refused.

Twilight scowled at him. “I’ll have you know that I am an excellent engineer!”

“Oh? Then can you tell me how you would go about building a processor that will interpret the signals from the subject’s nervous system and move the artificial limb based on those signals only using what few tools I have here?” He asked.

“Well, no, but —” Twilight started only for Gerhardt to cut her off.

“Very well, then can you tell me how you would go about connecting each of these hundreds of grains of specially enchanted cuprite so as to allow the artificial limb to have feeling just like a normal limb, again using what few tools I have with me at the moment?”

“No…” Twilight said somewhat dejectedly.

“Then I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do to assist me. Please do not take it personally as I am not saying this out of malice, Miss Sparkle. Please keep in mind the fact that while it may not look like it right now this is indeed going to be someone’s limb. Augmentations are very complex pieces of machinery already and they aren’t something that someone without the proper knowledge and training can build and make work. Not to mention the fact that they will eventually be attached to a person and wired directly into their nervous system. Thus great care and precision must go into their construction or else they will not function properly or in the worst case scenario could even end up harming the individual they are attached to.” Gerhardt calmly explained

Setting down the tool he was currently using and picking up another, he continued. “Were I building anything other than augmentations at the moment such as a simple cleaning golem for example, I might have agreed to allow you to assist me as there would be far less danger involved if a mistake were to be made or if it were to be constructed improperly. What I am doing right now, however, is quite literally the mechanical equivalent of intensive surgery and thus I simply can not risk allowing someone who lacks the necessary knowledge or skills to build such a device to assist me.”

“That’s… actually a very good reason. I’m surprised, Mr. Mechanica, I honestly thought you were refusing simply because you wished to be left alone.” Princess Celestia stated.

“Princess, I was part of my kingdom’s military and a member of the Research and Development branch at that. While I may not wish to waste my time on such trivial matters as friendship, I am still more than capable of working with others when necessary and in fact have done so countless times in the past on countless different projects. Furthermore, during my time as a High Lord I have learned the value of delegating whenever necessary. If it saves me time so I may move on to my next project or whatever other duties that I must attend to faster than I would otherwise then I have no problem working with others in a strictly professional setting.” Gerhardt stated.

“I see. Well, I think I shall be taking my leave now. Good night, Twilight, and you as well Mr. Mechanica.” Princess Celestia said before exiting the room.

A minute passed with Twilight showing no sign that she was going to leave any time soon. So Gerhardt sighed and asked, “I see you are still here, Miss Sparkle. May I ask why? I have already told you that there is nothing you can do to assist me.”

“I know, but if I can’t help you, would you at least be willing to teach me a little about technomancy and maybe some about augmentations like the ones you’re building? Sorry, I’m just somewhat of an academic and love learning new things. An opportunity to learn an entirely new form of magic is just too tempting to pass up!” Twilight asked with a somewhat pleading expression on her face.

Gerhardt thought about it for a moment. She wouldn’t be the first person he’s ever taught. Every so often he would teach a class full of recruits about certain concepts or equations, and he had even taken several apprentices in the past though such a thing was quite rare for him. None of those apprentices were alive today, either having been killed in combat, having been assassinated, or having died of natural causes due to old age, but the point remained. Not that he had any intention of taking Twilight as an apprentice. “Hm… Very well. I suppose I could teach you some of the basics. Just do not touch anything I am working on.”

Thus Gerhardt began trying to teach Twilight the fundamental concepts of technomancy. It turned out she was a surprisingly quick study and began to grasp what he was saying very quickly. The only issue being the fact she kept referencing the utter nonsense that Gerhardt had read in those books on magic earlier that day. She suggested multiple times that he should account for “harmony” in things that had absolutely nothing to do with harmonics, or that he should try incorporating some equation or another that seemed utterly nonsensical to him, and other such things that seemed utterly preposterous to him. 

He didn’t even try arguing or debating with her as he wasn’t certain just how different this universe’s magic was from the magic of his universe. He did, however, make a mental note to conduct experiments to prove whether the things she was suggesting were true or not, regardless of how preposterous the concepts seemed to him. This was the ponies’ world after all, so logically they should know how its magic operates better than him... Then again they didn’t even know how to properly train their mages nor did they know how to maintain their magical fitness or even realize that they had to maintain their magical fitness in the first place as magic was just like any other muscle… Well, either way that’s what experimentation was for. To either prove or disprove different theories and hypotheses.

Eventually Twilight began growing tired and had trouble staying awake, at which point Gerhardt suggested she go to bed. She tried to refuse at first but eventually her exhaustion combined with Gerhardt’s refusal to teach her any more in her current state forced her to relent. Thus she left.

After that Gerhardt was very reluctantly forced to adopt a regular schedule. Every morning he would be called in to attend breakfast and every night he would be called in to attend dinner while the rest of the time he would be in the storage room working on the limbs. After the next day Twilight and her friends finally left the Canterlot to head back home. Thus the breakfasts and dinners Gerhardt was forced to attend mainly consisted of the three Princesses as well as Prince Shining Armor. 

They tried making light conversation with him about things like politics, history, and major events both in his world and theirs. It was usually fine whenever they were talking about the Ponies’ world, but whenever Gerhardt’s world was brought up it inevitably led to him thinking about the awful situation his kingdom was in and how he was powerless to do anything about it which would immediately cause his mood to plummet. 

After about five days had passed Luna began questioning him about why she never saw his dreams in the dream world and he informed her that he had long since removed both his biological requirement and his ability to sleep. He was able to enter a low power mode in emergencies but that was vastly different than sleeping. As Princess Celestia had suggested, Princess Luna was somewhat offended by this. She didn’t get angry or do anything particularly drastic but she did make it very clear to him that she didn’t like it especially since he never bothered to take even so much as a few minutes away from his work to go outside and appreciate the night sky that she always worked so hard on.

After nine days had passed, Gerhardt had finally finished the augmentations for the Changelings he had dismembered and was ready to install them even despite all of the completely unnecessary interference by the Princesses.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having finished building the last of the augmentations — each of which had numbers engraved on the bottom of their hoofs to indicate which changeling they had been built for — Gerhardt piled them all in a wooden crate that some of the materials he had requested had come in. He then proceeded to put all of his tools back in his portable cloth tool-kit and generally cleaned up his work station. He threw any left over scraps, bits of wires, and any other unusable trash that was left over from building the augmentations into another smaller empty crate which he set next to the door for disposal by the maids. After all, there wasn’t enough there to truly warrant keeping it for recycling for the raw materials.

He had already informed Celestia during breakfast that he would be finished and ready to install the augmentations today, and she had already sent someone to the hospital to tell them to prepare the Changelings for surgery. So all that was left for him to do was head to the hospital and begin the operation. Thus he cast a telekinetic spell and picked up the crate containing the artificial limbs, then he cast another spell and created a portal leading to the front entrance of the hospital. Walking through with the wooden crate floating along behind him, he closed the portal and pushed open the doors.

Walking up to the receptionist he said, “Good day. I am Gerhardt Mechanica. I am one who built the artificial limbs for the eight changelings that are currently staying here and am the one who will be installing said limbs today. Princess Celestia sent someone earlier today to let you know I would be coming and to prepare the Changelings for surgery. This crate contains the new limbs, each of which will need to be sterilized before the surgery begins. Furthermore they each have numbers engraved on the bottoms of their hooves that correspond with the changeling’s respective room numbers. Is there anywhere I should set it, or should I just bring it with me?”

The receptionist looked a bit taken aback by this but quickly composed herself, cleared her throat, and said, “Yes, we’ve been expecting you. Uh… Just set the crate down here and I’ll have the nurses come get the limbs and bring them to their respective rooms. Oh, and the head surgeon of this hospital would like to have a word with you before you begin. She should be in room 203 with who I assume will be your first patient today.”

“Very well. Thank you for your assistance, ma’am.” Gerhardt stated, setting the crate down next to the reception desk. He then proceeded to head straight for room 203, which he knew the way to having already been there once before. Entering inside he saw the changeling already unconscious on a surgical bed which had apparently been rolled into the room for this procedure and a unicorn wearing a white coat, possibly some sort of uniform, writing something down on a clipboard. “Greetings, ma’am. I am told that you wished to speak with me prior to the operation.”

The pony turned to look at him and jumped slightly, apparently startled by his appearance. “Er… Yes. You’re the one called Gerhardt, correct?” She inquired.

“Indeed I am.” 

“Wonderful… Well, Mr. Gerhardt, could you please inform me as to what exactly this surgery you are planning entails? From what I understand it is to replace these changelings missing limbs but what does that mean exactly and how is such a thing even possible?” The surgeon asked.

Gerhardt rolled up one of his sleeves and held up his arm so she could see it. “I will be conducting a very similar procedure to the one that gave me this. To put it simply, I will be grafting a fully mechanical prosthesis onto their bodies in place of their missing limbs which will be wired directly into their nervous system. The augmentations, as they are called, will move and feel just like ordinary limbs. As for the specifics of how the procedure will be conducted, you are more than welcome to observe and take notes as I conduct the surgery. In fact I would encourage it, as what you learn could potentially be very useful in the relatively near future once I am able to begin mass production of augmentations such as these.”

A unicorn nurse walked in carrying two of the artificial limbs with her magic. She then set them next to a sink off to the side of the room before turning to Gerhardt and saying, “Um… These two limbs have yet to be sterilized. We are in the process of bringing the others to their respective rooms where they will be thoroughly sterilized before you arrive.”

“Very well, thank you for your assistance. I shall take care of these two myself.” Gerhardt stated, approaching the limbs which were engulfed in a copper aura as he cast a sterilization spell on them. Casting the same spell on himself, just to be safe, he picked up the two limbs and set them on the tray next to the surgical bed.

Turning back to the surgeon he said, “Well, doctor, have you decided whether or not you will be staying to watch?”

The doctor nodded and said, “I suppose so.”

“Very good. Then I shall begin.” Gerhardt said, picking up a surgical saw that was sitting on the tray since he had to remove the remnants of the old limb up to the first joint and he needed to get through the Changeling’s carapace to be able to do so. Over the course of the first surgery he explained the entire process to the doctor as he worked, and answered any and all questions she asked him. Each individual surgery took about two and a half hours but all of them went quite well. By the end of it all eight changelings had brand new limbs that looked exactly like their original ones but made out of steel, which had been lightly enchanted to prevent it from rusting, rather than flesh and black carapace. 

When it was over, Gerhardt cast a quick spell to clean all of the blood off of him and his robes and told the medical staff to keep the changelings on some non-addictive painkillers for at least a few days to give their bodies time to recover. He then left the hospital and proceeded to walk straight back to the castle, not caring if it was slower than taking a portal as having already finished installing the Changelings augmentations he had absolutely nothing he needed to do at the moment, much to his frustration. Ponies stared at him in fear and some even ran away as he walked by, which he completely ignored. 

He supposed once he got back to the castle he could just head to the library and continue reading since he hadn’t finished all the books there, though he knew full well that option wouldn’t last very long with how fast he read. Still at least it was something.

As soon as he reached the front gate one of the guards standing in front of it approached him looking somewhat intimidated and said, “Uh… You’re Gerhardt Mechanica, right?”

“Indeed.” Gerhardt confirmed.

“The Princess told me to bring you to the throne room as soon as you returned from the hospital.” The guard informed him.

“Very well, please lead the way.” Gerhardt stated.

The guard turned and led Gerhardt to the throne room. As soon as they reached the doors leading to the throne room, Gerhardt thanked the guard that led him there and immediately proceeded inside.

Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne reading a scroll, however as she heard the doors open she rolled it up and set it off to the side. While she didn’t look that much different from a week ago visually, she had actually changed quite a bit. Gerhardt’s sensors informed him that she was already several times more powerful than he or any but the absolute strongest of mortal mages could ever even hope to be. And while Luna and Cadence were not present he knew from the breakfasts and dinners he had been forced to attend that both had grown in power just as much as Celestia. Cadence had actually grown somewhat and her mane and tail had slowly started gaining the ethereal quality that both Celestia’s and Luna’s had. Apparently all of them had read the tome Gerhardt had written on magical fitness and proper training techniques and were all making astounding progress with it despite how little time had passed, though to be perfectly honest he would have expected nothing less of demigods.

Gerhardt approached her, stopping a respectful distance away, and said, “Greetings Princess. I have finished installing the Changelings augmentations. However, now that I have nothing to do I must ask, what is the status of that paperwork for my new house? I would like to get started setting up my new lab as soon as possible.”

“I finished it a few days ago. All that’s left is for you to sign your name on the deed and it will officially belong to you.” She said, levitating a different scroll over to him.

He grabbed the scroll out of the air and created a small rectangular shield directly in front of him. Taking out his fountain pen he opened the scroll, placed it on the shield, quickly read through the entire thing to ensure there were no tricks or conditions that could potentially be used against him, and then signed his name at the bottom. He then put away his fountain pen, rolled up the scroll once more, and let the shield he was using to write on dissipate. “I assume that I am to keep this, correct?” He asked, holding up the scroll.

Celestia nodded. “Yes, be sure not to lose it as it is the proof that you own the property. Oh, and here’s the key.” She said before levitating the key over to him. “There is a flying chariot already waiting to take you there. Please follow me.” She said before getting up off of her throne.

She led him to a wide balcony where, as she had said, a chariot being pulled by two pegasi guards was waiting. “I have already had somepony deliver a few crates of materials to your house. I didn’t know what else you might need so it is essentially the same materials you requested in order to build the augmentations for the changelings, just in a bit higher quantity. They should already be in your storage shed. If you need anything else to help set up your lab and get your business started just send me a letter telling me what you need. Within reason, of course.”

“Very well. Thank you very much for your generosity, princess. While I still think the punishment you have decided upon for defending myself is absolutely ludicrous, very few if any leaders from my world would be willing to offer someone in my situation anywhere near as much assistance as you have provided me. I may not show it but I am indeed very grateful, despite my disagreement with you. Goodbye.” Gerhardt stated, bowing politely before turning and walking over to the flying chariot.

Celestia smiled at him. “You’re very welcome, Gerhardt. I have already sent Twilight a letter letting her know you will be arriving today. Farewell.”

Gerhardt sighed in annoyance as he climbed into the back of the flying chariot. When he was inside the two pegasi guards took off and began flying away from Canterlot. As they flew, Gerhardt casually examined the chariot, wondering how on earth it managed to stay oriented like this while in the air. He didn’t see any actual wings other than the ones on the backs of the guards that were pulling it, which still confused him as to how they could possibly function well enough to allow for flight let alone flight that was strong enough to pull this chariot behind them when they were so tiny. There didn’t appear to be any sort of thrusters anywhere on the chariot either, which wasn’t surprising to him considering how primitive equestrian technology was. Could it have been some sort of enchantment?

His thoughts were abruptly ripped away from the flying chariot when he spotted a train on a long line of train tracks on the ground below. He blinked in surprise and ran a systems diagnostic on himself to ensure his eyes weren’t malfunctioning. They were not.

‘How? HOW?! HOW IN THE WORLD CAN THESE DAMNABLE PONIES POSSIBLY HAVE INVENTED TRAINS WHEN THEIR SOLDIERS ARE STILL USING PRIMITIVE WEAPONS AND ARMOR AND THEY ARE STILL USING QUILLS AND INKWELLS AS THEIR MAIN WRITING IMPLEMENTS?!’ Gerhardt mentally raged to himself. He glared at the train and train tracks in complete and utter outrage for the entire rest of the flight until they finally started descending and it disappeared from his line of sight. Even then he continued glaring in its general direction until he finally felt them land.

Finally he stepped off of the chariot and took a look at where they had landed. It was apparently in the middle of town, and now there was a small crowd of ponies staring at him. Some were clearly terrified of him while others simply seemed more curious, likely due to the transportation he arrived on. He ignored all of them and started looking around for his house. Having read the deed earlier he already knew the address and it only took him about a minute to find the building with the matching address.

It was a relatively small primitive looking two story house surrounded by a small wooden fence. There were a few hedges with flowers growing under and around them underneath some of the windows, as well as a lawn, neither of which he had any intention of taking care of. In fact he planned on getting rid of them as soon as possible as they reminded him of the plants that had been growing through the walls on the day Silvanus threw him through that vortex. Otherwise the house was rather unremarkable. He would make sure to tear it down and build a proper lab in its place as soon as he had the funding and materials. He needed a place to work, not a place to live.

““SURPRISE!”” A small crowd of ponies shouted as soon as he opened the door and walked inside. This was immediately followed by gasps of shock and horror as soon as the crowd managed to get a look at him. “Welcome to Ponyville, Gerhardt!” Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly.

“What are all of you doing in my new house? Why are there all of these strange decorations? What is going on here?” Gerhardt inquired, both confused and annoyed by all of this.

“It’s a surprise party to welcome you to Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie stated as if that explained everything.

Gerhardt sighed in frustration. “I see..."He lowered his hood so as to look at least slightly less intimidating and said, “Greetings to all of you that I have not already met. I am Gerhardt Mechanica, a technomancer. I do realize that my appearance is rather frightening, but I mean you no harm I assure you. I will be starting a business building, selling, and repairing technology from my home kingdom and machinery in general hopefully very soon. I thank you all for welcoming me into your town, it is greatly appreciated.”

That was a lie. He did not appreciate this uninvited intrusion in the least. However, he needed to make as good of a first impression as possible since he knew that these ponies were more than likely going to be his main customers, other than hospitals across Equestria, until he eventually earned enough money and resources to expand his operation. Fortunately they all seemed to relax a bit after he assured them that he meant them no harm.

“Unfortunately this event was rather unexpected and came at a rather bad time as I have quite a bit of setting up to do before my business is up and running and I would like to get started on that as soon as possible. So I sincerely apologize if this comes off as rude as that is not my intention, but I’m afraid I must request that you all vacate the premises immediately.” He said stepping to the side in order to allow them through the door.

Noises of disappointment ran through the crowd of ponies but they all began approaching his door. That was until Twilight Sparkle pushed ahead of the crowd and shouted, “Everypony please wait!” The crowd paused while Twilight walked up to Gerhardt and said, “Gerhardt, Pinkie Pie worked really hard to set up this welcome party for you. Instead of kicking everypony out, why not use this as an opportunity to start learning about friendship? Interacting with everypony and getting to know some of them would be an excellent start, and it would be better for your future business in the long run. So it's a win win!”

Gerhardt stared at her for a moment before reluctantly saying, “I suppose I see your point, Miss Sparkle. Very well… You all may stay, at least for now. If any of you have any questions for me, I shall be standing by the fireplace.” A small cheer ran through the crowd of ponies as Gerhardt closed the door behind him and began making his way over to the unlit fireplace on the side of the room.

The first thing Gerhardt had noticed as soon as he had opened the door and walked inside — other than the crowd of ponies and the strange decorations — was just how large what he assumed was intended to be the recreational lounge was. It occupied almost but not quite half of the entire first floor. It would have actually been the perfect place for him to set up his new lab had he not needed a place to display and sell his wares once his business was finally up and running. The second thing he noticed was just how low the ceiling was. This house was clearly not designed with bipeds in mind, let alone bipeds of his height. Thus he had to bend his head and upper body slightly in order to be able to fit. He made a mental note to fix that as soon as he had the time and resources to build construction golems and have them do it for him.

Ponies almost immediately started coming up to Gerhardt to ask him questions, most of which consisted of questions about what he was, what a technomancer was, and even a few questions about his past. He wasn’t much for casual conversation but he tried to answer their questions to the best of his abilities while leaving out the fact he was from another world, let alone a completely separate universe. He also tried his best not to mention any of the wars or battles he had been in or the fact that he had killed before, so as to not scare any of them. He even asked a few questions of his own and learned many of the ponies' names and professions, though not much else as he couldn’t care less about them as individuals or their personal lives, though he kept his complete and utter lack of interest to himself.

The party lasted about two hours and thirty seven minutes, at which point most of the ponies slowly began filtering out one after the other until Twilight and Pinkie Pie were the only ones left.

“Everyone else has already left. Why are you two still here?” Gerhardt inquired after the final few ponies left.

“We’re here to help you clean up! We set all of this up, after all, and it would be rude to leave a mess in somepony else’s house.” Pinkie Pie stated happily.

Twilight nodded in agreement and said, “That, and I wanted to tell you how good you did tonight! Even though you weren’t the one to start any of the conversations you had, you still handled them all very well!”

“I see. While I appreciate the fact that you would be willing to assist me in cleaning this up it is completely unnecessary.” Gerhardt stated, completely ignoring Twilight as he simply didn’t care. A copper aura engulfed his hand as well as all of the strange decorations and trash that was left over after the party as he cast a mass telekinetic spell. He then proceeded to drag all of it into the fireplace and cast a simple fire spell. This included the floating rubber sacks of helium gas which he popped before tossing their remnants into the fireplace in order to burn them with the rest of the trash.

“If there is anything else to clean up that I am unaware of, please feel free to do so. Otherwise I will be taking a look at the rooms upstairs, after which I must begin building a few of the tools and machines that I will need before I begin converting this place into my new laboratory. Please leave as soon as your business here is concluded.” He told them before promptly turning around to start heading for the stairs.

“Wait, um… Is there anything either of us could do to help you get things set up?” Twilight inquired.

“No. You, Miss Sparkle, only have very basic knowledge of technomancy and engineering principles from my world, essentially that of a recruit from my kingdom. Miss Pie has no knowledge of either. Right now I need to build my tools and machines, which neither of you are capable of helping me with. Thus the best thing you could do is leave, so I may work uninterrupted.” Gerhardt stated, before finally heading up stairs. Hearing the front door open and close a few moments later, he assumed they had both left.

Upstairs there were two of what he assumed were intended as private barracks like the ones the other High Lords and other individuals of sufficient rank in the human military had. There was also a restroom. Several things about the house absolutely infuriated him just as much as the train had, such as the functioning electronic lights and plumbing. Granted, these things were extremely convenient as it meant he wouldn’t have to rely on light spells, enchanted crystals, candles, or lanterns in order to see properly and he would have easy access to water for cleaning, but the huge disparity in Equestrian technology was as infuriating as it was confusing to him, and he found it very confusing.

Heading back down stairs, he examined the kitchen which took up about as much of the first floor as the living room. He immediately decided to use the kitchen as the main lab room. He would use the rooms upstairs for things that he didn’t have space for in the kitchen. Essentially, he planned on using the entire house as his new lab, minus the living room which he would use to display and sell his wares. He knew that Celestia likely intended for him to only use the storage shed as his new lab, but he honestly didn’t care. He had no other use for any of these rooms so he would use them as his lab and just use the storage shed for storage as it was intended for. Speaking of which, seeing a back door in the kitchen, he walked to the back of the house in order to get a look at the attached storage shed.

It was of decent size, about half as long as the living room and as wide as the width of the living room plus the width of the stairs. Otherwise it was rather unremarkable. Opening the door and walking inside the storage shed he immediately saw twelve wooden crates which were stacked into two groups of six against opposite walls on one side of the shed, while the other side was completely empty. He immediately decided to use half of the materials to make at least a few of the tools and machines he would need so he didn’t have to keep using what meagre tools he had in his portable toolkit. He would then proceed to use the other half to make things to sell, though he would have to use a small portion of it to begin working on the love generators for the Changelings.

What would he make though? Weapons? There were no wars… Armor? Same issue… Séance devices to communicate with the dead one final time during their funerals like the ones he had built for Silvanus eight hundred years ago were obviously out of the question, that bastard Caedes had already more than proven just how terrible of an idea those had been… Celestia did say she wanted him to start out with a focus on medical technology as part of their agreement. So augmentations? That was a possibility, but each of them would have to be custom ordered as he would need to get the proper measurements for each individual patient. He would also need to make virtual reality training simulations for the doctors otherwise he would have to conduct the surgeries himself, both of which would be extremely impractical, especially the latter option.

Sterilization rays were a possibility. They would allow the doctors to sterilize their equipment as well as their patients wounds far easier. Manually controlled surgical golems were also a possibility, but those were rather large so it would eat up a lot of his very limited resources. He didn’t have the correct materials or the equipment necessary to build the healing rays used by the medical branch to mend broken bones and minor injuries so the medical mages could focus on more serious injuries, unfortunately. He couldn’t even build the machines he needed to make the healing rays without building other equipment first. Thus sterilization rays would probably be his best option for the moment.

With that in mind, he cast a telekinetic spell and picked up three of the crates. Levitating them out of the storage shed he closed the door behind him and went back into the kitchen, where he set the crates against the wall. Opening them up, he immediately set to work building some of the most basic tools and machinery that he would need. When the crates he brought in were either empty or mostly empty, he took out any remaining materials and brought the empty crates back to the storage shed. He then proceeded to take the other three crates that were still full back to the kitchen where he immediately continued where he left off. When he eventually made all of the equipment he could with the materials he had, he began building the sterilization rays for the hospitals.

He continued working for about five days until he eventually heard a knock at his front door. Sighing in frustration, he set down what he was working on and proceeded to go see who it was and what they wanted. Unsurprisingly when he opened the door he saw Twilight Sparkle. “Greetings, Miss Sparkle. Is there something you require?” Gerhardt asked somewhat impatiently.

“Hello Gerhardt. I just had a bit of free time today and thought I might show you around Ponyville, since I assume you haven’t left your house since you arrived a few days ago.” Twilight said with a friendly smile.

“While I appreciate the offer, I’m afraid I must decline as I am quite busy. Good day.” He stated and was about to close the door when a purple aura enveloped the handle as Twilight cast a telekinetic spell in order to hold it open.

“Gerhardt, you’ve been working non-stop for five days. I get that you're augmented and stuff so you don’t really need to rest like everypony else, but I’m sure you could use a short break at the very least. Besides, be honest, is there ever a time that you aren’t busy?”

Gerhardt stared at her for a moment, mentally debating what he should do. On the one hand he really didn’t want to leave his work for something so trivial as this. On the other hand he knew that he was going to have to stop working and deal with Twilight at some point or another, as per Celestia’s damnable punishment, so he might as well just get it over with so she would leave him alone for another few days at least.

With a frustrated sigh he said, “Fine…” He stepped out of the house and closed and locked the door behind him. Turning back to Twilight he motioned for her to lead the way.

She smiled at him before turning and leading him through Ponyville. “So, uh… After your welcome party you said I was about as knowledgeable about technomancy as a recruit from your world. So I’ve sort of been meaning to ask, would you be willing to teach me a bit more? I would love to learn some of the more advanced concepts, if at all possible!” Twilight asked as they started walking.

Gerhardt looked at her. “Miss Sparkle, I hope you realize that technomancy is not something that can be learned in a week. It is an entire field of both magic and engineering which even the most talented young mages take years of intensive study and practice to learn. It even took me until I was well into my late twenties to learn enough to begin conducting research on my own. I could teach you more on occasion, however please do not expect to become a master technomancer capable of conducting your own research or making bleeding edge technology overnight. There are also certain concepts you will not be able to grasp and forms of technology you will not be able to build without having a firm grasp of other fields such as alchemy, biomancy, or n… ehem… please excuse me. My vocalizer had a minor glitch for a moment. Anyways, I’m sure you get my point.”

Twilight smiled at him and nodded understandingly. “Yeah, I think I get it. Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to make me a master technomancer or anything like that. I would just like to learn as much as I can and you’re sort of the only source of knowledge on the subject in the world right now. Speaking of which, do you plan on ever publishing any books about it or that biomancy thing you mentioned? I’m also sort of curious about how advanced your world’s alchemy is compared to ours.”

“Possibly once I build an automated printer system as it would be more than a little impractical for me to write dozens upon dozens of volumes on the subject entirely by hand. Though, while I know just enough about biology and biomancy to develop and install augmentations and the like, I’m afraid I’m no true master of the subject. That would be the high lord of the Medical Branch’s area of expertise, not mine. I am passable in almost every field of study however I have only truly mastered the purely scientific fields.” Gerhardt explained.

“I see… Well that’s unfortunate. Anyways, we’ve reached our first destination.” Twilight said motioning to a large tree that had quite obviously been converted into a building. “This is Golden Oaks Library. If you ever need a book, you can come here to read whenever you want. This is also where me and Spike live, in case you ever need to find us for whatever reason.”

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. “You live inside a tree? Gods above, I thought that only the Elves ever did such a thing… Well, I shall keep this in mind should I ever be in need of any reading material.”

“What’s wrong with living inside a tree?!” Twilight demanded indignantly.

“Nothing. I simply find it rather surprising. Though, admittedly, I do not exactly have the best relations with nature, to put it mildly. Thus I do have somewhat of a negative impression of plants in general.” Gerhardt explained.

Twilight gave him a confused look. “What do you mean by that? How can you possibly have a bad relationship with nature?”

Gerhardt sighed and said, “That is a topic I would rather not think about let alone discuss… Please forget that I said anything and let’s just move on.”

“Um… Alright, I guess… But if you ever need anypony to talk to, I am always willing to listen.” Twilight offered.

“Thank you, but no. As I said I would rather not even think about this let alone talk about it.”

Not pressing any further, Twilight turned and began leading him elsewhere. After that their walk to their next destination was mostly spent in awkward silence. After a few minutes they arrived at a building that had by far the strangest architecture that Gerhardt had ever seen.

“This is Sugarcube Corner, the best bakery in town. It’s also where Pinkie Pie works.” Twilight informed him, motioning to the building.

Gerhardt looked at her. “Miss Sparkle, need I remind you that I am physically incapable of eating?”

“Er… No... I remember. I just thought that I’d show you where it is.”

Gerhardt was silent for a moment as he thought to himself. Finally he said, “I suppose I might be able to make a machine to automatically clean dishes or a small golem to keep out pests such as insects and rodents. However, other than that I don’t believe there is much I could build that would be of any use to them whatsoever.”

“Uh… I didn’t show you here just for your business either.” Twilight mentioned.

“Then I’m afraid I fail to see the point in bringing me here at all… Oh… Gods damn it... Unless you are planning on making me try to befriend Miss Pie at some point in the future…” Gerhardt groaned in a mixture of frustration and annoyance.

“Nah… That would be silly. After all, why would you need to try to befriend me when we’re already friends? Also, you do know you can just call me Pinkie, right? All the rest of my friends do!” Pinkie Pie stated happily, seeming to appear as if from nowhere. 

Gerhardt’s sensors hadn’t even detected her approaching, though they seemed to be detecting her just fine now. He found this fact extremely concerning. “How on earth did you…? Something must be wrong with my sensors. I’ll have to look into that as soon as possible. Regardless, I’m afraid you are incorrect, Miss Pie. We are most certainly not friends. Acquaintances, perhaps, but not friends. I do not consider anyone to be my friend as I hold nothing but contempt for the very concept of friendship. So please allow me to amend my earlier statement. Miss Sparkle, your plan for bringing me here is to try and convince me to be friends with Miss Pie at some point in the future. Am I or am I not correct in this assessment?”

Pinkie Pie looked dejected after Gerhardt denied that they were friends. Twilight gave her a sympathetic look before turning back to Gerhardt. “Gerhardt! There’s no need to be so rude!” She scolded.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise, genuinely shocked that his words came off as rude. “Rude? I do apologize if my words caused any offense as that was not my intention. I was merely being truthful.”

Twilight pressed one of her forehooves against her face in frustration. “Ugh… Fine but you really didn’t have to word it like that! Anyway, yes your assessment is correct. I’m actually going to try and recruit Pinkie to help me teach you about friendship. That is, if you’re willing, Pinkie. I won’t try to force you to do anything you don’t want to. I do plan on asking the other girls too.”

Hearing that Pinkie Pie seemed to cheer up considerably. “Oh of course, Twilight! I would be more than happy to help teach him all about laughter and friendship!”

Gerhardt rolled his eyes. “I fail to see how the involuntary spasming of one’s diaphragm as a reaction to something they find humorous has anything to do with the concept of friendship whatsoever.”

“That is the saddest description of laughter I have ever heard... Don’t worry, Gears, I’ll teach you all about laughter, just you wait!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly.

“Gears?” Gerhardt inquired in confusion. He would have assumed it was an insult had it not been for her tone of voice and the context in which it was used. Thus he had absolutely no idea why she called him that.

“Yup! It’s a nickname that I just came up with for you! Your name is sort of difficult to shorten so I was having a really hard time trying to come up with a nickname for you. Then I realized that “Ger” sounds a lot like the word “gear” and hardt sounds a lot like the word “heart”! So then I thought about calling you “Gear Heart” but then I realized the word “heart” doesn’t really suit you at all since you aren’t really all that caring or emotional not to mention the fact that you’re a stallion rather than a mare. That just left the word “gear” which suits you perfectly considering you’re all mechanical and stuff and you’re a technomancer and are super into technology! So I decided “Gears” was the perfect nickname for you! So do you like it? Do ya? Do ya? Huh?” Pinkie Pie explained at a rate that made Gerhardt slightly speed up his perception of time just so he could understand her properly.

“Um… I suppose it’s... alright? What on earth is a nickname?” Gerhardt said in confusion. Thinking about it for a microsecond he added, “You know what? Never mind. Don’t answer that. I honestly don’t care. Anyways I am no longer a high lord so call me whatever you wish. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Okey dokey! Gears it is!” Pinkie Pie declared happily.

Twilight chuckled. “Well, I’m going to go show Gears here the rest of the town. It was good talking with you Pinkie.”

“Alrighty then! Bye Twilight! See ya later Gears!” Pinkie exclaimed before proceeding to bounce back towards Sugar Cube Corner.

Twilight then turned and began leading Gerhardt elsewhere. This time they went over a bridge, past what Twilight informed Gerhardt was a school house, and down a long dirt path through an area littered with apple trees. The fact that this world had apples came as a bit of a shock to Gerhardt, who had expected all of the flora and fauna of this world to be completely different to that of his world.

They continued walking for a few minutes before Gerhardt finally started to get fed up with it. “Miss Sparkle, might I ask what in the names of the gods we are doing all the way out here? The town is a fair distance behind us. What could possibly be out here that you wish to show me besides more gods forsaken trees?” He demanded impatiently.

“Applejack’s family farm Sweet Apple Acres! This is her orchard. Anyways, just calm down and be patient, we're almost there.” Twilight told him.

Sure enough only about a minute later a farm house came into view. They also saw Applejack dumping a bucket of apples into a cart.

“Well. I now know where this place is and shall be sure to avoid it in the future. Now let’s return to the town.” Gerhardt stated before turning and casting a spell to create a portal leading back to the bridge they had crossed to get here.

“Gerhardt, wait! What’s wrong? We haven’t even spoken to Applejack yet!” Twilight exclaimed, trying to block his path to the portal.

“That’s exactly the point, Miss Sparkle. I would rather avoid speaking with her if at all possible. I realize that I am not exactly in her good graces and I would much prefer to avoid any potential confrontation caused by my trespassing on her property.” Gerhardt stated.

“Mighty kind of ya, Mr. Mechanica, but y’all do know that I can hear ya, right? Also, it aint that I hate ya or nothin’. It’s just that after seeing what ya did to those changelings and seeing how Princess Celestia and Twilight’s brother reacted to yer past, I realize what you’re capable of if somepony crosses ya and I don’t like it. Now I don’t think ya would go around killin’ anypony unless they attacked ya first, seein’ how ya did warn them changelings to back off before they shot ya and ya shot em right back. But the fact that ya would do it and ya would do it without even the slightest hesitation is a bit… disturbin’, to say the least.” Applejack told him as she set down the bucket she had finished emptying and began walking over to him and Twilight.

Gerhardt sighed and let the portal close. Turning to face Applejack he said, “I see. Well. Your world is significantly more peaceful than mine, to say the least. That is not an excuse, it is just a simple fact. I will not apologize for my actions as it was a simple case of self defense. However, rest assured that you are correct in that I will not go around maiming or killing anyone unless they are a very clear threat to me and I feel as though I have no other choice. Violence is always a last resort for when an individual or a group of individuals intend you harm and it is clear that diplomacy is not an option.”

Coming to a stop in front of them Applejack adjusted her hat slightly. “Yup… That’s pretty much exactly what I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I get where you’re comin’ from but I still don’t like it.”

“That is completely understandable, given your perspective.” Gerhardt stated.

“Glad we have an understandin’ then.” Applejack nodded at him. “Anyways, why’d ya bring him here Twi? He don’t really have much use for apples considerin’ the fact that he apparently literally can’t eat.”

“Yes, I realize. He already reminded me earlier when I showed him where Sugarcube Corner was.” Twilight said in a slightly irritated tone. After taking a short breath, she continued on in a more friendly tone. “Anyways, I was just showing him around Ponyville and thought I’d show him your farm too. Also, I sort of wanted to ask if you would be willing to help me teach him about friendship? I already asked Pinkie to help too and she agreed and I plan on asking the other girls too. Of course this is only if you have time and don’t have any issues with it. I won’t try to make you do anything you don’t have time for or don’t want to do.”

Applejack thought to herself for a moment. “Well… You and me would have to work on schedulin’ it since I’m usually pretty busy on most days. But yeah I think I could do that. Well… assumin’ he’s willin’ to leave that flashy whatchamacallit that he used to shoot those changelings back at his house. I wouldn’t want to risk it fallin’ out of his robes and Apple Bloom or one of her friends gettin’ their hooves on somethin’ that dangerous.”

“It’s called a teleportation pistol and it is clipped in a holster so there is no chance that it would fall out of my robes. There is even less chance that I wouldn’t immediately notice even if it did. That being said, I do see your point and it would not be the first time I have had to go unarmed. I’ve had to leave my weapons behind on numerous different diplomatic missions, and I suppose this would not be too dissimilar from that.” Gerhardt explained.

He didn’t particularly like the idea of going unarmed since he wasn’t exactly a combat or war mage from either the army or navy branches, but it wasn’t as though he was completely defenseless without his weapons. He was still a soldier so he still knew how to fight without weapons or magic and he was still a mage from the human kingdom so he still knew plenty of combat and war magic, as well as plenty of curses. So leaving his concealed weapon back at his lab was not that much of a concern to him.

“Why is it called a teleportation pistol? It just seemed to cut through their limbs. It didn’t look like there was any teleportation involved.” Twilight inquired curiously.

Gerhardt reached into the top of his robes and pulled out the ornate gold and silver weapon. He was sure to keep his finger off the trigger and double checked just to make absolutely certain that the safety was still on. “That is because it effectively weaponizes catastrophic teleportation failure. The atoms of anything that comes in contact with the beam are immediately teleported randomly across the universe. Weapons like these were developed a few centuries ago but have proven to be extremely effective even to this very day. This is but a small if quite versatile version that I built myself and carry around for self defense, in case I am attacked by assassins or other such situations as I prefer to err on the side of caution.”

Gerhardt stuffed the ornate pistol back in its holster underneath his robes. “In fact back in my world my kingdom’s enemies would send an assassin or two to kill me pretty much every year, almost always sometime around winter. It actually became something of a tradition, if not for them then certainly for those in the R&D branch. The assassins rarely ever made it to me as the others in my branch had turned the entire thing into somewhat of a game. Whoever captured or killed the assassin first would win said game then once they were off duty everyone else in the R&D branch who were off duty at the time would hold a big celebration for the victor, which usually involved copious amounts of food and alcohol. I only ever learned of this by pure chance. That was a rather interesting day to say the least. I couldn’t exactly punish them or tell them to stop since they had just stopped an assassin that was trying to kill me, plus it wasn’t as though they were breaking any rules, technically. So I sort of just let them have their strange little tradition.”

Both Twilight and Applejack were staring at him with odd expressions. Gerhardt blinked wondering what the issue was before it finally registered in his mind. “Oh… Gods damn it… It would appear that I was rambling… ehem… My apologies…” He said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“It’s fine… Uh... It was interesting to learn a bit more about the culture of your particular branch of your kingdom’s military.” Twilight offered somewhat awkwardly.

“Yeah… Granny Smith tends to go on and on about stories from her past too, so I’m sorta used to it. Though admittedly her stories are quite a bit less… uh… morbid?” Applejack stated, obviously trying to put the last part as politely as possible.

Gerhardt sighed and looked up at the sky. “Yes, I would imagine so…” He lowered his head again and looked at Twilight. “Anyways, Miss Sparkle, is there anything else you wished to discuss with Miss Applejack or is that all?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nope. That’s pretty much it.”

“Very well then. Goodbye, Miss Applejack.” Gerhardt stated before immediately turning, casting a spell to open a portal to the bridge, and walking through. As soon as he was on the other side of the portal he stood there waiting for Twilight to follow him through it.

“Thanks Applejack, I’ll talk to you later.” Twilight stated, waving goodbye as she walked through the portal.

“See ya, Twi. Make sure to come talk to me about that schedule later.” Applejack said as she waved goodbye.

“I will.” Twilight said, smiling at her.

As soon as Twilight was through the portal, Gerhardt immediately closed it behind her.

“Alright, onto our next destination!” Twilight declared before leading Gerhardt somewhere else.

This time they ended up in front of another strangely shaped building. “This is the Carousel Boutique, where Rarity designs all sorts of clothes. You seem to wear clothes a lot for some reason, so if you ever need a new outfit or if the one you’re wearing gets damaged you can always come here! I’m sure Rarity would be absolutely delighted to make a new outfit for you.”

“I shall keep that in mind. After my business is officially up and running and I have a stable source of funding I might consider requisitioning a more formal uniform, in case I must ever attend any future meetings or formal events. Regardless, is it safe to assume you will be asking Miss Rarity to assist you as well, just as you have done for the last two of your friends? If so then I will simply wait here as I do not believe my presence is required for this.”

Twilight gave him a flat look. “Come on, Gerhardt. A bit of conversation won’t hurt you.”

“You are correct. However, my presence in said conversation is entirely unnecessary.” Gerhardt stated.

“Maybe, but even if that were true, it is equally unnecessary for you to avoid the interaction in the first place.”

Gerhardt sighed in irritation. “You are not going to back down on this matter, are you?” 

Twilight shook her head. “Nope.”

“Gods damn it… Fine. Whatever. I do not care. Let’s just get this over with so that I may return to my lab as soon as possible.” Gerhardt grumbled marching over towards the door. Twilight followed along behind him.

Pushing the door open Gerhardt stepped inside the shop, having to keep his head and upper body bent slightly just so he could fit inside since the building was most definitely not built with bipeds of his height in mind. Inside he saw Rarity working on what appeared to be a dress on a pony shaped mannequin.

Looking over from her work to see who just entered, Rarity jumped slightly upon seeing Gerhardt before she finally realized who it was. “Oh. Mr. Mechanica, you startled me. I honestly wasn’t expecting you to visit my boutique any time soon. Well, regardless, what can I do for you? Do you need a new outfit?”

“Apologies for the intrusion Miss Rarity. And no, not at this time, though I do plan on requisitioning a more formal uniform at some point in the future after my business is up and running and I have a steady supply of funding with which to pay you for your services. Miss Sparkle was just showing me around the town and brought me here. I would have simply stayed outside, but she insisted that I come in with her.” Gerhardt explained, turning and motioning to Twilight.

Rarity finally realized Twilight was there as well. “Oh, hello Twilight. Anyways, hold on a moment, did you say a more formal uniform? You mean to tell me that what you’re wearing now isn’t what you would consider formal attire?”

Gerhardt looked at his uniform then back to Rarity and said, “No, definitely not. This is the uniform I wear everyday while working in my lab, since that’s exactly what I was doing when I was accosted by Silvanus and was sent to this world against my will. This is possibly the most casual of my uniforms. My formal uniform is a bit thinner than this and is significantly more ornate. It’s honestly extremely gaudy in my opinion but it was the official formal uniform of the high lord of the R&D branch since long before I was born, thus I didn’t have any say in the design.”

A copper aura suddenly flared up around Gerhardt’s hand as he cast an optical illusion spell on himself. His clothes changed, at least in terms of its visual appearance, to depict his formal uniform. Like his other uniforms it had a pitch black base, however it had quite a bit of ornate gold and silver embroidery depicting lines like those on a circuit board and gears arranged like clockwork. The silver trim on his normal uniform now looked like gold, and the gold symbols on his shoulders looked like they had been replaced with platinum. The front of his robe also appeared to be held shut with several black diamond encrusted platinum buttons. The belt wrapped around his torso had also changed in appearance. Now it appeared to be made of gold wire fabric and had an ornate platinum belt buckle.

Rarity was silent for a moment as she examined his outfit. “I… I honestly can’t tell whether I like it or not… I don’t know how it’s possible but it has somehow managed to be both absolutely gorgeous and positively hideous at the same time…”

“I disagree. It’s just plain hideous, and quite heavy on top of that. I have always hated this uniform. So once I do eventually requisition a new one from you at some point in the future, I will be requesting a vastly different design.” Gerhardt stated, allowing the optical illusion to fade. “Regardless, that isn’t why we are here at the moment. I believe Miss Sparkle wanted to ask you something.”

“Hm? Well what is it, darling?” Rarity inquired looking back at Twilight.

“Well, I just wanted to ask if you would be willing to help me with teaching Gerhardt about friendship? I’ve already asked Applejack and Pinkie Pie and am going to ask Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Of course you don’t have to if you don’t have time or if you just don’t want to.” Twilight asked.

“Hm… Well, I suppose I could help on occasion whenever I’m not busy. However, I’m not sure how much luck you’re going to have convincing Fluttershy. I’m afraid the poor dear is still quite terrified of him after what happened with those changelings back in Canterlot.” Rarity stated before looking back at the dress she had been working on earlier. “Oh, before I forget, I actually have a question for you, Mr. Mechanica, if you don’t mind?”

“Very well. I shall attempt to answer to the best of my abilities.”

“When do you think you will be able to begin creating more of that absolutely gorgeous gold and silver fabric and thread that’s on your attire? I would love to purchase some from you at some point! It would be perfect for several ideas I have in mind for dresses!” Rarity asked excitedly.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. He honestly hadn’t been expecting that question. In retrospect he probably should have been, but as it was he hadn’t. “Originally I wasn’t planning on making any to begin with. However, I suppose I could build a machine to craft some. I estimate it will take somewhere between a few weeks to two or three months. Other than that I’m afraid that I can not give you any specifics.”

“That’s fine. Though please inform me as soon as you are able to make some!” Rarity requested.

“Very well. I shall be sure to do so. Or I will send a golem to do so for me. Whichever. Good day, Miss Rarity.” Gerhardt stated before turning to leave.

“Thanks Rarity! I’ll talk to you later.” Twilight said, following Gerhardt out of the boutique.

“Good day, Mr. Mechanica. I’ll see you later Twilight.” Rarity responded, resuming her work on the dress.

As soon as they were out of the store, Twilight once again began leading Gerhardt elsewhere. This time they had to cross yet another bridge over a river, and down yet another long dirt path, though this one was significantly straighter. This time they ended up near a strange cottage with a roof that appeared to be covered in leaves and surrounded by all sorts of animals, many of which Gerhardt recognized as being extremely similar to the animals of his world, except for the fact they had cartoonish shapes and proportions.

“This is Fluttershy’s cottage. She takes care of the animals that live in the area.” Twilight explained motioning to Fluttershy’s cottage.

Gerhardt stared at Twilight. “Alright, two things. First, Miss Fluttershy is terrified of me so I refuse to go over there. This time if you try to force this issue I will simply leave and return to my lab and there will not be a gods damned thing that you can do to stop me. Second, what on earth do you mean that she takes care of the animals that live in the area? Does she take care of other people’s pets or something?”

Twilight sighed and said, “Yeah, this time I sort of have to agree with you. It would probably be for the best if you wait here while I go talk to her. And no, while I’m sure she would be willing to look after somepony else’s pet if they were leaving town for a while or something, I mean that she takes care of the wild animals that live in the area. I mean, somepony has to do it and she absolutely loves animals.”

Gerhardt continued staring at her incredulously. “What? Why would anyone ever need to take care of wild animals? They already take care of themselves, and the ones who can’t take care of themselves get eaten by larger carnivorous animals or die and get eaten by scavengers. It is simple natural selection which is the driving force behind the entire ecosystem and is the primary cause of evolution. If wild animals relied on an intelligent species to take care of them as though they were pets, then there would be no animals to begin with as they would have all died off long before they evolved into what they are today as there would have been no intelligent life to take care of them in the earliest stages of life on this planet as none would have evolved by that point. That very much includes your species. Not to mention how unbelievably impractical it would be to try to take care of all the animals that live in any general area, let alone for a single individual.”

Twilight stared at him in surprise. “You mean to tell me the animals of your world actually take care of themselves? It sounds like your world has a lot in common with the Everfree forest.”

Gerhardt sighed. “Alright, I have determined that this matter sounds as though it is important enough that we will actually have to sit down and discuss it in depth at some point in the future. In the meantime, you still have to go speak with Miss Fluttershy, though I strongly suspect that I already know what her answer will be.”

Twilight took a deep breath and said, “Alright, well, wish me luck!” She then proceeded to walk over to the Cottage.

While Gerhardt waited, he eventually decided that he may as well take a look at the town from above so he could make a complete map of it. Thus he looked up towards the sky in order to calculate the most optimal position for his portal. When he was finished he looked forwards once more and cast a spell to create a small portal to look through. He then walked over and stuck his head through just enough so he could see the town below. He stared at the town for a couple moments trying to see as much of it as he possibly could.

His map was about 98% completed when he heard someone shout, “Watch out!” Recognizing the voice as belonging to Rainbow Dash he looked up and saw her flying towards him and his portal at an extremely high velocity, unable to stop herself in time due to her sheer momentum. As Gerhardt was unable to react fast enough to slow her momentum to a stop with a telekinetic spell in his non-over clocked state, Rainbow Dash collided with him at high speeds knocking him completely off his feet.

Both of them were sent tumbling to the ground. Gerhardt tried his best to maneuver to avoid injuring her any further causing him to tumble in a slightly different direction then her. Eventually pain exploded throughout Gerhardt’s body as his back slammed into a tree, causing it to crack and splinter where his magically reinforced metal body impacted. Immediately dozens of warnings popped up in his vision informing him of all the damages his body had suffered. Several of the plates that made up his back were dented rather severely rendering his torso immobile until he could fix them, one of his eyes had been shattered leaving half of his vision completely black, all four of his limbs had sustained numerous minor dents, and the joints in his neck were unresponsive and had completely locked up. Fortunately his brain had not received any damage so none of this was even remotely life threatening to him. Inconvenient? Most definitely. Life threatening? Definitely not.

Groaning in agony he shut down his pain receptors and started to force himself up off the ground. As soon as he was back up on his feet, he heard the tree begin creaking and snapping as it crashed to the ground behind him. His head was stuck at a rather awkward angle that forced him to look to his right. Thus he grabbed his head with both hands and forced it into a forward and slightly downward facing position.

Having to completely turn his body in order to look around he eventually found Rainbow Dash laying in a nearby bush, looking rather dazed. Walking over to her he asked rather urgently, “Miss Dash, are you injured?”

“Huh? Wha’? Oh… Nothing’s broken or anything… I think. Anyways, what the hay dude?! Why the buck did you… Uh… Wow… Are you alright?” Rainbow Dash inquired after seeing Gerhardt missing an eye, and the remnants of the shattered sapphire that still littered the socket.

“Thank the gods…” Gerhardt sighed in relief upon hearing that she wasn’t injured from their collision. “The plates that make up my back are heavily dented rendering my torso completely immobile, my left eye is shattered leaving me blind in one eye, and the joints in my neck are locked up. So, yes actually. I am perfectly fine, despite how bad what I just described may sound to you. I did not sustain any truly critical damage, and what damage I have received is nothing that I can not repair back in my new lab. It will be a bit awkward trying to repair my neck but I shall make do.”

Raising a hand he cast a spell to remove all of the dust and dirt from both himself and his clothes. “Regardless, despite how astronomically low the chances were that you would be flying in the exact same place that my portal was positioned, I will readily admit that this is indeed my fault. I honestly should have realized that it would be a bad idea to open a portal above the town considering there are pegasi flying about. I offer my sincerest apologies.”

“Uh… I guess it’s fine. You’re right, the chances of that portal being directly in my path like that were super low... But why did you have a portal open that high up anyways?” Rainbow Dash inquired as she pulled herself up out of the bush that she had landed in.

“I was trying to look at the Ponyville from above so I could have a perfect map of the town. It was an attempt to remain productive while waiting for Miss Sparkle to finish speaking with Miss Fluttershy.” Gerhardt explained.

“Gerhardt?! What happened out here?! Why is there a tree broken?!” Twilight shouted as she came running over from the Cottage

“Speak of the devil...” Gerhardt muttered before turning to face Twilight, stepping to the side slightly to so that he was no longer blocking Rainbow Dash from view. “Apologies Miss Sparkle, there was just a bit of an accident. It was my fault. While I was waiting I opened a portal in the sky to get a better look at Ponyville so I could have a perfect map of the town. Unfortunately that portal ended up being directly in the path that Miss Dash had been flying at the time. She happened to be flying at rather high velocities at the time and was unable to change her trajectory in time and I was unable to react fast enough so there was a bit of a collision. As I said, it was entirely my fault. Fortunately Miss Dash escaped relatively unharmed.” Gerhardt informed her. “So, how did your conversation with Miss Fluttershy go? I expect that she refused.”

Twilight grimaced at his question. “Er… Well, she’s still absolutely terrified of you. So yeah I wasn’t able to convince her to help. Still it was worth a try. I think you’re going to have to do something to help her not be so afraid of you before she even agrees to come anywhere near you. Anyways, I’m glad to hear you and Rainbow Dash are both alright. Well… mostly alright anyways. Though, I have to say it’s a lucky coincidence that you ran into each other… uh… figuratively speaking. I was having trouble thinking of a way to find her, since she lives all the way up in Cloudsdale.”

“Huh? You wanted to talk to me? About what? Also, why is he here?” Rainbow Dash inquired curiously.

“I am showing him around Ponyville, that’s why. And I just wanted to ask you if you would be willing to help me teach him about friendship. I already asked the other girls and all of them except Fluttershy agreed. Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m not going to force anypony to do anything they don’t want to or don’t have time for.” Twilight explained.

Rainbow Dash pointed at Gerhardt with one of her forehooves. “Him? Learn about friendship?” She then burst out laughing only to be forced to stop by the pain. “Ow… Yeah… That was a mistake…  I’m still way too sore to laugh... Anyways… Twi, I get that the princess said his “punishment” was for you to teach him about friendship, but come on! You’ve got to realize this guy’s a lost cause! You heard what he said back in Canterlot about his views on friendship and how he didn’t even want to learn about it in the first place!”

“Miss Sparkle, I’m afraid that I must agree with Miss Dash. This is nothing but an exercise in futility. I am unsure what Princess Celestia is expecting, but I’m afraid that my views will not be swayed so easily.” Gerhardt interjected.

“See what I mean?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, gesturing towards him.

Twilight frowned at both of them in disapproval. “Well I disagree. I’m certain that anypony can learn the value of friendship, including him.”

“What about Discord? Or Nightmare Moon?” Rainbow Dash inquired skeptically.

“I know of plenty of beings that I’m certain are completely incapable of anything even resembling “friendship”. Demons come to mind, though admittedly they are a very extreme example.” Gerhardt offered.

“We uncorrupted Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony, and Princess Luna understands the value of friendship just fine. Discord… I’m honestly not sure. What are demons though?” Twilight inquired looking at Gerhardt curiously.

“They are lesser spirits of evil, meaning they are the physical embodiments of the concept of evil.” Gerhardt explained. Holding out one of his hands with the palm facing down towards the ground, he cast an optical illusion spell. The 3D image of a demon appeared between his hand and the ground. “Doesn’t look very friendly, now does it?”

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash stared at the image in a mixture of primal fear and existential dread. “W-what the BUCK?! What… Why does it...? So many eyes and mouths… Sweet Celestia… Why are it’s bucking eyes so bucking dark?!” Rainbow Dash stuttered in fear, instinctually backing away from the image.

“E-eyes? I-I don’t see any eyes… All I see are mouths, claws, and…” Twilight said unable to finish her sentence, her horn flaring up defensively.

“Yes, demons look different to everyone who sees them as everyone perceives evil very differently. Fortunately this one is but a mere illusion so you do not have to be so concerned.” Gerhardt informed them before allowing the illusion to fade. “See? It never existed in the first place. If it had been a real demon then it would have been much larger and well… I believe I shall stop there. You get my point.”

“Y-yeah… I honestly can’t see something so horrific having friends…” Twilight mumbled as the purple aura surrounding her horn started to fade. “But, whatever that thing was doesn’t count!”

“I kinda have to agree with her on this one… Bringing up those things is basically cheating… No. Not basically. It is cheating.” Rainbow Dash stated, still visibly flustered but slowly calming down now that the illusion was gone.

“Cheating? I was unaware that one could cheat in a simple conversation. Regardless, the point remains.” Gerhardt stated

“Hmph… Well, I noticed an interesting commonality between everything both of you suggested. All of them were evil. Personally I don’t think Gerhardt is evil like them, do either of you?” Twilight inquired, having already calmed down significantly.

“Er… Well… He doesn’t exactly seem like he’s trying to take over Equestria… Then again, he did cut those changelings limbs off...” Rainbow Dash said uncertainly. 

“That depends as good and evil are purely subjective. Well, unless you are a demon or any of the higher ranking spirits of evil, or a spirit of good such as an angel in which case it is an objective fact, but I digress. Personally, I do not view myself as evil though I will readily admit that I have done many terrible things in order to protect my Kingdom and my people. Whether I am good or evil from your perspective is entirely for you to decide. If whether or not I plan on trying to conquer your kingdom is the measure by which you decide my morality, then I am as good as a saint. You are not humans so your kingdom is of absolutely zero interest to me. Furthermore I do not plan on committing any more acts of violence unless someone else attacks me first as those changelings had.” Gerhardt answered trying his best to be at least mostly unbiased.

Twilight groaned in irritation and slapped one of her forehooves against her face. “Alright, while he may not exactly be the best pony… er… human ever, he’s neither overtly evil nor a megalomaniacal maniac like Nightmare Moon, Discord, or any spirits of evil of any rank. So logically speaking he should be capable of learning the value of friendship, right?”

“I mean… I guess that makes sense.” Rainbow Dash said, still sounding unconvinced.

Gerhardt just remained silent, having nothing to say that he hasn’t said already.

Twilight sighed in resignation. “So, I guess that’s a “no” then?”

“Yeah… Sorry, Twilight, I just really don’t see the point.” Rainbow Dash said somewhat apologetically

“No, it’s totally fine. Like I said, I’m not going to try to make you do anything you don’t want to. Besides if nothing else, I’m certain that Pinkie will be able to get through to him eventually.” Twilight said, somewhat jokingly.

Gerhardt rolled his one remaining eye. “Highly unlikely.”

“Oof, sending Pinkie after him? That’s just cruel... Well good luck, metal head, if Pinkie’s involved you’re probably gonna need it. Anyways, I’ve got to get going. There’s still a few clouds I need to clear out before I can take my afternoon nap. Later Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said before immediately taking back off towards the sky.

Gerhardt turned to look at twilight. “That sounded rather ominous. Should I be concerned?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nah, Rainbow was just exaggerating. Pinkie really isn’t all that bad.”

“From what few interactions I have had with Miss Pie, I honestly find your words somewhat difficult to believe. Now, while I apologize for having to cut this short, I really need to return to my lab so I may repair the damages that my body sustained from my unfortunate collision with Miss Dash. Hopefully I have a corundum crystal of sufficient size and clarity to replace the eye that I lost.” Gerhardt stated while running a full systems diagnostic just to double check and make absolutely certain that none of his other internal systems had been damaged.

“Oh, alright that’s fine. Uh, why a corundum crystal specifically though?” Twilight inquired curiously.

“Because corundum crystals such as sapphires and rubies have unique magical properties that make them by far the best crystals to use for optical devices such as cameras or, in my case, artificial eyes. The color of the crystal does tend to tint my vision slightly but not to the extent one might expect due to the enchantments placed upon the crystal prior to installation. Goodbye, Miss Sparkle.” Gerhardt explained before casting a spell to open a portal back to his lab and immediately proceeding through it.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerhardt spent the rest of the day and the next night repairing his body. Fortunately he was able to beat out all the dents in all of the copper plates meaning he didn’t have to scrap any of his exterior and use any of his materials to patch himself up. As he told Rainbow Dash, it was indeed a bit awkward trying to repair his neck by himself but he eventually succeeded and could once again move his head without having to use his hands to force it to face in any particular direction. 

The only issue he ran into was replacing his eye. Yes, he had several corundum crystals but most of them were either too small or not clear enough for him to use. He only found one that was of sufficient size and of barely adequate clarity. The problem was that it was a green sapphire, meaning his eyes would be two separate colors until he could either find or grow another either blue or green sapphire. It also meant his vision would have two slightly different tints and image qualities which would be somewhat irritating. However it seemed as though he was just going to have to deal with it until later. As such he went about cutting, rounding, polishing, and enchanting the green sapphire. Finally he removed his main faceplate and installed the new eye. Once he was finished, he reattached his main faceplate and recalibrated his eyes in order to get them both perfectly aligned.

Now fully repaired, Gerhardt got back to work building those sterilization rays for the hospitals. He was able to work in peace for another three days. In that time he managed to finish both the sterilization rays for the hospitals of Equestria and the first prototype love generator for the changelings. He even spent about five minutes using some of the scraps of gold and steel that he had left over to build Twilight a fountain pen for assisting him in learning the Equestrian language, just as he had said he would.

Now that he had finished everything he was working on he decided to write a letter to Princess Celestia to inform her of this and to either send him a list of what all of the materials had cost in total or to schedule a meeting to discuss what she would think a fair price would be for the sterilization rays, since he had no idea what the materials were worth in this world and he had never exactly had to sell anything to civilians before. He had sold vast quantities of technology to kingdoms that were allied with the human kingdom but never a small amount to civilians. The R&D branch did own several companies that sold technology to civilians but managing those had never been a part of any of his duties. To him they had always just been another constant source of funding.

Then he ran into a rather serious problem with this plan. He didn’t have any paper with which to write the letter and he didn’t have any funding with which to purchase any. He didn’t even have a machine with which to mulch some of the empty wooden crates he had in his storage shed to convert them into paper.

He hated to do this but perhaps he could request to borrow a sheet of paper from Twilight Sparkle. He still had to deliver her new fountain pen to her anyways, so he would really be killing two birds with one stone.

He sighed reluctantly, but picked up the new fountain pen and proceeded to open a portal to Golden Oak Library. Walking up to the door he knocked politely. “Miss Sparkle, are you there?” He inquired.

“Yeah. Feel free to come in.” Came the reply from the other side of the door.

Opening the door, Gerhardt proceeded inside where he saw Twilight standing next to a large pile of books which she appeared to be placing back onto several shelves. Nearby was the large bipedal purple lizard named Spike, who appeared to be reading a very thin book made entirely of paper filled with numerous illustrations.

“Hi, Gerhardt. I wasn’t expecting you to come by so soon. Well, what brings you here today? Do you need a book?” Twilight inquired, stepping away from the pile of books for a moment and turning to look at him. “Also, uh… Why is one of your eyes green?” She asked after she managed to get a good look at his face.

“The only corundum crystal I had that was of sufficient size and barely adequate clarity was a green sapphire. I would have preferred if it were blue like my other eye or at the very least that I had two of the green sapphires so I could have just replaced both of my eyes, but this is the only one I had so I shall just have to deal with it until I can make a machine with which to grow my own perfect crystals in my lab. As for what brings me here today, there are two things. The first is that I have finished the fountain pen that you requested back in Canterlot, for assisting me in learning your language. To fill it all you need to do is stick the tip in an inkwell and press the button on the side. The second reason I am here is that I would like to borrow a sheet of paper so that I may write a rather important letter to Princess Celestia, if you would not mind.” Gerhardt explained, holding out the freshly made fountain pen for her to take.

Twilight looked both surprised and excited as she stared at the fountain pen in his hand. Gerhardt released the writing implement as a purple aura enveloped it. The writing implement immediately began floating over to Twilight who began examining it eagerly. “Of course! Just give me a moment and I’ll bring you the paper right away!” She said happily before turning and disappearing up a set of stairs.

“Sooo… Uh… Gears, was it? What exactly is a fountain pen if you don’t mind me asking?” Spike inquired, looking up from his strange paper book.

“It's a vastly superior writing implement to a quill and inkwell. It has an internal reservoir that stores ink, thus allowing it to continue writing for hours without ever having to dip it into an ink well.” Gerhardt explained, ignoring the fact that Spike had called him by the “nickname” that Pinkie Pie came up with for him.

“Oh. That definitely explains why she looked so excited about it.” Spike stated matter of factly.

“Indeed.” Gerhardt responded.

The room descended into silence with neither Spike nor Gerhardt having anything else to say to each other, until Twilight finally came back downstairs with an empty scroll floating behind her. She levitated the scroll over to Gerhardt, who immediately grabbed it out of the air, and asked, “So, what’s the letter going to be about?”

“I have finished the sterilization rays I had been building for the hospitals as well as the first prototype love generator for the Changelings. Thus I need to know how much the materials that she provided me with cost so that I may determine a fair price to sell my sterilization rays for, and I need her to inform Queen Chrysalis that the first prototype is ready so she may send a changeling over to test it.” Gerhardt explained as he created a small rectangular shield in the air in front of him and used it as a surface with which to start writing his letter upon.

“I see.” Twilight said before seemingly coming to a sudden realization. “Wait, does that mean you actually finished your work and have nothing to do anymore?”

Gerhardt froze. That was correct. He had finished what he was doing and had completely run out of materials with which to continue working. He mentally debated with himself about what he should say. Being stuck alone with nothing to do and nothing to occupy him seemed horrible as it meant that all he would have to focus on would be his thoughts which would inevitably lead to him thinking about the horrible situation that his kingdom was in. These ponies' attempts to teach him about friendship were irritating, yes, but mostly because they interrupted his work. 

Now that he had no work left to do and was faced with the prospect of potentially being left alone with his thoughts for any length of time, these “friendship lessons” seemed by far the lesser of two evils. At least they would give him something, anything, else to focus on other than worrying about the situation his kingdom was in. Or at the very least they would give him an occasional break from having to worry about it since he knew the ponies would only be able to give him these lessons during the day and even then only on days where they actually had the time. He knew full well that the world most certainly did not revolve around him and that the ponies had their own lives and businesses to deal with.

“Yes… I… I suppose it does. Unfortunately.” Gerhardt stated in a shaken tone, resuming writing his letter.

“That’s wonderful! That means I can get started with your friendship lessons without having to worry that I’m bothering you, and you can teach me a bit more about technomancy!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly.

“Hm… How about we make a deal, Miss Sparkle? You may come over to my lab whenever you wish to learn more about technomancy as I can easily teach you while I continue working, so long as you do not interrupt my work for any of this friendship nonsense. Then, whenever I run out of things to do and must wait for a shipment of materials or something similar I will let you know so you may teach me all you wish about friendship — even if it is nothing more than an effort in futility — in the interim. Does this sound like a fair arrangement to you?” Gerhardt asked as he finished writing his letter. He let the shield fade and rolled up the scroll in preparation to send it off.

Twilight thought about this for a moment before saying, “I suppose it sounds fair but I would like to add one minor condition. Once you’re more set up, if it seems like you’re going to be busy indefinitely, then I will interrupt you but I’ll only do it once every week or two. Does that sound agreeable? Oh and on a side note, I could have Spike send that letter for you.”

Gerhardt sighed but said, “I suppose it is the best possible deal I am likely to get in this scenario, so I agree. Also, I have already been to Celestia’s throne room once before so I can simply open a small portal next to her throne and stuff the letter through. Having Spike walk all the way over to wherever your town’s postal service is located would be far less efficient. Observe.” He opened up a small portal next to Celestia’s throne that was just large enough for the scroll to fit through. He then slid the scroll through before immediately closing the portal behind it.

“See? That was significantly faster and more efficient and it took zero travel time.” Gerhardt stated.

“Uh… I suppose that works too, but just so you know Spike wouldn’t have had to travel all the way to the post office. He has magical fire breath which allows him to send and receive letters directly to and from Princess Celestia in an instant. It's how I send her my reports on what I learned about friendship every week.” Twilight explained.

“You have firebreath?” Gerhardt inquired curiously, looking at Spike.

“Well duh. Of course I do, I’m a dragon!” Spike stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“You’re a dragon?” Gerhardt inquired, genuinely shocked by this information. “I honestly thought that you were just some large, sapient, bipedal lizard of some sort. Forgive me if my words cause any offence as that is not my intention. My world also has dragons, you see, but they are vastly different then you.”

“Oh really? Well what’s so different about them then?” Spike demanded sounding somewhat offended.

Gerhardt stuck out a hand with his palm facing downwards and cast an illusion spell. A perfect 3D image of a dragon appeared standing on the ground beneath Gerhardt’s hand. It stood on all fours, had pitch black scales that looked about as strong as the armor on a super heavy combat golem, solid crimson snake-like eyes, two large bat-like wings on its back, multiple absolutely viscous horns on and around its head, and it’s neck, back, and tail were all completely smooth, unlike Spike’s.

“For one thing, this is what they look like. They are merely animals and do not have intelligence like you do. They are not bipeds like you are. They are absolutely massive creatures and even their eggs are as tall as I am if not slightly larger and all of them have wings from the moment they first hatch. They are obligate carnivores and have to eat extremely large quantities of meat in order to survive. They are cold blooded and require a cliff to launch from in order to fly so they tend to make their nests in caves in mountainous regions around the equator where it is consistently warm year round. They have an odd attraction to things that are shiny so their nests tend to be filled with things such as glass, mirrors, silverware, broken or melted golems, scrap metal, jewelry, crystals, and even coins.”

“To conserve energy due to their massive size and to not completely drain their surroundings of food and end up starving themselves to death, they spend decades hibernating and only ever wake up to eat and mate. Fortunately this also means that there is usually only ever between one and two hundred of them in the entire world at any given time. Whenever they wake up they are immediately classified as living natural disasters as even modern weaponry has difficulty penetrating their scales which have a very strong natural resistance to magic and are strong enough to let them completely shrug off physical artillery shells as if they were little more than a light breeze, and their fire breath is hot enough to melt through a ten inches of solid tungsten in a matter of seconds. Lastly their bones are both super light to allow them to fly and are super strong so that they do not end up being crushed to death under their own weight because of the fact that they are so massive.”

Gerhardt let the optical illusion fade and continued, “They are by far the single most dangerous animals in my entire world. Especially the — fortunately — extremely rare ones that are born with the ability to use magic, as any living creature in my world can potentially be born with the ability to use magic, except for plants. When dragons are capable of using magic even the most powerful of demigods tremble in fear. So, now do you understand why I did not immediately recognize you as a dragon?”

Spike looked equally amazed and horrified by everything Gerhardt had just said.“Yeah… I’m definitely nothing like those monsters…” He muttered. Suddenly his stomach began to gurgle before he belched green flames that formed into a scroll. Picking it up off the ground, he unrolled it and proceeded to start reading it. “Uh… It’s for you.” Spake stated, holding the scroll out for Gerhardt to take.

“Really? I wasn’t expecting to be getting a response back this soon. Besides, how on earth would she have known that I am here right now?” Gerhardt stated, casting a telekinetic spell and levitating the scroll towards him before snatching it out of the air. Unrolling it, he took a microsecond to read the entire thing. It said that Queen Chrysalis would more than likely be sending a Changeling to stay in Ponyville to test his prototype love generators until he could develop the final model. She also gave him a list of what all of the materials that she had provided him with cost and asked him to send what he had already built along with a letter detailing what they were, how to operate them and what the final price was as soon as he could. She also informed him that he could just place what he had built in the storage room where he had spent the vast majority of his time in Canterlot and that they would take care of the rest.

Gerhardt was shocked by how cheap gold, silver, and the crystals turned out to be. In his world they would have been extremely expensive, but here they were fairly close in price to copper or steel. That was both good and bad for him as it meant that he would save massive amounts of funding on material costs, however it also meant that he had to sell his machines for cheaper which meant he would get less funding then he would otherwise. To compensate for this he would have to sell more machines which meant he needed more materials which meant he needed more funding.... Were he still mostly organic he knew that he would more than likely be getting a severe migraine at the moment.

“Well, she probably recognized the scroll and assumed that you got it from me. Also, even if she didn’t it’s entirely possible that she might have sent the letter through Spike anyways, thinking it might get to you a bit faster.” Twilight explained.

“I see. I will have to build two linked portal machines so she can send any further such letters directly to me without having to rely on using you as an intermediary.” Gerhardt stated before casting a spell to vaporize all of the ink off of the scroll so he could just reuse it instead of having to request to borrow another one from Twilight. Creating a portal back to the inside of his lab he said, “Now, I shall not take up any more of your time. Thank you very much for the scroll.” Before either she or Spike could respond he was already through the portal and had closed it behind him.

Placing the scroll on a clear section of what used to be the kitchen counter but was now his main work table, Gerhardt began writing the letter that the princess had requested. He explained what the sterilization rays were, what they did, and how to use them. As for the prices, he set them at the material costs plus an extra 20% for each individual device. Once he was finished he created two separate portals, one leading to Celestia’s throne room, while the other led to the storage room that Celestia had indicated in her response letter. He slid the scroll through the portal leading to the throne room before closing the portal behind it and began levitating all of the sterilization rays into the storage room with a telekinetic spell.

When that was finished, he closed the portal leading to the storage room and sighed wondering what he could do to keep himself occupied and his mind off of the situation his world was in. Then it occurred to him that he still had yet to get rid of those damnable plants that were outside his lab.

Heading outside his hands were engulfed by a pitch black aura as he began casting a lethal curse on the grass, bushes, and flowers that made all of them immediately wither and die before crumbling to dust which was then carried away by the breeze. The curse would also prevent any more plants from growing there ever again. He had to walk all the way around the outside of his entire lab to get all of them but it was over in a matter of a minute or two.

By the time that was finished Gerhardt had yet another idea for something to keep him busy. Since he didn’t have the resources with which to expand his lab above ground, he could simply expand it below ground. There were no laws against it so as long as he kept his expansion within the bounds of his own property then there should be no issues. Not that it was very likely that anyone would find out even if he did expand his lab outside the bounds of his own property, but he supposed it was better to err on the side of caution. He would also have to be careful to avoid running into any water lines, sewage pipes, or electrical wires but he knew of a few scanning spells that would make that simple enough and he could just dig a shaft deep enough that he would be well below the level that all of that would be at. The only real issue would be finding a place to dump all of the excess dirt.

Thinking about it for a moment he remembered that while making his — still 2% incomplete — map of Ponyville the other day, he had seen a forest nearby. While he absolutely loathed the idea of going into a forest after what Silvanus had done to him and was surely doing to his kingdom, he supposed that if he could find a clearing or something of the sort in the forest it could potentially serve as an excellent place to dump all of the dirt since it should be out of the way enough to not inconvenience any of the ponies. With that in mind, he locked the doors of his lab before setting off for the forest.

As he walked he had a program open in his head and was already creating a 3D model for the underground portion of his lab, which meant the vast majority of it. He was mapping out everywhere the structural supports would need to go to prevent the entire thing from collapsing and bringing down hundreds if not thousands of tons of dirt on top of his head while he was digging and destroying the house that was above ground in the process. He wanted to avoid that at all costs for obvious reasons.

It was somewhat of an issue that he didn’t have access to any steel or concrete to use for the structure. However he did know a rather ancient spell that the Dwarves had  invented thousands upon thousands of years ago to transmute most types of sand, dirt, gravel, and loose rocks into solid slabs of granite that was five or six inches thick at minimum but could reach all the way up to a foot thick. It normally involved the use of powerful alchemical reagents however it could be done through the use of magic alone, it just took far more time and was vastly more energy intensive. 

So even if he didn’t have any concrete or steel to use for the structure he could at the very least turn the roof, floor, and outer walls into granite as well as craft very sturdy structural pillars or walls made of granite to ensure the entire structure would be more than strong enough to not collapse on top of him. However without those alchemical reagents he knew that between both transmuting and digging it would be an extremely slow process that would use up about 90 to 95% of his total magic energy reserves every day that he worked on it until it was completed. He would obviously have to save some of his energy reserves to either carry himself back up out of the shaft leading down to the underground portion of his lab or to simply open a portal back to the surface at least every so often.

Eventually he reached the edge of the forest. However the moment he set foot in the forest he was immediately set on guard as a sense of malice and danger washed over him. It was extremely similar to the times that he had been forced to conduct military operations in forests and the nature spirits that resided there had been angered by something or other. As such, before he took so much as another step he immediately reached into his robes, pulled out his pistol, and switched it off of the safety. He then increased the range of his sensors from a 50 foot radius to a 100 foot radius, ignoring the fact that they were slowly heating up from the sheer amount of raw data that they were processing. He would prefer to avoid having to fight the nature spirits that lived here if he could, but he would not let himself be caught with his guard down if they decided to attack him.

Now prepared to defend himself if anything were to go wrong, he began making his way deeper into the forest. He continued walking for about twenty minutes until he heard what sounded like three little girls screaming to the north east, which was behind him. He immediately came to a halt and took a few microseconds to mentally debate about what he should do. On the one hand, it could just be an auditory illusion conjured by the nature spirits of this forest in an attempt to lead him into a trap. On the other hand there could actually be children that were in very real danger and could potentially be killed if he didn’t save them.

Eventually he decided that he wasn’t willing to risk abandoning children to either wild animals or angry nature spirits. Thus he began sprinting towards the screams as fast as his body would allow. His joint’s whirred and clicked in protest as they were pushed to the absolute limits of their capabilities. In a matter of seconds his sensors began picking up the energy signatures of three ponies surrounded by well over a dozen energy signatures that matched constructs created by nature spirits, though fortunately were not the nature spirits themselves. He was glad that he chose to check it out rather than abandoning the children to their fates. In a few more seconds he reached a small clearing where the energy signatures were located and saw three extremely small ponies — from his perspective — cornered against a large tree by a pack of what looked like wolves that were made entirely out of wood and plantlife with glowing green eyes.

Gerhardt immediately dodged past and jumped over all of the wooden wolves faster than they could react in order to get to the ponies. Sliding to a stop in front of them he immediately conjured up a strong bubble shaped shield around the three fillies and aimed his pistol at the wooden wolves.

“Spirits of this forest, I am Gerhardt Mechanica, a master technomancer and experienced veteran of war. I do not know what these foals could have done to anger you to such an extent that you would send such constructs to hunt them down, but I shall not allow you to harm them! Have your constructs come at me if you wish, but be warned I am not so peaceful as the inhabitants of Equestria. While I would much prefer to avoid any confrontation with you if at all possible I assure you that I very much can and will fight back if you force my hand.” Gerhardt warned, knowing that the nature spirits could hear him through both their constructs and even the very plants of the forest.

The wooden wolves snarled furiously at him and immediately began charging. In response he immediately began pulling the trigger on his pistol, blasting inch wide holes through the wolves. Unfortunately, while this most certainly damaged them by no means did it truly stop them. As such Gerhardt was forced to duck and dodge out of the way as the wooden wolves jumped and lunged at him. Seeing how ineffectual his pistol was against these things, Gerhardt quietly cursed to himself as he quickly stuffed the weapon back in its holster under his robes before raising his hands to cast a fairly basic combat spell. An intense blast of fire exploded out from him in all directions and set several of the wooden wolves ablaze along with some of the surrounding foliage.

The wolves seemed to panic as they and the surrounding area began to burn. Gerhardt did not stop there, however. He stuck his arms out to the sides and slightly in front of him and a long string of copper colored orbs that were just a centimeter wide appeared between his hands before flying out in numerous different directions at super high speeds. Some impacted the ground near the wooden wolves while others impacted several of the wooden wolves directly, however each and every last one of them exploded with the force of a grenade. Dirt, rocks, and both burning and not burning splinters of wood went flying like shrapnel as both the ground and the wooden wolves were blown to pieces. At this point the few remaining wolves decided to turn and flee before he could continue.

Seeing this, Gerhardt let them run and instead turned his attention to the burning foliage. So as to avoid starting a forest fire as he didn’t want to risk angering the nature spirits anymore then they already were, he cast a spell to put out the fires before they could spread. “Spirits of this forest, I shall be completely honest with you, I do not like nature. I have had some bad experiences with it in the past. That being said, I would rather not be your enemy if I can avoid it so please do not attack me again. If these ponies have caused some sort of issue then — unless you are willing to appear before me and actually tell me what they have done that has angered you so — I shall simply try my best to find out what it is and find some way to resolve it without having to resort to violence. Until then I shall be encouraging everyone to stay out of this forest as much as possible. I hope this sounds reasonable to you.” He said to the forest.

“I know not to which spirits you speak, but your display was certainly not weak.” Said a voice from nearby. 

He had noticed an energy signature in that direction, but it was not one he had ever encountered before so he had merely assumed that it was an animal that had been hiding from the constructs. Turning to look at the source of the voice he saw what he could only assume was this world’s equivalent of a zebra. “Greetings, ma’am. I am Gerhardt Mechanica, a master technomancer. I am honestly quite surprised to hear that you are unaware of the existence of nature spirits considering Ponyville is located directly next to a forest. Surely someone must have noticed the existence of those wooden constructs by now? After all, this can’t have been the first time foals have wandered into this forest only to be attacked by them.”

“I am Zecora and I live amongst this forest’s fauna and flora. Indeed timberwolves are quite infamous, however once you know how to deal with them they are not so dangerous. Had it not been for your intervention, saving these three had always been my intention. Though I did not know that the timberwolves’ maker were spirits of nature. Now, what might your intentions be, way out here in the Everfree?” Zecora inquired.

Gerhardt sighed in frustration. “You mean you already knew of them, but you just assumed they were just normal animals that evolved here naturally? Ugh... Somehow, I’m not even surprised. Well regardless, I guarantee they are just constructs made by nature spirits to attack whoever and whatever they don’t like.” He was about to continue talking when he was interrupted by one of the three fillies clearing their throat.

“Uh, we’re really grateful that you saved us and all, but could you please let us out of here now?” The orange pegasus inquired from inside the shield Gerhardt had put around the three of them to protect them from the timberwolves.

“Oh right. My apologies, little ones.” Gerhardt said before letting the shield dissipate. “Now, before I answer your question, Miss Zecora, I would like to ask these three the same thing. What in the world are you three doing out here? Especially when these “timberwolves”, as you call them, are apparently known to stalk this forest?”

“Well, we were out here helpin’ Miss Zecora gather some herbs and stuff. Then we sort of got lost, then those timberwolves started chasin’ us, then we sort of got cornered, but then you saved us!” The earth pony with the big red bow on her head explained.

“I see. Then that most certainly explains why Miss Zecora was in the area as well.” Gerhardt stated before looking back at Zecora. “Now, to answer your question, I am planning on expanding my lab in Ponyville by digging a few underground rooms deep below it. However, I need a place to dump all of the excess dirt while I dig. As such I thought I might find a good place out here in the forest where the dirt wouldn’t inconvenience anyone. Though, you claim to live out here so perhaps I should find another location other than this forest.”

“You have a lab in Ponyville? Where is it? What do you do there? Does it have something to do with you being a techno… techno… Uh… technoprancer?” The white furred unicorn inquired.

“The word is technomancer, and yes it does. A technomancer is what we humans call a mage who combines magic and technology. A mage is a human who is born with the ability to use magic. I build machines such as the augmentations that make up the vast majority of my body. I was not always made of metal after all. As for where my lab is, unfortunately it is essentially just a simple two story house that I only received very recently thus it is rather difficult to find if you do not know what to look for. Besides which, I’m sure that foals such as yourself have no business there. Especially since my business selling and repairing machines is not up and running just yet.” Gerhardt explained.

“If a place to dump dirt is what you seek, I know of a location that none shall critique. However I believe that transporting it there may prove a bit of a nightmare.” Zecora offered.

Gerhardt looked at her and raised one of his arms straight out to the side. He then in the direction his arm was pointing, he cast a spell and created a portal all the way back to Ponyville. “Transporting it will not be an issue, I assure you. Actually, now that I have this portal open, perhaps it would be for the best if you three were to use it to return home.”

“But we have so many more questions!” The orange pegasus objected.

“You have already been attacked by the constructs of the nature spirits once today so perhaps it would be best not to tempt fate, wouldn’t you agree?” Gerhardt stated in a tone that was a bit more stern.

“““Awww…””” The three fillies groaned in disappointment before heading through the portal Gerhardt had created. He immediately closed it behind them once all of them were all the way through.

“Now, I sincerely apologize for taking up your time, but might you be willing to lead me to the location you have in mind? If not, could you at the very least point me in the right direction?” Gerhardt requested.

“No need to apologise, it is okay, I shall be more than happy to lead the way. However, while we walk, could you please tell me more about the spirits of which you talk? The Everfree forest is where I live, so if any spirits reside here I would like our relationship to be positive.” Zecora stated as she began leading Gerhardt to the place she had in mind.

“As you wish. Well, I shall tell you that the instant I set foot in this forest I could feel the malevolence and danger it exudes. It was exactly like the times that I had to conduct military operations inside forests and something or another happened that angered the nature spirits that resided there, causing them to attack myself and the other soldiers. So I know the nature spirits of this forest are angry, very angry. However I do not understand why.” Gerhardt explained.

Looking around at the forest around them he continued, “The only thing I can really think of is the fact that an individual known as “Fluttershy” apparently interferes with nature by taking care of the wild animals in the area as if they were pets. Thus she is interfering with the cycle of natural selection. However that alone should not be enough to anger them to such a degree. Annoy them, certainly, but not truly anger them. So there has to be more to it. Do you know if the ponies do anything else that interferes with nature? Things such as interfering with the natural processes of plants on any large scale, controlling the weather, attempting to control the seasons, raising the dead, conducting massive deforestation, or anything else of that nature. Keep in mind I already know that the Princesses claim to control the sun and moon — as absolutely preposterous as that may be.”

Zecora had a very troubled look on her face. “They do not conduct deforestation nor do they raise the dead, but indeed they do everything else that you just said.”

Gerhardt froze in place for a moment. “Everything...? By the gods…” He muttered in horror before continuing to follow Zecora. “If they do all of that, then I am genuinely shocked that the spirits haven’t escalated far beyond using those weak little constructs to defend their forest. They should have long since grown far far more aggressive and should be trying to completely exterminate the ponies. If they are doing all of that then I am honestly not entirely certain that I can actually fix this. Even if I warned the ponies I honestly doubt that they would believe me or would care even if they did believe me since the forest doesn’t appear to have gone out of control just yet.”

He thought about this for a few microseconds before saying, “That being said, if you wish to have a positive relationship with the spirits of this forest on an individual basis, first and foremost for the love of the gods do not do what the ponies do. I cannot possibly stress enough how incredibly stupid what they’re doing truly is. Other than that, leaving out a small gift for them every once in a while certainly wouldn’t hurt. The elves tend to leave out things such as a glass of wine or whiskey, small pieces of candy, and sometimes even fertilizer they usually aren’t particularly picky. Just let them know that it’s intended as a gift for them otherwise they might not take it. I have also heard that they enjoy casual conversation though I cannot confirm this. Regardless they are supposedly some of the easiest types of spirits to please and if they start to like you enough they may start helping you or even protecting you like they do for the Elves. Well, actually, since these ones don’t seem to like to show themselves for some reason they may just have their constructs or even the animals that inhabit this forest do so for them.”

“I see. Thank you for telling me this my friend for these spirits I would rather befriend.” Zecora said happily.

Gerhardt wanted to point out the fact that she had just rhymed the word “friend” with “befriend” and that they were definitely not friends, however he decided to just keep his mouth shut as he didn’t want to risk offending her. At the very least not before she showed him the area where he could dump the dirt he would be digging up from underneath his lab.

They continued walking for about fifteen minutes until they came to a cliff. Gerhardt looked over the edge to see what was below and saw nothing of note. He estimated that this should indeed be an excellent place to dump all of the dirt from his little construction project. “This should work wonderfully. Thank you, Miss Zecora, your assistance is greatly appreciated. I believe I will be heading back now so that I may get started right away. If there is any place that you wish to go along the path that we walked or even in Ponyville, I would be more than happy to open a portal for you in order to save you time on your trip. It is the least I can do.” Gerhardt offered politely.

“Thank you but it is fine, your offer I must decline. I expect no audible response but with the spirits of the Everfree I would like to commune as this seems like a time that is most opportune.” Zecora declined.

“I see. Then in that case you need only speak to or near the plants and the spirits shall hear you. Good day, Miss Zecora.” Gerhardt stated before opening a portal to his lab and walking through before closing it behind him.

Surprisingly as soon as he was through the portal he saw Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity as well as the three fillies from earlier all standing outside his lab talking about something. Approaching them he said, “Excuse me, I do hope I am not interrupting something, but may I ask what you all are doing here?”

“Apple Bloom and the others told us what ya did out in the Everfree and well, we wanted to thank ya. I don’t know why ya were even out there in the first place, but the fact you went outta your way ta save ‘em from those timberwolves is greatly appreciated.” Applejack stated gratefully.

“Indeed! I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to Sweetie Belle!” Rarity agreed.

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool of you to save Scootaloo and the others...” Rainbow Dash said somewhat reluctantly.

“I see. Well, it was my pleasure. I could not in good conscience leave three innocent children, or I suppose I should say foals, to be ripped apart by the wooden constructs of angry nature spirits. As for what I was doing out there, in order to keep myself occupied I am planning on digging an underground extension of my lab and I needed to find a place where I could get rid of the dirt that would be out of the way, which I have found with the assistance of Miss Zecora.” Gerhardt explained.

“Wait, you are? Since when?” Twilight inquired, clearly caught off guard by this information.

“Since a few minutes after I left your library earlier today.”

“Um… Excuse me, Mr. Mechanica? Me, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo still have some questions for you, but you made us leave before we could ask. So would you mind answering us now?” Sweetie Belle inquired.

“Of course, little ones. I only made you leave the forest earlier in order to ensure your safety. I have nothing but time on my hands at the moment so you may ask me whatever you wish.” Gerhardt stated.

The three fillies cheered happily. “Earlier you said that you weren’t always made of metal. So what did you look like before you became like this?” Scootaloo inquired.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “It would be rather tedious to describe so I’ll just show you. I would brace yourselves as it’s not a pretty sight.” After lowering his hood he cast an optical illusion spell on himself. Suddenly he looked just like he had prior to inventing brain augmentations. He had wrinkly old skin that was weathered from age and was almost ghostly pale from lack of exposure to sunlight, a thin gaunt almost malnourished face that easily displayed the bones underneath, a head of short, uncombed, pure white hair, a short white mustache and beard, grey eyes with heavy bags under them from severe lack of sleep, numerous horrific scars of all different types of injuries from cuts to burns all across his face, and his right ear was completely missing. One of his hands appeared to be made of flesh and blood but was gnarled and covered in scars while the other still appeared to be made of copper.

All of the ponies displayed a wide variety of different reactions, all of which Gerhardt ignored. He honestly couldn't care less what they thought of what he used to look like. “By this point in my life, my augmentations were the only reason I was allowed to continue fighting on the front lines with the rest of my branch of the military, for reasons that I assume should be obvious. A tired old man is usually more of a liability on the battlefield than a benefit, no matter how skilled of a technomancer he may or may not be.” He stated, with his mouth and lips moving perfectly in sync with his words, unlike usual.

Finally he let the illusion fade and said, “Alright, well I assume there was more that you wished to ask of me?”

“Uh… Yeah, what’s that symbol on your shoulders? Is it something like a cutie mark? If so, how’d ya get it?” Apple Bloom asked.

Gerhardt pointed to it. “You mean this, correct? No, it is nothing even remotely like your “cutie marks”. Humans do not have “special talents” that we are destined to acquire like your species does, let alone naturally occurring magical marks to show for it. This is actually a military insignia displaying my rank and what branch of the military I was in. Both this gear and the color of my uniform symbolize the fact that I was in the research and development branch of my kingdom’s military. These five runes indicate that I was the highest ranking member in the entire R&D branch, the high lord. Finally each individual point of this star symbolizes one of the five branches of the military while the pentagon in the center of the star symbolizes the human kingdom which each of the five branches are meant to protect.”

“Do you think you could teach us this technomancy thing some time so we can see if we get our cutie marks in it?” Sweetie Belle requested.

“From what very little I have read, I do not believe that is how “cutie marks” work. Furthermore, I am sorry but I believe the only one who would be capable of learning technomancy would be you due to how unicorns’ magic works. It is extremely similar if not effectively the same as my own in how it functions. The other two might be able to learn engineering and perhaps even the science behind how magic works but that would be about it. That is, unless their respective forms of magic can be utilized in an active fashion that allows them to bend arcane energy to their will like unicorns can. I honestly have no idea how magical abilities that are in any way related to biology are supposed to function so I could very well be completely mistaken. I simply have never witnessed any earth ponies or pegasi casting spells like unicorns do.”

“““Awww…””” The three fillies groaned in disappointment.

“I suppose I shall take your reaction to mean that my assumption was indeed correct. How unfortunate.” Gerhardt stated, unsurprised by this. “Was there anything else you wish to ask me?”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nah, I think you’ve answered pretty much everything we can think of. Right girls?” The other two nodded in agreement.

“Alright, if that’s all then we won’t take up any more of your time, Mr. Mechanica. Thank you again for saving Sweetie Belle. Good day.” Rarity said before turning and walking away.

“Yup, I gotta get back to the orchard. Thanks for stoppin’ them timberwolves!” Applejack stated before heading off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Yeah thanks… Later metal head.” Rainbow Dash said before flying away.

“Thanks for helpin’ us earlier and for answerin’ our questions!” Apple Bloom exclaimed gratefully before she and her friends ran off together.

Gerhardt looked at Twilight and said, “Well, you don’t appear to have any relation with any of those three unlike your friends, so may I ask why you are here?”

“Two reasons actually. The first is that Princess Celestia sent another letter for you.” She said, levitating a scroll over to him.

Gerhardt took the scroll out of the air, opened it, and read it in an instant. Apparently Celestia and the other princesses had discussed it for quite awhile and had finally decided to release the information about magical fitness and proper training techniques to the public after all. However they were going to be publishing the tome he had written as a book under his name, so apparently he was going to be receiving funding for every copy of the book that was sold. However they were going to be marketing it as revolutionary new discoveries made by him only very recently, so as to minimize any possible criticism leveled at what Celestia had been teaching in her school in Canterlot. They would also be claiming that he was the sole survivor of an extremely distant hyper advanced kingdom that had been destroyed in a natural disaster rather than letting anyone know that he was actually an alien from another world that had been sent here against his will in an attempt to protect his privacy.

He had no complaints about any of this. A new source of funding was always more than welcome and the fact that he wouldn’t be bothered because he was an alien from another universe was a nice touch. He couldn’t care less about any of the rest of it.

Rolling the scroll back up he said, “I see. Well it would appear that I shall have a new source of funding very soon. Now what was your second reason for coming here?”

“To start your friendship lessons! I mean you said you had time now and I didn’t have much else to do today other than organizing the books in the Library, which I’ve already finished.” Twilight said happily.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “Very well. I suppose that I have no real reason to object at the moment.”
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerhardt’s first lesson in friendship consisted of a lengthy lecture about friendship and the so-called Elements of Harmony. Twilight also gave him an assignment. She had said quote for quote, “Gerhardt, your first assignment is to try to make a friend by the end of next month. I know your views on friendship but please at least give it a chance, I know you won’t regret it.” So that’s exactly what he planned to do. He would follow her instructions to the letter though perhaps not in the way that she had intended. Due to the laws of the Human Kingdom surrounding golems, he had never done something like this before. However those laws did not exist here in Equestria so he was going to give it a chance as Twilight had suggested. He already had schematics in mind for it.

He would essentially be building a sapient golem with a fully artificial brain. He knew how. He was the one who invented brain augmentations after all and that was centuries ago so there was nothing stopping him from building a fully artificial brain from scratch. The only reason his own brain wasn’t fully artificial already was because he had not managed to figure out how to safely replace the frontal lobe without the use of certain aspects of necromancy that were completely illegal. The frontal lobe was the area of the brain that controlled an individual’s higher thought processes, thus it was the location where an individual’s soul was bound to their body. In all of his experiments over the centuries, every time he tried to replace a test subject’s frontal lobe without using illegal necromancy to transfer the soul’s bond to the frontal lobe over to the augmentation it resulted in the soul detaching from the body, effectively killing the test subject and creating a perfect mind clone with a brand new soul in their place.

He obviously didn’t want to kill himself in such a way if he could avoid it so he never attempted to replace his frontal lobe. Thus frontal lobe augmentations had been effectively useless until now. Now he would be using them to create a sapient golem to be his “friend”/assistant. He would even design it to include all of the “elements of harmony” that Twilight had lectured him about. Perhaps he could even grant it the ability to use magic by either using a bit of necromancy to alter the conditions present during the formation of its soul, or perhaps by figuring out the biological component behind the magic of unicorns and replicating it in the construction of the golem’s body.

However, he did want to make at least something of a prototype first as a proof of concept as he didn’t want to waste the materials if it turned out that it wouldn’t work. Thus he planned on building a much smaller and much less complex golem first. Remembering what Twilight had told him about him needing to do something to make Fluttershy less scared of him a few days ago and seeing how Fluttershy seemed to be particularly fond of animals, he decided this might be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. The only question was what he would build for her.

He already had a few ideas in mind such as: a tiny dragon with an internal telekinetic lift system to allow it to sort of mimic actual flight (obviously with a significantly more docile and friendly personality then actual dragons), a bird with the same internal telekinetic lift system, and a spider or scorpion. He was considering several other types of golems as well. Eventually, however, he came to a decision.

Other then that he also decided that since Equestria didn’t have the same laws as the Human Kingdom, he could potentially look into using necromancy to replace his own frontal lobe with an augmentation without having to worry about dying and his body being taken from him by a perfect mind clone. It would be a major relief for him to finally be able to get rid of that last little bit of organic matter that he’s been stuck with for a little over 800 years. However that did leave the question of whether or not he would still truly be able to be considered human anymore if he did such a thing. Though, honestly, did he even care if he could be considered human or not? He wasn’t entirely sure.

Regardless at the end of the week he received 8,503  bits from all twenty of the sterilization rays that had been sold to the hospitals. He then used what bits he had earned to order as many more materials as he could possibly afford from Canterlot. It took four days for the materials he had ordered to arrive.

In that time, he had managed to carve a small square out of the floor of his storage shed and had made good progress in digging the shaft that would lead to the lower levels of his lab. Furthermore the Changeling that Queen Chrysalis had sent to stay in Ponyville had finally arrived. This time when they tested it the prototype love generator that Gerhardt had built did not explode like the proof of concept that he had hastily slapped together back in canterlot had even after he had cranked it all the way up to its maximum setting. However, it had required maintenance after testing as it had still been slightly damaged and the changeling had reported that the love it generated still tasted metallic and sour, with a hint of cherry oddly enough.

When his materials finally arrived, Gerhardt immediately began working on more of the sterilization rays as apparently the hospitals had requested more, as well as the golem for Fluttershy. He also built a small scanning device about the size of a pen that had a wireless connection directly to his brain. Its primary purpose was to let him see what was actually happening when the changeling fed off of the prototype love generator, which it did to great effect, however it also had the secondary purpose of scanning the inhabitants of this world to help him understand how their biological magic worked. What he learned from the Changeling alone was absolutely astounding and granted him a tiny bit of insight as to how magic in this world differed from magic in his own. It also let him know how to tweak the prototype love generator to improve the taste of the love that it generated, which he did.

Twilight had also started coming over every so often for lessons in technomancy and was making progress at a rate that was actually a bit baffling to Gerhardt. He had only given her a few lessons but she seemed to retain everything he taught her almost perfectly and was already at the point where she could build simple golems, which usually took even the most talented of recruits at least a year or two. If he didn’t know any better he honestly would have assumed that she had replaced the memory centers of her brain with augmentations. When he inquired as to how this was possible she informed him that her “special talent” was magic and that she actually spent some of her free time studying and practicing what Gerhardt taught her.

During one of their lessons, Gerhardt asked if she would be willing to allow him to scan her so he could figure out how the biological aspect of unicorn magic worked and she had agreed. What he learned was extremely fascinating. Apparently the unicorns had magic constantly flowing through their bodies via a system of nerve-like structures whereupon it was channeled to their horn which acted like a sort of catalyst that allowed them to bend arcane energy to their wills just like a mage. Whether this magic originated from their soul or from the ambient arcane energy in the atmosphere was a mystery to him, but it hardly mattered which it was as the effect was the same either way. It might take a bit of experimenting but he was absolutely certain that he could replicate this, and quite soon at that!

He also detected something about the “cutie marks” the ponies had, but none of it made absolutely any sense to him whatsoever. To put it into perspective, to him it was essentially the magical equivalent to reading the text that occurred after an individual repeatedly smashed their face into a keyboard while their computer had a writing program open. It was complete and utter gibberish.

After about a week and a half he had managed to send off the next set of sterilization rays, had made several major improvements to the love generator for the changelings, and had just about completed the small dragon golem for Fluttershy when he heard a knock at his door. He would have thought it was Twilight having come over for another lesson in technomancy if it hadn’t been for the fact that his sensors were actually detecting two pegasi rather than a unicorn.

Curious, he set down his tools and went to go see who it was. Opening his door he was surprised to see Rainbow Dash standing there with a somewhat reluctant and very uncomfortable expression and next to her was Scootaloo who seemed both eager and somewhat scared. “Good day to you both. What brings you to my lab today?”

“Can you really fix my wings?!” Scootaloo demanded excitedly.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise, caught completely off guard by this question. “I… Suppose? What’s wrong with them, if you don’t mind me asking? I can’t help if I don’t know what the issue is. Also I will admit this has caught me by surprise. What brought this about in the first place?”

“Well, me and Rainbow Dash were hanging out, then I got to thinking about how you saved us from the timberwolves a while ago, then I got to thinking about how you’re all metal and stuff but you apparently used to have skin and stuff like everypony else. So I asked Rainbow how this happened to you and she said she thought you probably did it to yourself and told me how you helped some changelings in Canterlot that had somehow lost their limbs by giving them new ones like yours! So I asked if you might be able to fix my wings like that and she said that you might be able to! So she and I rushed over here to ask if you really could!” Scootaloo explained.

Gerhardt looked at Rainbow Dash who was looking a bit embarrassed and extremely uncomfortable. He then looked back at Scootaloo and said, “Alright… That most certainly explains why you came here, however that does not tell me what’s wrong with your wings.”

Scootaloo sat down and looked at her wings sadly. “They’re too small… I can make myself go really fast on my scooter, but I can’t fly…”

Gerhardt sighed and said, “I see… Well, based on what I learned about the biological aspect behind how unicorns’ magic works I can at least confirm that I might be able to fix your wings. In fact, while I am not a medical mage, I might potentially even be able to use biomancy to fix them rather than having to conduct surgery to remove your current wings and attach new artificial ones in their place. However there is but one small issue. I am not familiar with how the biological aspect of pegasus magic functions thus if I did either of those things there is potential that I would just end up doing more damage then truly fixing the issue. That being said, I do have a simple non-invasive scanning device that should allow me to learn everything I need to know in a matter of seconds. Might either one of you be willing to allow me to use this device on you? If you have any concerns, just know that I have already used it on Miss Sparkle to learn how unicorn magic functions and she is perfectly fine.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and said, “Metal head, I need you to be perfectly honest with me. Can you really fix Scoot’s wings?”

“As you wish. Then I shall indeed be perfectly honest with you, Miss Dash. I have never built augmentations like this before because where I come from the ability to use magic is not biological in nature. It has to do with the conditions present during the formation of an individual’s soul prior to birth. I know some individuals in this land may not believe in such things, however there are dark forms of magic that I honestly wish didn’t exist that have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that souls are very real and that’s all I shall tell you on the matter.” Gerhardt explained in a deathly serious tone.

Continuing in a more casual tone he said, “That being said, I am or was the best technomancer in the Human Kingdom. And no, that’s not me simply boasting in order to inflate my ego, it’s just a simple fact. Furthermore I was the one who first invented brain augmentations. Compared to that replacing a limb like a wing is a matter of simplicity in and of itself. The one and only issue I have with replacing Miss Scootaloo’s wings or trying to use biomancy to fix them is the fact that your species magic is biological in nature and I have no idea how your particular breed’s magic actually works. I do have theories and speculation but that’s all I have. Thus I need to learn how the magic of pegasi functions before I can even consider attempting to do anything. Also for legal reasons I will require her parent or guardian’s permission first, which I assume is you, correct?”

“Me? Nah… Scoots is like a little sister to me but we aren’t actually related or anything. Her parents are away most of the time so we’ll have to send them a letter and see if they’re willing to come back to Ponyville for a while to talk to you about this. Anyways, if you’re really confident that you can fix Scoots’ wings then I guess I’ll let you scan me or whatever, as long as it doesn’t involve anything weird.” Rainbow Dash stated.

Gerhardt opened a small portal over to where he had left the scanner before reaching through and grabbing it. Once he had the scanner and his hand was back out of the portal he released the spell and let it close. “Excellent, and not to worry Miss Dash. As I said, it is completely non-invasive. Just hold still for a moment.” Pointing the scanner at Rainbow Dash, he pressed a button and a blue light shot out from the scanner and enveloped her body for a few moments. When it was over the blue light disappeared and Gerhardt lowered the scanner.

“Fascinating…” He muttered half to himself and half to Rainbow Dash. “Absolutely fascinating. Like unicorns you have magic constantly flowing through your body via a system of nerve-like structures. However unlike them where the magic is then channeled into their horns which then acts as a catalyst for them to cast spells, you have more densely packed structures in your wings where the magic is then used to compress the air underneath them to allow you to fly despite the fact that your wings should be much too small to allow for any sort of flight whatsoever. It also appears that the nerve-like structures throughout your body are… tuned, for lack of a better word, differently than those of unicorns. If I am not mistaken they should make it so that you can stand on large bodies of water vapor such as clouds and even manipulate the weather to some extent… Well that certainly explains how you ponies supposedly control the weather…”

“Ugh… Enough of the egghead talk! Can you fix Scootaloo’s wings or not?” Rainbow Dash demanded impatiently.

“Indeed I can. As I said, I can either build her new artificial wings to replace her current ones once I have more materials or — while it may be somewhat difficult for me considering the fact that I’m a technomancer not a medical mage — I could potentially use what biomancy I know in order to fix them. It honestly depends on which she would prefer and what her parents say. So little one, assuming your parents agree to this, you ultimately have two choices. Would you like brand new wings made of metal, or would you like them to be the same as they are currently but just a bit larger. If you choose metal, I swear on my reputation as a technomancer you would not have to worry about the weight. I would be using very light but strong metals and alloys.” Gerhardt inquired, looking at Scootaloo.

“Well… Metal wings sound pretty cool… But then again I might get made fun of for something like that… I’ll have to think about it. Either way I can’t believe my wings are going to be fixed! Wooohooo! Thank you so much Mr. Mechanica!” Scootaloo cheered happily.

“Hey Scoots, what d’ ya say we go celebrate at Sugar Cube Corner?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“Really?! Sweet!” Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly.

“Yeah, you go get a head start, I’ll catch up with you in a minute. I’ve still got a few things to say to Gears here.” Rainbow Dash stated.

“You do? Well, alright! See ya later Mr. Mechanica!” Scootaloo said before taking off towards Sugar Cube Corner.

As soon as she was out of earshot Rainbow Dash looked at Gerhardt with a serious expression and said, “Alright since you were honest with me earlier I’ll be honest with you. I don’t like you and I definitely don’t trust you. It’s kinda hard for me to after seeing how casually you decided to mutilate those Changelings back in Canterlot. So I just wanted to let you know that if you hurt Scootaloo, I will be kicking your giant metal butt! Now that I’ve made that perfectly clear, thanks for not telling Scoots just how those Changelings lost those limbs. A filly like her doesn’t need to hear that kind of thing. Also, you’ve already saved her and her friends from timberwolves once so that was a pretty good start in getting me to trust you a bit more. So if you actually do end up fixing her wings for her, that’ll go a long way in convincing me to like you a bit more too. So you had better give her the best gosh darn wings that you possibly can!” Before Gerhardt could respond, she turned and began flying off in the direction that Scootaloo ran.

If he had eyebrows Gerhardt would probably be raising one of them at the moment. “What an egotist. She says that as though I'm supposed to give a damn about her opinion of me.” He muttered before shutting the door and heading back over to the golem he had been in the middle of building for Fluttershy. Fortunately he had not gotten around to building the telekinetic lift system just yet. Instead he could use what he had learned from his scan of Rainbow Dash and incorporate that into the golem in order to allow it to actually fly rather than just levitating and flapping its wings uselessly in a crude imitation of flight, as well as allow it to do everything else a pegasus could. It would also work as a sort of prototype for Scootaloo’s augmentations assuming she chose the mechanical wings, which Gerhardt honestly hoped she would. He was much more comfortable with technomancy then he was with biomancy. He could use biomancy but he would rather not if he didn’t have to unless he was using it to build another machine.

[Meanwhile in the Human Kingdom]

It had been about two months since Gerhardt had been banished by Silvanus and the war was very rapidly starting to escalate. All of the High Lords agreed to approve the use of antimatter weaponry and other W.M.D.s. Things had not improved any in these two months, in fact they had only deteriorated. 

The R&D branch was in the middle of some strange combination of an arms race to see who could build a weapon to kill Silvanus first and a miniature self contained civil war over who should succeed Gerhardt as high lord — since no one seemed to want to accept the job — or indeed if anyone should succeed him at all. Quite a few of the members of the R&D branch were actually outright demanding that the high lords temporarily lift a few of the laws surrounding golems and necromancy so they could use the most recent backup of Gerhardt’s memories — which he had apparently made in case the memory centers of his brain were ever damaged — in order to create a golem that was a perfect mind clone of him and they could use necromancy to ensure the conditions present during the formation of its soul would ensure the mind clone would become a mage like he was. Even worse, the destruction Silvanus was wreaking all across the Human Kingdom was quickly getting out of hand and other kingdoms were apparently preparing to get involved.

So to say that the four remaining high lords were currently under a lot of stress was a severe understatement. Currently all four of them were sitting around a circular table which had one empty seat.

The high lord of the army branch, Lucian Ward, was a very old, very skilled, and very powerful war mage and strategist with heavy augmentations that certainly extended his life but did not make him truly immortal since he legitimately wanted to die at some point if he wasn't killed in battle first, which he likely would be as the vast majority of high lords tended to be at some point or another. Like most members of the army branch he was clean shaven and had a buzz cut. One of his eyes had been replaced with an augmentation and the corundum crystal he chose to replace it with was a ruby, while his other eye was still organic and had a dark brown iris. Numerous scars covered what parts of his face were still organic. Both of his arms and everything below his chest had been replaced with augmentations. Like all mages in the army branch, he wore a drab olive green robe. The golden symbols on his shoulders depicted a shield surrounding a pentagram. He was also currently drinking from a large flask containing very strong alcohol.

The high lord of the medical branch, Isabel Sano, was a half elven medical mage. She was currently the oldest one at this table though due to the elven half of her blood she looked like she was in her late twenties to early thirties. She had little to no augmentations whatsoever and would easily live for centuries even without them assuming she wasn’t killed first. She had moderately long blond hair and blue eyes. She had one scar across her right cheek but that was it. She would have had more but she had used her skill as the leading expert in biomancy to heal them all. She had a rather muscular and athletic build for a half elf due to the training regimen and diet required by the human military for individuals with little to no augmentations. Like all mages in the medical branch she wore a dark red robe. The golden symbols on her shoulders depicted a stylized heart surrounding a pentagram. She was currently rubbing the sides of her head in an attempt to ease her now chronic migraine that just kept coming back from the intense stress and anxiety no matter how much biomancy she used to heal it.

The high lord of the navy branch, Morgan Waterman, was just a normal human but had more than earned her position as high lord of the navy branch. She was very heavily augmented and thus could likely live forever assuming she wasn’t killed first however one wouldn’t know this as, unlike Gerhardt, she had decided that she wanted to keep looking like a normal human being. She had short synthetic black hair and two purple sapphires for eyes. She had no scars due to the fact her skin was entirely synthetic. She wasn’t a mage but like all high lords her uniforms were hooded robes, though hers were navy blue. The golden symbols on her shoulders depicted a wave surrounding a pentagram. She was usually the most jovial of the high lords but right now even she had a deathly serious expression on her face.

The high lord of the aviation branch, Alexander Sky, was also just a normal human but just like all three of the others he had definitely earned his position as a high lord. He only had just enough augmentations in the right places to extend his natural lifespan by a century or so and none of them were visible, though it was still quite clear that he was very old. He had short white hair and sky blue eyes. He had a few scars but not many since the majority of his fights took place in the air and he was the best damn pilot in the entire Human Kingdom. His robes were white like the clouds. The golden symbols on his shoulders depicted a cloud surrounding a pentagram. He was currently deep in thought.

After a few moments of dead silence Morgan slapped her hands on the table and said, “Alright... If no one else is gonna say it I will. This situation is fucked up beyond all recognition. So what in the infernal realm are we gonna do to un-fuck it? We’re at war with a god for fuck sake! All of us have to realize that this is well on its way to escalating into another full blown War of Survival in a matter of weeks.”

Lucian set down his flask on the table in front of him and said, “Well… As far as I see it... That pretty much depends entirely on just how desperate we think we are to get another creepy as fuck metal ass in that there seat. Personally, I think we’re pretty damn desperate. What about all of you?”

Isabel jerked her head to the side in order to look straight at him. “Lucian, you can’t possibly be serious! Please tell me you aren’t actually considering what those imbeciles in the R&D branch are demanding of us!”

Lucian took another swig from his flask and said, “And what if I am? I mean, what gods damn choice do we have? Those complete jackasses in R&D aren’t any closer to finding a new high lord to replace that creepy son of a bitch then they were two months ago after he first got banished by that divine prick Silver Ass or whatever his name is, I don’t give a damn. Gods above they’re damn near ready to start killing each other to try and force one of ‘em to become the high lord because none of ‘em even want the damn job in the first place! It’s a gods damn mess, and if all it takes is bending a few laws to clear it up and ensure the continued survival of our species then I’m all for it.”

“No! Absolutely not! All of us know damn well that this isn’t what he would have wanted! He would have wanted his legacy to end with him and for a new high lord to pick up the torch!” Isabel stated very firmly.

Lucian chuckled and said, “Well, Isabel, I honestly don’t give a damn what he wants. I want what’s best for the kingdom and I’m damn sure he does too. Also, stop talking like the bastard’s dead when we know he’s not. He told us what Silver Ass was doing in his last message before he disappeared and besides if he were dead that would mean that Silver Ass would have broken the rules of the Greater Gods and well... if he had done that then he wouldn’t be devastating our kingdom at the moment now would he?”

“Doesn’t matter. Wherever he may or may not be right now, he’s as good as dead to us.” Alexander said in a dark tone. “That being said, I am neither for nor against this idea. I just want to get another ass in that seat to start cleaning up the mess that the R&D branch has become as soon as physically possible, whether it's a “creepy as fuck” metal one or not.”

Lucian whistled and muttered, “Damn, and here I thought I was supposed to be the pessimist of the group...” He then took another swig from his flask. “Well whatever… Apparently Alexander’s feeling like being both indecisive and a prick today which means you’re the tie breaker, Morgan. So just how desperate do you think we are right now?”

Morgan was silent for a moment as she thought to herself, weighing their options. Finally she sighed and said, “I say let’s give it one more week. If they still haven’t managed to pull their heads out of their collective asses and decided on a replacement by that point then we really won’t have any other choice. Sorry Isabel, I’m not exactly happy about this either... I just don’t get why the fuck they’re making this so damn hard! None of our branches have this sort of issue so why in the infernal realm does the R&D branch? Gears for brains wasn’t exactly the most likeable person ever and he wasn’t nearly important enough to warrant this shit! I mean seriously, the survival of our species is at risk!”

“Fuckin’ techies are just weird like that. Learned that a long time ago when I saw one of ‘em crying over a broken combat golem as if he had just lost a damn child.” Lucian stated. He tried to take another swig from his flask only to find it already empty. Setting down the empty flask he sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Gods damn it… Empty already and I’m still not nearly drunk enough for this bullshit…”

“Well maybe you should take that as a sign that you’ve already had more than enough. I realize that your liver is augmented, but alcohol still isn’t good for you especially in the quantities you’ve been ingesting it over the past two months. Regardless, I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. It's down right unethical! I don’t like to come off as uptight or preachy, I really don’t, but… Gods… Are things really so bad that we’re having to resort to this?” Isabel inquired to no one in particular.

“Yup...” Morgan muttered before resting her head on top of her arms on the table.

“Well!” Alexander clapped his hands before standing up. “I don’t know about any of you but I certainly feel like dropping an antimatter bomb directly on top of that divine piece of shit’s head, so I think I’m going to go get in my bomber and do just that. I’ll talk to you all again later.” He said before walking towards the door.

“Once you do that, make sure to do a second pass as a big ol’ “fuck you” from me!” Lucian called out before Alexander left the room.

“Alright, you got it buddy!” Alexander called back, giving Lucian a thumbs up as he left the room.

[Meanwhile in Equestria]

By late the next morning Gerhardt had finished the golem for Fluttershy. Now all that was left was to give it to her. He wondered just how he was going to go about doing that considering the fact that she was terrified of him. It wasn’t like he could just open a portal to her house, walk up to her door, knock, and hand it to her. She would just panic the moment she saw him and would slam the door in his face. Thinking about it for a few microseconds, he decided to ask Twilight if she would be willing to assist him.

Picking up the now completed golem he opened a portal to Golden Oak Library and walked up to the door. He raised his hand and was about to knock when the door suddenly opened up before he could. Twilight jumped slightly upon seeing him, clearly not having been expecting to see him behind the door, but immediately calmed down upon seeing who it was. “Oh… Uh… Hello Gerhardt.”

“Greetings, Miss Sparkle. It would appear that you were about to head somewhere. I can return later if now is a bad time.” Gerhardt stated, lowering his hand.

Twilight shook her head. “Oh no, it’s fine. I was just about to head out to go buy some groceries but that can wait. What can I help you with?”

Gerhardt held up the golem he had built so she could see it and said, “I built something for Miss Fluttershy that I hope will help her not be so afraid of me. Unfortunately due to her fear of me I have no way of giving it to her on my own. So I came by to ask if you would be willing to assist me in this matter.”

“Uh… Of course! I’ll be more than happy to help, but what is it exactly? A statue?” Twilight inquired examining the golem curiously.

“No, not at all. It’s a sentient golem. You informed me that she liked animals so I built an animal for her. Don’t worry, despite how it may look I guarantee that it’s completely safe. The only reason it’s not moving right now is because I haven’t brought it to life just yet.” He explained, looking down at the little golem in his hands.

“Alright, as long as you’re absolutely certain it’s safe.” Twilight said, giving the golem a wary look.

“I am.” Gerhardt confirmed, before casting a spell and creating a portal behind him leading to the end of the path leading to Fluttershy’s cottage. “So, shall we get this over with as soon as possible so you may carry on with your day or should I just come back later?”

“It’s fine, we can go right now. I’ll go grocery shopping on the way back.” Twilight stated.

“Very well.” Gerhardt said before turning and walking through the portal with Twilight following close behind. Once they were through, Gerhardt let Twilight take the lead and hung back slightly so as to not immediately spook Fluttershy with his presence. It was a good thing that he did as Fluttershy was outside of her Cottage tending to her animals. Upon seeing her, Gerhardt stopped where he was and let Twilight continue on ahead of him.

Once Twilight finally reached Fluttershy she began talking to her. Gerhardt increased the sensitivity of his audio processors in order to be able to hear what the two of them were saying.

“Hey Fluttershy! How’s it going?” Twilight greeted cheerfully.

“Oh… Hi Twilight.” Fluttershy quietly greeted back with a warm smile. “Everything is going well for me. What about you?”

“Same. So… You know how you’re so afraid of Gerhardt?” Twilight inquired.

Fluttershy’s smile immediately fell and she visibly began trembling in fear. “Y-yes… I still have nightmares about him and what he did to those Changelings… I actually feel a bit bad about it since I know it’s just making more work for Princess Luna, but I just can’t help it… He’s so scary…”

Upon hearing that Gerhardt frowned slightly. He knew that Princess Celestia had nightmares about the recordings he showed her after the peace negotiations and was probably still having nightmares about it, but he hadn’t known that his actions had affected any of the ponies to such a degree. He wasn’t really surprised but he did feel somewhat bad about it. Not that feeling bad about it would have changed his actions that day any. He had accidentally traumatized countless civilians in the past and he always felt bad about it, but that didn’t change the fact that he did everything for a reason. Thus none of his actions throughout history would have changed the slightest bit no matter how bad he felt about the effects they had on others.

Twilight sighed and said, “I see… Well, please try not to freak out, but he built a gift for you that he hopes will help ease your fear of him at least a little bit. He actually came over to the library to ask me to help him give it to you since he knows you would probably just panic if he tried to give it to you on his own.”

“H-he has…?” Fluttershy stuttered in horror. Looking past Twilight she saw Gerhardt standing on the path a fair distance away from them. “Eep!” She squeaked before immediately getting behind Twilight and cowering in fear.

Seeing this Gerhardt sighed and returned his audio processors to their default settings before starting to walk over to them. He stopped once he was at the very edge of the radius in which the two of them would be able to hear him speaking to them without him having to increase the volume of his voice or shout. “Miss Fluttershy,” She squeaked in terror and began cowering even further behind Twilight as he addressed her directly. “I realize that you are afraid of me and I completely understand why. From my large size and my intentionally eerie appearance and movements to what you witnessed me do to those Changelings back in Canterlot, I honestly do not blame you. However, I have made you something that I sincerely hope should help ease your concerns about me at least somewhat.”

He held up the golem that he had made for her so she could see it. It was a little ornate metal dragon. It was a little less than a foot and a half long from the tip of its tail to its snout. It looked almost exactly like a real dragon from his world except its scales were made of polished magically reinforced gold. The limbs and “fingers” of its wings were also made of magically reinforced gold while the “membrane” in between the “fingers” were made of plates of magically reinforced silver with ornate engravings on both the top and bottom surfaces. It’s tail was the same as the rest of its body but was strong enough to slit the throat of a fully grown Troll with but a single whip and was slightly prehensile.

It had two separate sets of claws on all four of its feet. Its main set of claws were made of normal low carbon steel and were designed strictly for climbing and walking without damaging anything, thus they were very dull and round. However it could retract those claws and extend its secondary claws. These ones were made of high quality high carbon steel that had been magically reinforced making it even stronger and were designed to cut straight through flesh and bone with ease. Thus they were about as thick as the blade of a knife and were shaped like little scythe heads with monomolecular edges.

Its head was roughly an inch wide and like the rest of its body was covered in tiny magically reinforced gold scales. It had two relatively large curved backwards facing horns and a second smaller set of curved backwards facing horns in between the larger two, all of which were made of normal high quality mild steel. It had two of the clearest and most perfect crimson red rubies that Gerhardt could find, which were currently covered by a set of magically reinforced gold eyelids. It had two tiny artificial nostrils with tiny internal sensors and a small internal vacuum system that gave it the ability to smell. Its snout had sliding golden plates that allowed it to snarl and reveal its teeth. It had three rows of needle sharp serrated teeth made of high quality industrial grade steel that could shred through flesh with ease. It also had a little silver tongue that had hundreds of dust-like grains of enchanted quartz embedded in it which would allow it to taste.

In order to simulate the dragons’ ability to breath fire, it also had a fairly simple and outdated but very powerful magic pistol mechanism in its throat. Whenever it used this mechanism — if it ever used this mechanism — it would lock its throat into a perfectly straight position, it would then open its mouth wide enough that its lower jaw would be out of the way, then it would fire a very powerful beam of pure arcane energy that could melt through a foot of high quality non-enchanted steel just as fast as an old fashioned armor piercing bullet. The only drawback being that it could only fire this beam five times in rapid succession before it needed to let the mechanism recharge for anywhere between five minutes for a full charge or one minute per each individual shot.

Gerhardt cast a quick spell to activate it and bring it to life for the very first time. He made sure to keep a very good but still gentle hold of it in case anything went wrong and it went berserk since this was the first time it was being activated and he had no idea how it would react. Suddenly it’s golden eyelids flicked open, its eyes flared to life, and it immediately began squeaking in protest and trying its best to squirm out of his grasp. Then it turned its head and managed to get a look at his face.

Gerhardt had programmed it with artificial instincts one of these instincts was to recognize him as its creator and realize the fact that it was always safe in Gerhardt’s presence. As such, upon seeing Gerhardt’s face it immediately calmed down and instead of struggling it began nuzzling Gerhardt’s arm affectionately making noises of happiness and contentment. This legitimately surprised Gerhardt as he had only programmed it to feel safe in his presence and to run away and use its built in tracking system in order to return to him should it ever be abused, which he sincerely doubted it would be but it was always better to be safe than sorry. However he most certainly had not programmed it to be affectionate towards him in any capacity. Regardless, seeing as it had not gone berserk he released it from his grip, though he was ready to grab it with a telekinetic spell at a moment’s notice should it do anything even vaguely threatening.

Upon being released it immediately grabbed onto the sleeve of Gerhardt’s robe and began climbing up his arm and onto his shoulders whereupon it draped itself around the back of his neck and began nuzzling his face. For the first time in centuries ever since the day he had been informed that Caedes had been killed by someone in the army branch, a small smile formed on Gerhardt’s artificial lips. He raised a hand and started to stroke the little golem’s neck. “You know… This is probably the first project that I have legitimately enjoyed working on in eight hundred years, and it seems that this little one is quite affectionate… It was a very nice change of pace.”

“Gerhardt, are you actually smiling?!” Twilight asked, shocked by this fact.

“I suppose I am, Miss Sparkle.” Gerhardt responded, somewhat surprised by this fact himself.

Hearing Twilight’s voice the little dragon golem finally stopped nuzzling Gerhardt’s face and looked to see where the voice had come from. Only now did it even seem to realize that the two ponies were even present. It examined Twilight curiously before it spotted Fluttershy cowering behind her.

This was another instinct that Gerhardt had programmed into the little golem. It was supposed to recognize Fluttershy as something akin to a maternal figure, and was programmed to defend her if anything were ever to threaten her. So upon seeing her, it squeaked happily before launching itself off of Gerhardt’s shoulder, spreading its wings, and flying over to her before landing in front of her and nuzzling her foreleg. She seemed somewhat taken aback by this but she wasn’t actually afraid of it like she was of Gerhardt, in fact she lowered her head to it and muttered, “Oh, uh… Hello there. My aren’t you just the friendliest little creature?” She smiled at it.

“Indeed. I’m glad you like it. Miss Twilight informed me that you liked animals thus I decided to build you the single rarest animal in my entire world. Well… the rarest save for animals that have actually gone extinct, but I digress. This is a miniature and significantly more docile version of my world’s version of dragons. Though admittedly I may have taken some artistic license with the engravings on the wings and the shape and number of horns. Keep in mind, while it may be artificial it is still very much alive. It has emotions and can feel just like a normal animal. I can even guarantee that it has a soul, though I know full well that Miss Sparkle doesn’t believe in such things. It should even be somewhat more intelligent than a normal animal. So please treat it with the same respect that you would any other animal. That being said, while it can taste things it does not require food or water, though — while not necessary for its survival — I have granted it the ability to sleep like a normal animal so it doesn’t have to be constantly awake at night while you are asleep.” Gerhardt explained, still smiling at the little golem.

Letting his face return to its normal expressionless state he continued, “Furthermore if you are ever in any danger while it is around, it will try to protect you with its life. I know your kind’s views on violence so you may order it to attempt to be non-lethal if you wish and I guarantee that it will attempt to obey you to the very best of its abilities but keep in mind it does have free will and survival instincts so it will do whatever it thinks is necessary if it is ever pushed too far by something it deems too large of a threat. Lastly it’s obviously genderless seeing as it’s a golem with no actual reproductive capabilities and it has no name, so you may call it whatever you wish. Just tell it what its name is and it will respond to whatever you decide to call it. Oh and just so you are aware this is the first truly sentient golem I have ever built so if any unexpected issues arise please inform me as soon as possible and I shall do my best to fix whatever it may be.”

“I see… Well then, I think I’ll call you Goldy for your beautiful golden scales. Do you like that name?” Fluttershy asked the little dragon golem.

Goldy squeaked happily in response.

“Well. I suppose I shall leave the two of you to get acquainted. Good day to all three of you.” Gerhardt stated before turning, opening a portal to his lab, and walking towards it.

However, before he could reach the portal Fluttershy took a deep breath before approaching him and saying, “Um… Mr. Gerhardt… uh… I-I’m sorry I’m so scared of you… but um… I just wanted to say… Thank you for building Goldy for me… er… I… I really appreciate it… I’ll be sure to take really good care of them!” She then ran and hid behind Twilight again, clearly still very afraid of him. Goldy followed after her the entire time.

“It is quite alright Miss Fluttershy. As I said, I completely understand and I do not blame you one bit. It was very courageous of you to approach me like that, considering your fear of me. After all, courage is not the lack of fear rather it is doing something despite the fact that you are afraid. Your welcome, it truly was my pleasure, and please do.” Gerhardt said before finally stepping through the portal and closing it behind him.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days had passed since Gerhardt had given Fluttershy the sentient golem known as Goldy. As per their deal, Gerhardt had informed Twilight that he was no longer busy at the moment. As such, there were two reasons why he was in Golden Oak Library at the moment. The first reason was that Twilight had scheduled another “friendship lesson” for today and told him to come to the library at this time. The second reason was that he would like to find any literature Twilight had available about these so-called “elements of harmony” as he wished to learn a bit more about them so he could know just how to incorporate them into the golem he would be building to be his “friend” (assistant).

However, he was already regretting coming over today. Not only were all of her friends here today but she appeared to be in the middle of tearing apart her library in a panicked search for various items. He had no idea why. On the bright side Fluttershy was no longer cowering in abject terror whenever she saw him, though she was still staying as far away from him as possible as she was still very clearly afraid of him.

“Where is my fountain pen?!” Twilight asked in a panicked tone. Rushing over to a bookshelf she appeared to find it and immediately launched it backwards like an arrow. Spike had to jump and catch it with a large bag and even then the tip of the pen pierced through the bottom of the bag. Levitating books off the shelves one after the other she said, “No, no, no, no! Ugh! I need the magical compendiums volume one through thirty six, where is it?!”

Gerhardt was starting to debate whether he should just return to his lab or not.

Finally Twilight seemed to find what she was looking for. It was an absolutely massive tome which she pulled off the shelf and immediately dropped on top of Spike.

Seeing the little Equestrian dragon trapped underneath the heavy book, Gerhardt cast a quick telekinetic spell and lifted it off of him before setting it back down directly next to him. Spike gave him a grateful look while Twilight didn’t even seem to notice.

“Flash cards! I should make some flash cards!” She exclaimed in sudden realization. Finding the flash cards in a drawer, she quickly levitated them over to Spike and said, “Spike, I’m going to need you to quiz me on everything! Everything I’ve ever learned! Ever!” Looking at the stack of cards that Spike was holding she said, “That isn’t gonna be enough cards.”

“Twilight, calm down. It’s just a test.” Spike stated.

Twilight immediately stopped what she was doing, looked at Spike and asked, “Just a test?” Bolting over to him she shouted in his face, “Just a test!” Walking closer to Spike and forcing him to back up against a bookshelf she continued, “Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam and you’re telling me to calm down because it’s just a test?!”

Reaching off to the side Spike somehow grabbed a set of pillows and an ancient army helmet that Gerhardt hadn’t seen a moment ago before putting them on as a sort of protective gear before raising a claw and saying, “Yes?”

Seeing Twilight’s horn start to glow, Gerhardt immediately conjured up a bubble shaped shield around Spike and proceeded to create a large barrier to protect himself and the others.

“I’d say she’s handlin’ things pretty well, considerin’.” Applejack said to Rarity.

Gerhardt was very glad that he put those shields up as there was a large magical explosion that felt as though it had launched the entire library high into the air, as Twilight groaned in rage.

A little while later Gerhardt was standing around with Twilight’s friends at a train station in Canterlot, wondering just how in the infernal realm he had gotten roped into this. Twilight’s friends getting roped into it he understood, sort of anyways, but why him of all people? He wasn’t one of Twilight’s friends, at least he didn’t consider himself one, so why should he give a damn whether she passed some test given to her by Celestia or not? He didn’t understand, but either way they, or Twilight to be specific, had ended up dragging him to Canterlot along with them for some reason he couldn’t possibly even begin to fathom.

As they waited for Twilight to return Gerhardt mainly stood away from the rest of the group and didn’t attempt to engage in any sort of conversation unless one of them spoke to him first, which most of them didn’t except for Pinkie Pie who seemed incapable of shutting up. After about thirty minutes Twilight and Spike finally returned though Twilight was looking somewhat dejected leading Gerhardt to believe she failed whatever test Celestia had given her, which he found quite shocking considering how well she did in their lessons on technomancy.

“Uh… Prepared for what exactly?” Spike inquired as they stepped onto the platform.

Before Twilight could respond Applejack exclaimed, “Twilight!” Before all but pouncing on her and wrapping her neck in what appeared to be a bone crushingly tight one armed… legged embrace for a moment before immediately releasing her and asking, “Did ya pass?”

“Are we gonna celebrate your awesomeness with Princess Celestia?!” Pinkie Pie inquired, rolling out what appeared to be a very primitive cannon that Gerhardt knew for a fact had not been there a moment ago. Pinkie Pie jumped into the air right as the cannon shot out a bunch of colorful bits of shredded paper.

“Not quite.” Twilight responded.

Pinkie Pie froze mid air for a moment before she fell back to the ground and all the bits of shredded paper seemed to get sucked back into the cannon by some unseen mechanism. Gerhardt wracked his brain trying to figure out how in the infernal realm she had managed to do any of what he just saw her do. By all accounts some of it should not have been physically possible.

“We’re going to the Crystal Empire!” Twilight declared.

“““““Huh?””””” The other five began muttering in confusion.

“Riiiiight. Well… You seven go have fun with that. I’ll just be going now.” Gerhardt said before opening a portal back to his lab and starting to walk towards it. Suddenly a purple aura enveloped him and lifted him off the ground.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re coming with us!” Twilight stated in a tone that brokered no argument.

Gerhardt sighed in reluctant acceptance. It wasn’t exactly like he had much better to do other than dig until his next shipment of materials arrived, but he still just didn’t understand why he of all people was being dragged into this. “Gods… Why am I coming with you? What reason could you possibly have for dragging me into this?”

“Well, your friendship lesson for one thing. We scheduled it for today and I think this might potentially be a good opportunity for you to learn about friendship. Both Celestia and I agreed on that point, though admittedly she did seem somewhat reluctant to let you come for some reason.” Twilight explained.

“If she was reluctant to allow me to join you then I would assume it's probably for one of two things. One, she’s afraid I might hurt someone — which is completely ridiculous unless they attack me first and I believe they pose a significant enough threat to me —, or two, she’s worried I might ruin your test somehow, whatever it may be. Regardless, if you insist I shall not resist as I have little to nothing better to do at the moment. ” Gerhardt said, before casting a spell to counter Twilight’s telekinetic hold on him. Once he was back on the ground he turned and began walking towards the train.

The ride took quite awhile but eventually the train slowed to a stop and the doors opened, revealing a snowy wasteland. As the ponies began to exit the train car Rarity smugly said, “Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves.”

Spike, who was carrying Rarity’s veritable mountain of luggage as he was exiting behind Rarity said, “I didn’t say a word.” He then slipped on some ice and dropped all of Rarity’s luggage. One of Rarity’s overstuffed suitcases popped open as soon as it hit the ground and a few of her scarves started to be blown away by the wind. However, before they could go very far, Gerhardt grabbed them with telekinesis and shoved them back in the suitcase before slamming it back shut. He then proceeded to climb out of the train and started moving to catch up with the others.

“Twilight!” A voice that sounded a lot like Prince Shining Armor’s shouted from a little ways in the distance.

“Shining Armor?” Twilight inquired trying to see past all of the snow that was falling.

Indeed, a few moments later Gerhardt could see who he immediately recognized as Shining Armor, wearing strange head wrappings with odd goggles, approaching them. “Twili, you made it!” Shining armor exclaimed as he removed his strange head wrappings and goggles. Both he and Twilight ran towards each other before embracing for a moment. As they released each other, Shining Armor said, "We’d better get moving. There are things out here that we really don’t want to run into after dark.”

Hearing that, Gerhardt reached into the top of his robe and pulled out his teleportation pistol before switching it off safety.

“What kind of things?” Fluttershy inquired in fear.

“Let’s just say, the empire isn’t the only thing that’s returned.” Shining armor stated ominously.

“Should I be expecting a fight, Prince?” Gerhardt inquired, holding the pistol pointed upwards and at the ready.

“Hopefully not, Mr. Mechanica. However, I think it would be best to remain on guard. I’m actually sort of glad you’re here, to be perfectly honest. While I don’t necessarily agree with how quickly you resort to using lethal force, if it does come down to a fight it’s good to know that somepony else is here who can actually hold his own, other than me.” Shining armor told him.

“I see…” Gerhardt muttered, suddenly a whole lot more interested in whatever was going on here. And not in a good way.

They spent a while walking through the wind and the snow before Shining Armor finally shouted over the wind, “Something keeps trying to get in! We think it’s the unicorn king who originally cursed the place!”

“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire! If King Sombra can’t get in then it must already be protected!” Twilight shouted back.

Suddenly a strange noise began resounding through the area and Gerhardt immediately began aiming his pistol in every direction trying to find where the noise was coming from.

Fluttershy gasped in fear and shouted, “Th-That’s one of the things, isn’t it?!”

“We have to get to the Crystal Empire, now!” Shining Armor shouted.

Suddenly a large black smoke-like mass with green and red eyes emitting another glowing purple colored smoke-like substance formed up out of the ground behind them. The others immediately began to run from the creature, Gerhardt did not.

Knowing his teleportation pistol would be completely useless against such a creature, Gerhardt put it away and instead raised a hand. An other worldly green aura surrounded his raised hand as he laced a particularly powerful combat spell with a bit of necromancy. Just as the massive shadow creature began to move, a large green sphere the size of Gerhardt’s head launched from his hand and slammed into it, causing it to screech in agony as strands of ethereal green energy shot out from the ball and began piercing straight through it and ripping it to pieces, tearing apart its very soul in the process.

He had no idea what in the infernal realm this thing was but it reminded him far too much of the horrifically warped and twisted shades created by that bastard Caedes near the end of the First Necromantic War for his liking. It very clearly was not one, if it was then Gerhardt’s copper body would already be corroding and would be starting to crumble just due to his mere proximity to it and it also looked a bit different than a shade. However it still resembled them closely enough for Gerhardt to make the comparison thus he instantly hated it with every fiber of his being and wanted it dead.

Without saying a word, Gerhardt raised both of his hands and they were both enveloped in the same ethereal green aura as he cast a war spell. Suddenly dozens upon dozens more of these ethereal green spheres of arcane energy began falling from fairly high up in the sky like a shower of small glowing green meteorites. Whereas combat spells were meant for killing either individual or small groups of targets, war spells were intended for obliterating large formations of enemies all at once. And the full fury of this particular war spell was directed entirely at this one creature. If it was anything like the absolutely monstrous shades that Caedes had created in the First Necromantic War, Gerhardt knew it would survive this. It would be hurt, but it would survive. Thus he began to prepare a follow up spell to finish it off if this wasn’t enough.

However, while it was still screeching in pain from the first orb which was still tearing into it but was visibly starting to lose power, it seemed to notice the new ones that were about to rain down on top of its head. Thus it vanished into the ice before reappearing a fair distance behind Gerhardt a moment later, at which point it seemed to begin chasing the ponies that were fleeing towards the Crystal Empire apparently seeing them as a much easier target than Gerhardt. As such the orbs from Gerhardt’s war spell slammed into the ground one after the other and immediately vanished as there were no souls in the ground for them to rip apart. Well that was certainly a full 25% of his energy reserves that went completely to waste.

Not wanting to let the shadowy abomination escape, Gerhardt immediately began sprinting after it as fast as his body could possibly go. His max speed being a full 115 mph thanks to his augmentations. His only issue at the moment was trying not to slip on all of the ice and snow due to the high speeds he was traveling at though he somehow managed to keep his balance, if only barely.

He reached the creature just in time to see Shining Armor slide to a stop and turn to confront the creature. Not really caring about the prince, Gerhardt enveloped his entire body in destructive necromantic magic and leaped at the creature and grabbed on as he slammed into it at 115 mph. This was done both in an attempt to redirect his momentum so he wouldn’t just slide past the damn thing as well as to further injure the creature. The shadowy monster roared in agony and began thrashing about violently in an attempt to shake him off. All the while Gerhardt pummeled it with strikes strong enough to split a man in half, the necromantic energy enveloping his body ensuring that each and every one of the punches connected with the creature’s shadowy form and its very soul.

Gerhardt was confident that he was going to kill it this way until it thrashed in a way that he didn’t expect and it sent him flipping end over end all the way to the snow covered ground. Before he could even try to get up it fired a beam at him. He tried to roll out of the way but the beam just ended up hitting him in the arm instead of the chest. Immediately large black crystals grew on his arm, piercing straight through his robes, and blocked any magic from entering it. This effectively killed that entire arm since it required magic in order to operate at all. Gerhardt raised his other arm in an attempt to cast another war spell but the creature just fired another beam at that arm too, rendering both of his arms completely inoperable.

Shining Armor attempted to shoot the creature with a primitive combat spell, however it did absolutely nothing to the amorphous shadowy creature which immediately responded in kind by firing a beam of its own at Shining Armor’s horn. Small black crystals began to grow on that too, rendering Shining Armor completely defenseless since he could no longer cast any magic.

Fortunately, Gerhardt had no such issue since his magic was in no way related to biology like a unicorn. He just preferred to channel it through his hands as that was simply what he was used to plus it was quite versatile considering his hands were at the ends of his arms and thus could be motioned or maneuvered in all sorts of ways. As such, since Gerhardt really didn’t feel like risking dying if one of those beams managed to hit him in the head a copper aura enveloped Gerhardt’s entire body — except for his arms — as he grabbed both himself and Shining Armor with telekinesis before levitating them both into the barrier at high speeds in an attempt to escape. The shadowy creature tried to shoot him down with another one of its beams but only managed to hit him in his left leg, rendering it inoperable..

Once they were both through the barrier Gerhardt slowed their momentum to a stop and dropped them both to the ground. Twilight looked over at them as soon as they were through the barrier and immediately rushed over to Shining Armor, saying, “Oh no! Shining Armor, your horn!”

Shining Armor tried to channel magic through his horn but the crystals just ended up blocking it. So he stopped and shook his head before he and Twilight both looked over at Gerhardt who was standing on one leg examining his now useless limbs a short distance away from them.

Gerhardt tried to grab his own hands with telekinesis in an attempt to see if he could at the very least manipulate them that way, but the crystals that were growing on his arms and hands blocked his spell. “Damn.” He cursed as he released the spell. It seemed that he was just going to have to use telekinesis for everything from picking stuff up to simple locomotion for a while. On the brightside, he had plenty of samples of these black crystals to bring back to his lab for study.

“Gerhardt! Are you okay?!” Twilight inquired as she and Shining Armor came running over to him.

Gerhardt sighed in frustration and said, “No, Miss Sparkle, I’m not. These crystals block magic and magic is what my entire body runs on. So I am currently completely incapable of using either of my arms or my left leg. Even worse, I am currently completely out of materials with which to build new ones to replace these back at my lab. So I am currently completely screwed until my next shipment of materials arrives and even then I’ll only have enough to spare to build a crude replacement for one of my arms. So it seems like I’ll have to use telekinesis for everything for quite a while. Fortunately these crystals only seem to block magic rather than absorbing it so my life isn’t in any danger. What about you, Prince? I saw you get hit. Are you injured at all?”

Shining Armor shook his head. “No. At least not nearly to the extent that you are. He hit my horn so I can’t use magic but that’s about it. I actually wanted to thank you for pulling me out of there when you did and say that you did far better out there then I did. You actually managed to hurt him whereas my spells couldn’t even so much as touch him. Speaking of which I’ve never seen magic like the kind you used out there before. What was that?”

“It is a very dark form of magic from my world that you are never to attempt to replicate and that’s all you need to know about it. That type of magic caused one of the largest disasters my world has ever seen because it fell into the wrong hands. Countless died, entire species of everything ranging from plants to sapient beings went completely extinct, and vast swaths of land were forever rendered completely uninhabitable. So much so in fact that if one were to set foot in those lands they would die in a matter of seconds and their desiccated flash-rotted corpse would be reanimated immediately afterwards from the extremely dense dark magic permeating the atmosphere and even the very soil. Do I make myself perfectly clear, both of you?” Gerhardt explained in a deadly serious tone, his eyes glowing a bit brighter than usual. While he was talking, he cast a mental illusion spell to make himself seem much more intimidating to them then he would otherwise.

Both of them gulped in fear and said, “Yes sir…”

“Good…” Gerhardt said in a bit calmer of a tone. He allowed his eyes to return to their default brightness and released the illusion spell. “Now that that’s settled, shall we go catch up with the others?” Grabbing himself with telekinesis, he began floating off in the direction the others had gone. It turned out they were all looking at a massive city that appeared to be made entirely out of crystals, way off in the distance. Not wanting to levitate himself over that entire distance, Gerhardt simply calculated a good spot close to the city to open a portal for them to walk through.

“It’s gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!” Rarity exclaimed as they walked through the city, or floated in Gerhardt’s case. She made excited noises as they continued to walk. “There are no words!” She gasped as she took in the sights.

“Focus Rarity. We’re here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery.” Applejack told her.

“Eh… I don’t see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me.” Rainbow Dash commented.

Rarity spluttered incredulously for a moment before saying, “Another old… Have you lost your mind?! Look at the magni—”

She was cut off as Rainbow Dash and Applejack began to chuckle to each other before clapping their forehooves together.

“Very funny.” Rarity muttered realizing it was just a joke.

Gerhardt examined the building and couldn’t help but think of what a waste it was. The entire thing was made out of a massive crystal that could be put to far better use if it were broken down and used to make who knows how many machines, which would be far more useful then having the crystal be used as a gods damned castle of all things. This entire city was just an absolutely disgraceful waste of useful materials in his personal opinion.

Though admittedly seeing all of this crystal made him wonder if he would be able to find another blue sapphire somewhere in this place that was large and clear enough to use as an eye so he could get rid of this damnable green sapphire. He didn’t care if it wasn’t as clear as his perfect lab grown sapphires as long as it was the same damn color so his vision wouldn’t have two slightly different tints! It was absolutely infuriating!

A few minutes later they were walking into the throne room of the ridiculously wasteful castle and saw Princess Cadance sitting on a throne made of even more crystal. She was now about as large as Princess Luna had been when Gerhardt first met her and her mane and tail had fully gained the same ethereal quality that both Celestia’s and Luna’s had. Gerhardt’s sensors also informed him that she was now far stronger than any full mortal could ever be, though she still had quite a ways to go before she was at peak magical fitness. Currently she also looked absolutely exhausted for some reason or another, and she appeared to be casting some sort of spell judging by the aura around her horn.

“Cadance!” Twilight exclaimed happily while walking into the throne room.

Upon seeing Twilight, Princess Cadance perked right up. With a large smile on her face she got up off of her throne, walked over to Twilight, and met her in the middle of the room. As soon as they were close enough to each other they began doing the most ridiculous and idiotic greeting that Gerhardt had ever had the displeasure of seeing in all his centuries of existence. He knew that may have been a bit of a harsh judgement but right now he honestly didn’t care. Given the fact that he couldn’t use his arms or his left leg and had no way to repair or replace them, he had no choice but to levitate himself around everywhere unless he wanted to hop on one leg, his left eye had a slightly different tint then his right eye, and the fact that he hadn’t actually managed to kill that gods forsaken shadow monster outside the barrier he was in a really foul mood at the moment.

““Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”” Cadance and Twilight both recited as they did some sort of idiotic dance. Once they were finished with their asinine greeting, the aura around Cadance’s horn flickered and she was visibly forced to concentrate in order to maintain whatever spell she was casting.

“One of these days we need to get together when the fate of equestria isn’t hanging in the balance.” Cadance sighed.

“Are you okay? Why do you suddenly look so much like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” Twilight inquired in a worried tone.

“Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra. As for why she looks like this… Well… We can discuss that a bit later. Though I will say that Mr. Mechanica is probably the one to thank in this particular case.” Shining Armor explained.

Suddenly a lot of the ponies were giving Gerhardt strange looks. He just rolled his eyes in irritation and ignored it. His sensors indeed indicated that Shining Armor was growing stronger as well, though his progress was much slower given the fact that he wasn’t a demigod. Gerhardt estimated that at his current rate of development Shining Armor would grow to be about as powerful if not slightly more powerful than he was in about a year’s time. Also, he could understand why Cadance was in the state that she was in at the moment. While she had grown significantly more powerful, she was still only a demigod which meant she was still part mortal. As such she still very much required sleep if nothing else. Food would definitely help a lot too but it shouldn’t be strictly necessary for her survival like it was for regular mortals.

“It’s alright Shining Armor, I’m fine.” Cadance said.

“She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen.” Shining Armor said in a grim tone.

“That’s why we're here.” Twilight stated.

“Why we're all here.” Applejack declared confidently, to which the others hummed their agreement.

“If we could find some way to get rid of these damnable crystals on my limbs, I could simply go back out there and kill it. It caught me off guard with this ability the first time, it will not do so again.” Gerhardt growled, still wanting to destroy this “King Sombra” creature.

The ponies from Ponyville shot him various looks, all of which he ignored, while Shining Armor just sighed and said, “I will admit that’s actually not a bad option considering what’s at risk if he regains control of the Crystal Empire, but considering what you told me and Twilight about the magic you were using against him and just how dangerous it is I would like to save that as a very last resort if at all possible. Though I would like to find a way to get rid of these crystals too, for both of our sakes.”

Gerhardt blinked in surprise and the ponies from Ponyville looked at Shining Armor in shock. “I will admit, considering how pacifistic you ponies tend to be, I was not expecting you to be so open to the idea. Though I will say, I completely understand your fears about the magic I would be using to stop it, better than you could ever know. As such I will respect your wishes and will not engage it in combat again unless there appears to be no other choice.” Gerhardt said with a hint of respect in his voice.

Shining Armor nodded at him appreciatively. “Thank you, Mr. Mechanica. Anyways, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies.”

“Crystal Ponies?! Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?!” Rarity asked in excitement. Then she appeared to realize that she was making a bit of a fool of herself and said, “Um, ahem. Please continue.”

“But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic.” Shining Armor finished explaining.

“A research paper!” Twilight Sparkle said in sudden realization.

“Huh?” Shining Armor asked in confusion.

“That must be part of my test, to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!” Twilight exclaimed happily.

“Yeah, who doesn't?” Rainbow Dash inquired, her voice thick with sarcasm.

“Oh-oh-oh! Lemme guess! Is it Spike? Nono, Fluttershy! Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked, pulling each individual she guessed over to her.

“Don't worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing.” Twilight said confidently.

Gerhardt thought this was completely and utterly asinine in the extreme. Why on earth would Celestia send Twilight out here along with her friends and him if all she needed Twilight to do was write a research paper as some sort of test? Twilight could easily do that on her own, not to mention how completely idiotic the entire concept was. A city is under siege by this “King Sombra” creature and Celestia’s oh so wonderful plan to save it was to send a civilian to write a gods damned research paper?

Why not come all the way up here herself and obliterate King Sombra in an instant or imprison him and be done with it? He knew damn well she could do so at any time she wanted considering the fact that she was a demigod and King Sombra’s power was only above average for a mortal mage. But no, instead she was willing to risk an entire city on some test for some civilian that consists of said civilian writing a gods forsaken research paper?! It didn’t make any damn sense to him whatsoever and it struck him as a stroke of sheer idiocy on the part of the princess. It was no wonder they nearly lost to the Changelings if this is how they went about dealing with threats.

All of the ponies except for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance began to leave the room before Twilight noticed that he wasn’t moving. “Come on Gerhardt, we could really use your help on this.” She said, motioning for him to follow her and her friends.

Gerhardt looked at her and said, “Actually, no, Miss Sparkle, you really couldn’t. If you’re planning to go around questioning the civilians that reside in this city as I suspect you are, then my presence would be more of a hindrance given my size and intentionally unsettling appearance and movements. I would be more likely to scare anyone you spoke with rather than actually contributing in any meaningful way. Not to mention the fact that I still cannot move my arms or my leg. Besides which this is your test. I have nothing to do with it. My time would be better spent here trying to find a way to get rid of these gods forsaken crystals and discussing with the Prince how best to prepare the defenses of this city in the event that the barrier were to fall and King Sombra were to get through. I was one of the leaders of my kingdom’s military for a little over eight hundred years after all, so I have plenty of experience in defending cities.”

“Oh… Uh… I guess I see your point… Well… Um… I guess we’ll see you later once we learn anything of any significance.” Twilight said, looking a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t be accompanying them. She then turned and began running out of the throne room in an attempt to catch up with the rest of her friends.

When she was gone Gerhardt sighed and looked at Cadance and Shining Armor. “I have no idea what Celestia is thinking, but if this has to be the single dumbest plan I have ever heard. Sending a civilian to write a research paper as some sort of test when an entire city is at stake? Gods above… Regardless, how many soldiers do you have stationed here at the moment, how many of them have started using the training methods and magical exercises that I have detailed for you, and do you have a map of this city?”

“You’re giving Twilight and her friends too little credit, they have saved Equestria on multiple occasions. Besides, they aren’t just normal civilians. They’re the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, which are by far some of the most powerful artifacts in all of Equestria. Anyways, to answer your questions there are absolutely zero soldiers stationed here. Well unless you count me in which case it would be exactly one soldier. As for a map, there might be one somewhere in the castle but if there is I have no idea where it is.” Shining Armor explained.

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed significantly upon hearing this information. “Of course you don’t…” He sighed in exasperation. “Fuck… Alright… Miss Sparkle was telling me about these “Elements of Harmony” but I thought they were supposed to be philosophical concepts not actual tangible artifacts that she and her friends wield. I didn’t see any of them carrying anything of note, unless you count Miss Rarity’s scarves, so I don’t think they brought these artifacts with them. I strongly suspect I already know the answer but I still have to ask, is there any chance that these elements are located somewhere here?”

Both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance shook their heads. That was the exact answer he was expecting but really didn’t want to hear.

“Right… Please excuse me for a moment. I have a demigod to go yell at. If I do not return soon, then you can assume that I have probably angered her and am likely either dead or have been sent to prison.” Gerhardt said in a dangerously calm voice before opening a portal to Canterlot and levitating himself through it. Once he was through the portal, he closed it behind him and immediately cast a sound dampening spell on the door to the throne room so no guards would come rushing in to apprehend him as soon as they heard him start shouting at the Princess.

“CELESTIA!” Gerhardt roared, his voice extremely distorted with a very clear background hiss of static, though not to the point it couldn’t be easily understood.

Celestia who had been reading a scroll and had not noticed him until now jumped, very startled by this. Quickly looking to see who it was she started to calm down upon seeing it was just Gerhardt. “It’s just you, Mr. Mechanica… You startled me. How are things in the Crystal Empire, has something gone wrong?” Then she noticed the crystals sticking out of his arms and legs. “Oh…”

“Something wrong?! You’re asking me if something is WRONG?! YES THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG! WHAT IN THE NAMES OF ALL THE GODS WERE YOU THINKING?! THIS SO-CALLED “CRYSTAL EMPIRE” IS UNDER SIEGE BY A POWERFUL ROGUE MAGE AND THE ONLY ONES YOU SENT TO DEFEND IT WERE PRINCESS CADANCE AND PRINCE SHINING ARMOR?! YOU DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TO SEND ANY FUCKING SOLDIERS ALONG WITH THEM TO DEFEND THE GODS DAMNED CITY IN CASE THE BARRIER WERE TO FALL BECAUSE PRINCESS CADANCE COLLAPSED FROM EXAUSTION FROM NOT EATING OR SLEEPING! WHAT IN THE INFERNAL REALM IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Gerhardt roared furiously.

Celestia cringed in pain as the sheer volume of Gerhardt’s voice hurt her ears. “Now just calm down, I can see that you’re angry—”

Hearing that Gerhardt immediately cut her off, “ANGRY DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN TO COVER IT! I AM ABSOLUTELY FUCKING FURIOUS! NOT ONLY DID YOU LEAVE THAT CITY HORRIBLY UNDEFENDED, BUT YOUR ENTIRE PLAN TO SAVE IT WAS TO SEND A BUNCH OF CIVILIANS OVER TO WRITE A RESEARCH PAPER AS SOME SORT OF GODS FORSAKEN TEST! DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW MANY LIVES YOU ARE ENDANGERING FOR THIS YOU LUNATIC?!”

“What? I just told her that her test was to try to find a way to protect the Crystal Empire. She interpreted that as me wanting her to write a research paper?” Celestia said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Also, considering how you handle situations and the memories you showed me I really don’t think that you’re in any position to lecture me about endangering ponies lives, Mr. Mechanica. It is quite hypocritical. Besides, I have full confidence that Twilight and her friends will succeed.”

Gerhardt’s E.P.U. was starting to heat up from the sheer amount of pure unbridled rage it was currently being forced to process. “NO, THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE DEAD WRONG YOU PACIFISTIC BITCH! I HAVE NEVER ENDANGERED THE LIVES OF MY PEOPLE! NOT ONCE IN ALL MY CENTURIES AS A HIGH LORD DID I EVER DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD PUT INNOCENT LIVES AT RISK UNLESS IT WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT AND I HAD NO OTHER FUCKING CHOICE IF I WANTED TO LIVE OR IF I WANTED TO DEFEND EVEN MORE CIVILIANS FROM BEING KILLED OR WORSE BY WHATEVER WAS ATTACKING THEM AT THE TIME! I DID EVERYTHING WITHIN MY POWER TO DEFEND MY PEOPLE BECAUSE I ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT THEM, UNLIKE YOU CLEARLY!”

Celestia actually looked both highly offended and somewhat taken aback by this.

“FURTHERMORE, THAT IS BY FAR THE WORST REASONING FOR SUCH UTTER BULL SHIT THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD! YOU’RE CONFIDENT THAT SIX CIVILIANS WILL SUCCEED IN STOPPING A POWERFUL ROGUE MAGE SO YOU THINK IT’S OKAY TO PUT THOUSANDS IF NOT MILLIONS OF LIVES AT RISK?! WHAT IF YOU’RE WRONG AND THEY FAIL?! THEN EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO THE PEOPLE IN THAT CITY IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT BECAUSE YOU WERE OVER CONFIDENT IN THE ABILITIES OF A BUNCH OF FUCKING CIVILIANS! ANY LEADER WITH HALF A FUCKING BRAIN WOULD REALIZE THAT IT IS SIMPLY NOT WORTH THE RISK! ESPECIALLY NOT FOR SOMETHING SO UTTERLY ASININE AS A GODS DAMNED TEST FOR A SINGLE FUCKING PERSON! EVEN IF THEY DO END UP SUCCEEDING THE FACT YOU HAVE DONE THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE PROVES THAT YOU CARE MORE FOR THESE FEW FUCKING INDIVIDUALS THEN YOU DO FOR THE FATES OF THE ENTIRE REST OF YOUR PEOPLE!”

Celestia was visibly shaken by Gerhardt’s words and was starting to look somewhat uncertain but still said, “N-no. That’s not true at all! I am doing this for the sake of my little ponies. Twilight and her friends are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony—”

Gerhardt cut her off once again, “WHICH THEY DO NOT HAVE! I DON’T GIVE A DAMN HOW POWERFUL THESE ARTIFACTS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE, THEY ARE FUCKING USELESS IF THEY AREN’T AVAILABLE TO BE USED IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND DON’T LIE TO ME, CELESTIA! IF YOU WERE DOING THIS FOR YOUR PEOPLE THEN YOU DAMN WELL WOULD HAVE SENT MORE THAN JUST PRINCE SHINING ARMOR AND PRINCESS CADANCE TO PROTECT THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE BEFORE THOSE SIX HAD EVEN ARRIVED! THE FACT THAT YOU DIDN’T IS MORE EVIDENCE OF HOW LITTLE YOU CARE FOR THE SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF YOUR PEOPLE! BECAUSE IF CADANCE HAD COLLAPSED FROM EXHAUSTION BEFORE THEY HAD EVEN ARRIVED AND THAT BARRIER HAD FALLEN, THE CITY WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY DEFENSELESS! AND SHE IS ON THE VERGE OF THAT AT THIS VERY MOMENT, AND THOSE SIX HAVE NOT HAD NEARLY ENOUGH TIME TO FIND ANY WAY TO DEFEND THAT DAMNABLE CITY WHATSOEVER! SHE MAY BE A DEMIGOD BUT EVEN SHE NEEDS TO FUCKING REST!”

“B-but… Shining Armor is there with her… He… He should have been able to swap out with her in keeping the barrier up so she could rest… The Crystal Empire shouldn’t have needed anypony else to help defend it from King Sombra...” Celestia said, visibly growing more and more distressed.

“HE TOLD US TO OUR FACES THAT HIS PROTECTION SPELL WAS COUNTERED BY KING SOMBRA! MEANING ONLY CADANCE’S SPELL WAS EFFECTIVE AT STOPING HIM AT ALL MEANING SHE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT IS MAINTAINING THAT FUCKING BARIER! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT HIS HORN GOT HIT BY THE SAME SPELL THAT HAS RENDERED MY ARMS AND MY LEG FUCKING USELESS AROUND THE SAME TIME THAT I DID, MEANING HE CAN NO LONGER CAST ANY MAGIC WHATSOEVER! HOW IN THE NAMES OF ALL THE GODS ARE YOU NOT AWARE OF THE FACT THAT CADANCE IS THE ONLY ONE MAINTAINING THE BARRIER?! I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED YOU CASTING TELEPORTATION SPELLS SO I KNOW DAMN WELL THAT YOU COULD BE SENDING LETTERS TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE AND THAT PRINCESS CADANCE COULD BE SENDING LETTERS BACK HERE!”

Celestia was visibly regretting her recent decisions regarding the Crystal Empire. “W-well… Cadance can't really send any letters if she’s busy maintaining the barrier… Shining Armor should have been able to though so if things are so bad over there, I don’t understand… Sweet harmony… Mr. Mechanica, I realize that you’re very upset right now but would you be willing to open another of your portals back to the Crystal Empire? I… I need to fix this before Sombra can get through the barrier… I know a spell to get rid of the crystals on your limbs if that helps any.”

Gerhardt seethed for a few moments before sighing and saying, “I apologize for shouting at you, but… Gods… I have no words… This whole ordeal was a huge mistake on your part Princess. Remember that and learn from it so as to not make a similar mistake in the future. If you wish to test Miss Sparkle for whatever reason then do it in a way that does not put other’s lives at risk if she ends up failing, no matter how slim you think the odds may be.” His voice was still heavily distorted from the rage that he was now attempting to suppress, but he opened up a portal to the throne room of the castle in the Crystal Empire.

“No, no, I… To be perfectly honest… I’m pretty sure I deserved to be yelled at for this… You’re correct I should not have attempted to use this as a test for my student considering the stakes… or at the very least if I was going to I should have thought things through more and made better preparations… I will do as you suggest and try to learn from this… Thank you, Mr. Mechanica… I intended this as a learning experience for Twilight, but it ended up being a learning experience for me… Harmony… I can’t believe I did something so reckless.” Celestia said as she got up off of her throne and began walking towards the portal.

“We all make mistakes, Princess. I know that better than anyone, having made countless in my life and knowing that I will make countless more in the future.” Gerhardt said as Princess Celestia walked through the portal, his voice starting to sound a little bit less distorted. Once she was all the way through the portal Gerhardt walked through after her and closed the portal behind him.

Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor were both staring at him and Celestia in shock. “You actually went all the way to Canterlot and yelled at Princess Celestia…” Princess Cadance said in astonishment.

“That he did. My ears are still ringing from it. He can be surprisingly loud if he wants to. I’m actually surprised my guards didn’t come rushing in the moment he entered the throne room considering how loudly and angrily he shouted my name.” Celestia confirmed.

“I cast a noise dampening spell on the door specifically to prevent that very thing from happening. They couldn’t hear a thing that entire time.” Gerhardt stated unabashedly.

“Ah. That would explain it.” Celestia said, seemingly neither all that upset nor surprised by this revelation. “Mr. Mechanica, could you please stand or… float next to Shining Armor for a moment? I would like to only have to cast this spell once if you don’t mind.”

Without saying a word Gerhardt levitated himself next to Shining Armor before finally setting himself on the ground and standing on his one functioning leg. As soon as Gerhardt was back on the ground a golden aura surrounded Princess Celestia’s horn, her eyes began to glow, and she appeared to start radiating light. Said light then seemed to cause the black crystals on Shining Armor’s horn and Gerhardt’s limbs to crumble away and vanish as if they had never existed in the first place. The only signs that they had existed were the holes the crystals had poked through the arms of Gerhardt’s robe and the left leg of his pants.

With the crystals gone feeling returned to Gerhardt’s limbs almost immediately and he could once again move them. The holes in his clothes were somewhat annoying but he could deal with those for a while as they were mainly aesthetic. There was a chance his sleeves might rip off at some point while he was working considering how perforated they were, but he would deal with that if and when it happened. Maybe he could ask Rarity to repair the damage at some point after he eventually commissioned his formal uniform from her and had other clothes to put on first since, while he didn’t exactly have anything to hide anymore, he still found the idea of walking around everywhere without any clothes to be somewhat embarrassing.

“Good, I can move my limbs again. So, what now? Do you just take over maintaining the barrier for Princess Cadance and wait for Twilight and her friends to figure out a way to save this city as you had originally planned? Or do you already know of a way to save it and just want them to figure it out for themselves? Other than me leaving this barrier and hunting down King Sombra in order to kill him, of course, since the Prince has requested that we save that as a last resort considering how dangerous the magic I would be using is.” Gerhardt inquired, still trying his best to calm down from this whole debacle.

“Well… The main issue with the test I had in mind is the fact that Princess Cadance is the only one maintaining the barrier, which I honestly had not expected to be the case. I had thought that Prince Shining Armor would have been able to assist her.” Princess Celestia said, thinking about it for a moment.

“Hehe… Yeah… Sorry about that… King Sombra sort of countered my protective spell…” Shining Armor said, somewhat embarrassed by this fact.

“I know. Mr. Mechanica already informed me of this. It’s honestly my fault. I really should have expected that and thought this entire thing through better. Anyways, to answer your question, yes I believe that would be the best course of action at the moment. I honestly have no idea how to save the Crystal Empire so I was hoping Twilight and her friends would be able to find a way to do so. They have never failed in the past despite all the odds being stacked against them, so I truly do not expect them to fail this time either. I also sort of wanted you to learn a bit about friendship from working with them to save the Crystal Empire as well but I suppose that’s probably not going to happen given the circumstances. Oh well.” Celestia stated before a golden aura once again flared up around her horn. “Cadance, you have done extremely well in keeping the Crystal Empire safe for this long without any food or sleep, but I shall take it from here. Please go get something to eat then rest, you’ve more than earned it.” She said with a warm smile.

The blue aura around Cadance’s horn vanished and she sighed in relief. “Thank you, aunty. I’ll go do that right away. I feel like I could sleep for a week…”

Celestia chuckled and said, “I’m sure that Luna wouldn’t mind keeping you company in your dreams if you did, though I doubt you’ll need to.”

Princess Cadance walked up to Celestia and gave her a quick hug, which Celestia returned, before releasing her and heading out of the throne room. Shining Armor quickly followed after her.

Once the both of them were gone Gerhardt — having calmed himself down enough for his voice to have returned mostly to normal — looked at Princess Celestia and said, “Now, Princess, there is something you mentioned back in your throne room in Canterlot that I found somewhat odd. Now, I have come to realize that magic works a bit differently in a few ways here then it does in my world. However when I was yelling at you about teleporting letters between Canterlot and here, you seemed to suggest that it should be possible for Prince Shining Armor to do so as you, Princess Cadance, and Princess Luna can. In my world teleportation is impossible to use as a means of transport for anyone who isn’t either a god, a spirit, or a demigod like you and the other Princesses. The only thing it’s good for is making weapons, which is exactly how this weapon works.” He pulled out his teleportation pistol and checked to see if the safety was on. It wasn’t so he immediately switched it on.

With the weapon on safety again he continued, “It utilizes weaponized teleportation failure, making it extremely effective against pretty much all forms of armor. With all of that in mind, is it possible for mortals to use teleportation as a means of transport in this world or were you trying to imply something else?”

Princess Celestia gave him a confused look but said, “Yes? I know that Twilight uses teleportation quite frequently. Though since we’re asking questions I have a couple for you as well. First, how and why would magic work differently in your world then it does here? Second, just a moment ago you said something about the magic you would be using to kill King Sombra is dangerous, what do you mean by that exactly?”

Gerhardt sighed and put his teleportation pistol away before saying, “Damn it… I was really hoping you wouldn’t think to ask that first question. Let’s just say there is quite a bit more to it than me just being from another planet. I just didn’t want to tell anyone this because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. The fact that I am an alien is likely difficult enough to believe on its own, let alone the full truth of my origins. As for your second question, do you remember that second memory I showed you after the negotiations with Queen Chrysalis? The one with the reanimated corpses and ghosts? Since King Sombra appears to be ethereal and appears to be immune to most forms of attack, that's exactly the type of magic I would be using against him, though not exactly in the same way as what you saw in that memory. I wouldn’t be reanimating any of the dead or anything of that sort. No, instead I would be lacing that form of magic into combat and war spells in order to harm him and potentially even destroy his very soul, thus I would be destroying his very existence.”

Celestia gave him a look of abject horror. “You can do that?! Why can you do that?! What possible reason could you have for ever having developed such a horrific magic?!”

“First, I had nothing to do with the development of that type of magic. Well, not really anyways. Second, you do remember the ghosts from the memory I showed you, correct? They and several other forms of metaphysical undead are immune to everything but that particular form of magic yet they can still cause horrific destruction. Thus we had no choice but to invent spells to harm them, which unfortunately means destroying their souls since that’s all they really are. Souls bound to the physical world, forcibly made manifest, and enslaved through the most horrific and evil aspect of this magic. Unfortunately King Sombra appears to be in a similar state of etherealness as those undead thus the reason I would have to resort to such barbaric methods in order to kill him. I take no pleasure in destroying souls, Princess. I never have. I hate using this magic in such a way. It’s absolutely appalling to me. However, unfortunately sometimes there isn’t any choice.” Gerhardt explained somewhat remorsefully.

After pausing for a moment he continued, “Now, there are absolutely wonderful ways in which it can be used constructively that aren’t either lethal or morally reprehensible in the least as no form of magic is inherently evil, it all depends on how it’s used, but more often than not that good can not be used because it’s too dangerous to risk allowing this type of magic to spread due to the harm that can be done with it. That’s where the danger in it lies, in allowing the knowledge of how it works and how to use it to spread to others. Thus the reason I am so intentionally vague in describing it. I cannot trust anyone with it, not even you. If I am ever to die here in this world then better that it dies with me than allowing it’s use to spread due to the horrors that could be unleashed if it fell into the wrong hands, as it had in my world.”

“I see… That’s unfortunate. After hearing about all the bad that can be done with this magic I would have loved to see what sort of good can be done with it, but after what you showed me in that memory of yours and hearing what you have told me I completely understand why you are so cautious. In fact, I’m glad that you are as while I would love to see the good it can do, I would be absolutely devastated to have to deal with the harm it can cause in the wrong hooves.” Celestia said, still looking a bit disturbed but not nearly as absolutely horrified as she had a few moments ago.

“You have no idea…” Gerhardt sighed as he recalled the entirety of the events of the First Necromantic War. That was one issue with his augmentations, he could never truly forget anything no matter how much he desperately wanted to. Things could slip his mind temporarily as he focused on other things but he could never truly forget any of it. Technically he could just delete portions of his memories, but he had never done such a thing in the past and he had no intention of ever doing so in the future. After all, how could he learn from the past to ensure that history never repeats itself if he didn’t even remember it? Horrible as some of his memories may have been, deleting even the smallest portions of them was simply out of the question.

“Well, moving on from that… It seems as though we will have quite some time before Twilight and her friends can figure out a more permanent way to protect the Crystal Empire. So I have another question. I realize it may be a rather long story but since you were talking about the differences in magic between your world and this one I started wondering, just how and why is it that you ended up here in the first place? I remember you mentioning that you were banished here by somepony but not much else I’m afraid.” Celestia inquired.

Gerhardt frowned slightly and said, “I would rather not talk about it.”

“Oh? Why not?” Celestia asked somewhat suspiciously.

Gerhardt sighed as all the immense stress, anxiety, fear, and worry returned full force, hitting him like a freight train as he started thinking about the current state his kingdom was in. It was enough that he would likely be on the verge of tears if he actually had tear ducts. “Gods damn it… I just wanted to avoid thinking about it, but it’s too late for that now… You really wish to know how and why I ended up here? Fine… I’ll tell you the entire gods forsaken story...”

Realizing that she may have pried a bit too much Celestia said, “If thinking about it upsets you then you don’t have to tell me.”

“No, as I said, it's too late. I’m already thinking about it and trying to ignore what’s happening like a child won't make it stop. So, as you said this is a fairly long story. About eight hundred years ago a lesser god of nature by the name of Silvanus appeared before me and provided me with the arcane equations for the very magic that we were just discussing as it had not been discovered at the time. In exchange he wanted me to use the equations to build some machines for him. Machines that would allow individuals to communicate with their deceased loved ones one final time during their funerals. So I did. It went quite well for a time. However, then Caedes, one of my former apprentices, got a hold of the equations. He then used them to create a whole new field of magic called Necromancy, the magic that we were just discussing.” Gerhardt explained in a very grim tone.

“Why are you telling me what it’s called only just now?” Celestia inquired in confusion.

“Because I finally realized just how asinine and overly paranoid of me it was to try keeping the name secret. After all, knowing the name alone does not mean you know how to use the magic. Regardless, once Caedes invented necromancy he started going mad with power and became a megalomaniac with a god complex. So he gathered what other mages he thought would be willing to follow him and went rogue. He and his followers then proceeded to begin raising a massive legion of the undead which he then used to cause one of the largest disasters in the history of my world, the First Necromantic War.”

“First? You mean there were more after that?!” Celestia exclaimed horrified by the prospect.

“There were eleven truly major Necromantic Wars and hundreds of smaller ones some of which occurred alongside other wars both large and small. As I told you, my world is not nearly as peaceful as yours. So, to say Silvanus was not happy with what Caedes did to his gift is an understatement. He was furious and for some reason he blamed everything that happened on me rather than Caedes when my only contribution was taking the arcane equations he provided me with and developing the devices that he specifically requested. He hates me for it and has held a grudge against me for the past eight hundred years.”

“That… Sounds a lot like what happened between my sister and I… She held a grudge against me for a thousand years. Though I will admit she had a significantly more valid reason to do so then this Silvanus individual seems to.” Celestia said somewhat regretfully.

“No. I read what happened between you and your sister in a history book. The only similarity is the long held grudge. Anyways, despite his grudge, due to the rules the Greater Gods set in place after the War of Survival he could do absolutely nothing to harm or kill me or my people so long as we did not attack him first, which we didn’t. However he found a significant loophole. There was nothing in the rules that said he couldn’t get rid of me as it doing so was not explicitly causing me any physical harm. So he banished me. Now due to gods forsaken politics my Kingdom has more than likely been forced to declare war on him as a result of what he did. As such he is likely devastating my kingdom at the moment, killing hundreds of millions, and he likely intends to completely exterminate my people. It will inevitably turn into a second War of Survival, but far bloodier and more devastating than the first… Damn it… Why couldn’t he have just killed me, or let me escape so I could publicly execute myself…? At least then my kingdom wouldn’t be in this mess…” Gerhardt finished explaining. He felt like crying from it all, but he wasn’t physically capable of doing so. All he could do was dim his eyes and look down at the ground.

Celestia gasped in shock. “Gerhardt, you can’t honestly mean that!” She exclaimed.

“I do mean it... My entire purpose in life consisted of doing my work and protecting my kingdom... So knowing that my kingdom is in this situation because of me, it’s… gods… it’s unbearable… I would rather have my soul be destroyed with necromancy a million times over if it meant preventing this from happening to my kingdom… All of this merely because I have lived this long… You know… I should have died many times throughout history but somehow I survived each and every time… All of this is happening because I was too stubborn and selfish to just lay down and die when I should have… Now it’s too late...” Gerhardt told her. Much like how his voice had distorted from his rage earlier, his voice had now started to lose quality as he continued to speak, which was the closest he could possibly get to sobbing. “Now you know the full story about how I got here and why I don’t enjoy thinking about it… Are you satisfied, Princess?”

Celestia gave him a sympathetic look and said, “I’m so sorry, Gerhardt… I had no idea how bad of a situation your kingdom is in at the moment or how sensitive of a topic it was for you. I should never have brought it up… You can’t blame yourself like this. You shouldn’t have to feel guilty for merely living. It isn’t your fault any of this happened. It’s Silvanus’ fault for blaming you, holding a grudge for this long, and doing this in the first place. It seems to me that he’s no better than this Caedes individual. Besides, you couldn’t have known this would happen and even if you did know and you did end up… executing yourself… who’s to say that Silvanus wouldn’t have just done the same thing to another high lord instead of you? There’s nothing you could have done to stop this.”

Gerhardt was silent for a few moments before saying, “Thank you, Princess… I probably needed to hear that… I suppose I am probably being a bit of a pest right now annoying you with my problems and the problems of my world… After all, what do you care? You have nothing to do with it… So, I believe I will leave now and stop bother—”

Right as he was about to turn to leave Celestia cut him off mid sentence and said, “Gerhardt, you aren’t bothering me one bit, I’m the one who asked after all. Besides this is what friends are for, being there to listen to each other and if possible help each other through whatever it is that may be troubling them. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is anything I can do to fix the situation your kingdom is in, but I am more than willing to listen to you and help you through this as best I can. I’m sure that Twilight and at least a few of her friends would be more than happy to do so as well. Whether your issues have anything to do with me, them, or Equestria or not is besides the point. Though we would all certainly appreciate it if you would do the same for us if something was wrong and any of us came to you to talk about it.” She gave him a warm smile.

“I see… I will keep that in mind, Princess…” Gerhardt said appreciatively.

Before either of them could say anything else, the door to the throne room opened up once more and both Twilight Sparkle and Spike came walking in. Twilight appeared to be carrying a large book with her magic. “I think we’ve found a solution!” She said as she entered. Then she seemed to notice that both Cadance and Shining Armor were gone and saw Celestia standing there instead. “P-Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?! Where are Cadance and Shining Armor?! Oh no… I didn’t fail my test did I?!” She exclaimed in surprise and worry.

Celestia looked at Gerhardt and said, “Well, that was a wonderful discussion, but it seems we will have to cut it short. Thank you, Gerhardt.” She then looked back to Twilight and began walking towards her. “Twilight, just calm down. You haven’t failed. Gerhardt here just took a quick trip back to Canterlot and yelled at me for how poorly I handled this situation, and after hearing what he had to say I honestly have to agree with him. I should have expected King Sombra to counter Shining Armor’s protection spell and sent Luna to help Cadance maintain the barrier. Cadance shouldn’t have had to do it entirely on her own and exhaust herself like this. The fact that she did have to is a failing on my part. So I requested that Gerhardt open up another portal back here so I could fix my mistake and take over for Cadance in maintaining the barrier so she could go eat and get some rest. Shining Armor went with her. Now, why not tell me what exactly you managed to find out?”

Twilight sighed in relief. “Oh thank goodness… Wait… You yelled at Princess Celestia?” She asked Gerhardt incredulously.

Celestia chuckled and said, “Cadance asked the same thing, so I’ll give you the same answer that I gave her. That he did. My ears are still ringing from it, not as much as they were earlier but still. He can be surprisingly loud if he wants to.”

Twilight blinked a few times in disbelief before shaking her head to regather her thoughts and saying, “Alright, well I found this book in the library.” She levitated the book over to Celestia before proceeding to explain her plan.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apparently Twilight’s plan to protect the Crystal Empire was for her and her friends to put together something known as the “Crystal Faire” which was supposed to “renew the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm". It sounded like complete and utter bullshit to Gerhardt, but who was he to judge? He still wasn’t fully certain how the magic of this world differed from that of his own. He still had decades of research he needed to conduct in order to figure all of that out.

After the announcement of the faire Gerhardt spent the entire time on the castle balcony overlooking the city humming his lullaby while losing himself in his memories of the happier times in his life in an attempt to help himself calm down after his conversation with Celestia. That was until Twilight came and told him about some artifact called the “Crystal Heart”. Apparently the Crystal Faire was meant to lift the Crystal Ponies' spirits, and the light within them was supposed to power the Crystal Heart to protect the empire from evil. To him the Crystal Heart just sounded like the single worst barrier generator he had ever heard of. He knew that given a few months with the right materials and a few skilled construction workers he could build an equivalent if not superior barrier generator that didn’t run off anything so fleeting as emotions, though he kept this information to himself as he didn’t feel it an appropriate thing to say at the time.

Regardless, in an attempt to keep the Crystal Ponies’ spirits up, Twilight asked him to come down to the path below the castle and cast one of his optical illusions on a fake Crystal Heart that she had apparently carved until she could find the real one. Thus that’s what he spent the rest of his time doing. Since he had never seen this “Crystal Heart” before, apparently his illusion was passable but not perfect as several of the Crystal Ponies commented on it looking slightly different then they remembered. However they all seemed too intimidated by him to stick around for too long so none of them figured out that this Crystal Heart was a fake.

Later black crystals began growing out of the top of the castle and Rainbow Dash was forced to fly up and catch Spike as he was forced to jump off in order to prevent himself from being impaled. It turned out that he was the one to deliver the Crystal Heart to the bottom of the castle as Twilight had activated some sort of magical trap set by King Sombra in order to protect the artifact and was trapped at the top of the castle. Regardless, as soon as it was back in place it began to emit some sort of magical field that turned everyone into what Gerhardt could only describe as crystalized versions of themselves — including him though his appearance didn’t really change all that much — and destroyed the black crystals at the top of the tower, freeing Twilight.

Now Gerhardt was in the throne room of the castle with Celestia and Shining Armor. Cadance wasn’t present as she was still resting. 

“So, now that the Crystal Empire itself is protected, all that’s left to do is find a way to get rid of King Sombra, hopefully without having to resort to sending Mr. Mechanica to kill him given how dangerous the magic he would be using is. Any suggestions?” Shining Armor inquired, looking between Celestia and Gerhardt.

Celestia thought for a moment before saying, “I might have one idea. Gerhardt do you think you could use your necromancy to restrain him without killing him?”

“Perhaps, but it wouldn’t be easy and nothing I can do will last forever. I could only restrain him for so long before my energy reserves start running out, at which point I will have no choice but to release him.” Gerhardt explained.

“That’s perfectly fine. I’ll only need you to restrain him for a few moments anyways. My plan is to have Twilight and her friends use the Elements of Harmony to restore his physical form. After that, either Cadance, my sister, or I should easily be able to subdue him thanks to how strong all of our magic has become from the magical exercises that you detailed in your book. Once he’s been captured, we should be able to drag him to Tartarus where he won’t be able to harm anypony ever again.” Celestia stated confidently.

“Very well. However, if I may, I would like to suggest a minor addition to this plan. I would like to return to my lab and use what few remaining scraps I have left over in order to build a device to block his magic once his physical form is returned to him. Both to prevent him from ever being able to use his magic to escape as well as to return the favor for paralyzing my limbs with those black crystals earlier. Though, this should be significantly more permanent as I will ensure it will be nearly impossible to remove without completely severing his horn along with it. Alternatively, I could either shoot his horn off his head with my teleportation pistol or break it off with my bare hands.” Gerhardt suggested.

Both Celestia and Shining Armor winced as Gerhardt suggested shooting or snapping Sombra’s horn off his head. “No, no. Your first idea should work just fine. How long do you estimate it will take you to build this device?” Celestia inquired.

“Since it will have to be rather small and simplistic, it should take me about twenty minutes. Twenty five if I decide to rig it to explode and kill him if it is ever tampered with or to cause him excruciating pain if he ever tries to cast magic. Thirty if I did both.” Gerhardt stated.

Celestia shook her head. “Let’s not go too overboard. Just blocking his ability to use magic should be more than enough. Twenty minutes is perfect. I approve of this addition to the plan. It should definitely help in keeping him contained. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, could you please open one of your portals back to Canterlot so I may go retrieve the Elements of Harmony, as well as update Luna on everything that’s happening here? We sort of left without informing her of anything that was going on, which I really should have done before coming here. I’ll have to apologize to her for that. It should only take me thirty minutes.”

Gerhardt looked at her and frowned. “Forgive me as I do not mean to be rude, but why do you need me to open a portal for you? You can teleport which is a far faster and more efficient means of travel than my portals. I only opened a portal to bring you here in the first place merely because I wanted you to fix your mess as soon as possible and I needed a means of returning here myself. Not to mention the fact that portals are highly energy intensive over such vast distances. With everything I have already done today just getting back to my lab, building this device, and returning here will leave me with 13.817% of my total arcane energy reserves, 1% of which I require to power my body and all of the rest of which I will need to restrain Sombra for any length of time. I imagine teleporting over such large distances also requires a significant amount of energy, but you are a demigod and have vast energy reserves compared to me after using those magical exercises that I detailed in my book.”

Celestia looked somewhat embarrassed as he mentioned how powerful she had gotten after using the magical exercises in Gerhardt’s book. “Oh… Right… I’m sorry, Gerhardt, I’m still trying to get used to this sudden drastic increase in power. Sometimes I forget that Cadence, Luna, and I are now so much stronger than everypony else…”

Gerhardt’s frown deepened. “That is a very very bad thing, Princess. If you forget your strength in the middle of a battle or something to that effect then you could accidentally end up killing everyone in a several mile radius around you. It has happened numerous times in my world, where demigods forget their strength in the middle of a battle for whatever reason and end up obliterating entire cities by accident killing millions in the process. For the safety of everyone around you as well as your own, you need to remember that if a normal mage or unicorn is a bomb capable of wiping a small town like Ponyville completely off the map then demigods like you and the other princesses are weapons of mass destruction capable of doing the same to the entire mountain that Canterlot is built upon as well as quite a bit of the surrounding area. For the love of the gods, please try to keep that in mind. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you do not forget it.”

Celestia’s hind legs gave out causing her to sit down where she stood, and she was suddenly looking extremely overwhelmed. “We’re that strong…? Sweet harmony… I... “ She tried to say something but seemed incapable of forming the words.

Shining Armor gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s alright, Princess. I know for a fact that if anypony is both worthy and wise enough to wield such power and use it responsibly, it’s you, Cadence, and Princess Luna.”

“You do not have to be so concerned, Princess. As long as you and the other princesses remain aware of your strength then you should have little to worry about. Also, you aren’t quite at that point just yet. I was talking about demigods at peak fitness. You and the other princesses still have quite a ways to go before you get to that point.” Gerhardt told her.

Celestia took a couple of moments to process this before saying, “You know, Gerhardt… I think I’m seriously starting to regret ever reading that book you wrote… This is just… Harmony, it’s just too much…”

“Indeed, I imagine it is. After all, power and responsibility always go hand in hand. Thus the reason that in the Human Kingdom all mages are immediately drafted into the military from the very moment they first begin to display the ability to use magic, typically somewhere around four to five years in age. So I imagine that the weight of the responsibility of the divine, even the partially divine such as yourself and the other princesses, must be quite heavy indeed. At least to those who do not completely disregard said responsibility entirely like the one who sent me here.” Gerhardt said in a somewhat understanding tone.

Both Celestia and Shining Armor gave him horrified looks. “Your kingdom forces foals into the military?!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“Children, not foals. And yes, of course we do. We need the power of every mage we can possibly get in order to defend the kingdom and mages in general are simply far too dangerous to ever risk allowing them to go rogue, like King Sombra or Caedes has and had. Remember, my world is immensely more dangerous than this one and the Human Kingdom is constantly under threat. Plus it’s not as though we send children to fight in wars alongside actual soldiers, we aren’t barbarians like the Orcs and Ogres. They simply receive training until they officially become legal adults at which point they are finally sent into battle. They are even allowed to choose which branch they wish to join which does not officially become permanent until they turn sixteen.” Gerhardt explained not seeing their issue with this.

Both Celestia and Shining Armor were silent for a few moments until finally Celestia said, “Alright… Well… This conversation has been as enlightening as it has been horrifying and it has given me much to think about. Now I believe I will be heading back to Canterlot to retrieve the Elements of Harmony. Shining Armor, could you please inform Twilight and her friends of our plan?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Mr. Mechanica, we’re going to have to continue this discussion at some point in the future.” Shining Armor replied.

Gerhardt just rolled his eyes and said, “Very well. I shall see you both in twenty to thirty minutes.” With that he turned, opened a portal back to his lab, and walked through it before closing it behind him.

[Meanwhile on Earth]

Silvanus was absolutely furious after listening to Gerhardt’s conversation with the lead demigod in the world he had ended up in. While watching Gerhardt suffer was quite enjoyable, once again the insufferable metal abomination had denied all responsibility for the invention of necromancy and the events of the First Necromantic War. Even worse, that insolent demigod had gravely insulted him by saying he was no better than Gerhardt’s former apprentice, the Father of Liches. 

Currently he was taking out his frustrations by ripping apart an entire regiment of heavy and super heavy combat golems and soldiers that were defending a major human city. This regiment was being aided by a couple squadrons of aircraft which were having to fight against all the rain, fist sized hail, lightning, the category six hurricane, and the multiple category seven tornadoes that he was conjuring in an attempt to force them out of the sky. Though the impudent little nats seemed to refuse to acknowledge that they had lost and fall like they should have for some damnable reason, making Silvanus increase the strength of the hurricane even further. This seemed to begin causing the aircraft some trouble though even now they continued to defy him, infuriating him even worse than he already was.

Regardless, these damnable humans couldn’t use their infernal W.M.D.s against him while he was destroying one of their precious little cities full of their pathetic civilians. Their super heavy combat golems, artillery cannons, and missiles were still infuriatingly painful whenever they hit him, but not nearly as much as their antimatter bombs and arcane energy eradicating weapons. He still had gamma radiation burns from when they had quite literally hit him in the face with two antimatter bombs in a row a few days ago.

He was in the process of melting a super heavy combat golem with continuous blasts of lightning when he suddenly had a brilliant idea.  He couldn’t do anything to that demigod since she had not attacked him, and he couldn’t do anything to Gerhardt because he was in another universe and thus couldn’t currently be considered a member of the human kingdom plus he didn’t want Gerhardt to find out about the tether he had tied to his soul. However, he might not have to.

Apparently the nature spirits that resided in that forest next to the town Gerhardt was currently living in were angry and wanted to destroy the ponies for manipulating nature as they do. Silvanus strongly suspected the only reason they hadn’t was because something was restraining them from doing so. As such all he would have to do is extremely subtly send another thread through the tether tied to Gerhardt’s soul without it being detected by his sensors or being seen by the gods that ruled that universe or the greater gods that ruled this universe. Then he could use that thread to start expanding his influence in that world beyond just Gerhardt himself, at which point he could free the nature spirits and let them lose on the ponies they hate so much and he might mention how much he personally despised one bipedal metal abomination. 

And right now was the perfect moment to do just that! Gerhardt was currently in his lab in that little town to build a magical restraining device of some sort and would only be there for a few minutes before heading back to that icy shit hole of a so-called “empire” to capture some pathetic excuse of a rogue mage. As such, a wicked smile formed on Silvanus’ face as he extremely cautiously sent a tiny thread of power through the tether attached to Gerhardt’s soul and tied it to some nearby plants. Once Gerhardt finally left his lab and went back to that icy shit hole Silvanus would then begin very, very carefully working his way over to the forest and have a little conversation with the spirits there.

He sincerely doubted that these spirits would actually manage to kill Gerhardt — the abomination had this very annoying habit of surviving situations that by all rights should kill him — but they would most certainly make his life a living hell for a while and would absolutely devastate the pathetic ponies the metal freak had allied himself with which should be a very nice slap in the face to that bitch of a demigod. Plus it should set back any progress he had managed to make with his lab and destroy that “love generator” he was building for the so-called “Changelings” in the process, which would most certainly be a nice bonus.

He realized that it may take awhile to free the spirits of whatever was restraining them since he had to be subtle about it so as to not get caught by the greater gods or the gods of that universe, but he still couldn’t wait to see that kingdom of mutant horses immediately go up in flames when his plan finally came to fruition. Now that would be a hundred times more entertaining to watch than anything that had happened to Gerhardt in that world up until this point. Knowing this, Silvanus’ mood improved significantly. While it would take time, he was nothing if not patient. After all he had waited eight hundred years to figure out how to get his revenge on Gerhardt and compared to that this would be nothing.

That was when something stabbed him through the back. Looking down he saw a very familiar and very unwelcome sword sticking out of his gut. The blade twisted aggressively before it was ripped back out and its owner kicked Silvanus out of the air and sent him hurtling to the ground like a meteorite. He impacted the ground hard enough to cause a decent explosion and create a sizable crater.

Pulling himself up out of the crater Silvanus looked up with a furious sneer. “Lanius the executioner… What do you think you’re doing, stabbing a fellow god in the back?” Silvanus demanded of the being who had just attacked him, who was currently standing on the ground on the opposite side of the crater.

Lanius the executioner was a lesser god of justice who was perfectly on par with Silvanus in terms of overall power. His skin was solid grey representing his neutrality in most matters. He had perfectly straight shoulder length hair, half of which was darker than vantablack while the other was the brightest white that was physically possible. He had a blindfold covering his eyes, but even with his eyes covered in such a way he could still see perfectly. He wore an executioner’s robe that was half black and half white. In his hands was a long flat tipped executioner’s sword, the blade of which was covered in ornate engravings. Finally his face currently bore the same stoic expression that he usually displayed during his executions.

“You, Silvanus, have violated the law. If not the letter of the law then most certainly the spirit of it. I know what you did, nature god. The loophole that you exploited for your misguided revenge against that metal human for a crime he did not commit. While the Greater Gods may refuse to take action against you despite my pleas for them to punish you for your crimes, I refuse to sit idly by while you twist and manipulate the laws to suit your own ends to allow you to slaughter innocents with impunity. You wish for a repeat of the genocidal war that Deimos declared against the humans twenty thousand years ago, which is the exact reason the laws were created in the first place. No. I will not allow it. Stop this now, if possible bring that human back this instant, and go back to the divine realm peacefully and your crimes shall be pardoned. Refuse and continue to violate the spirit of the law in such a manner and yours shall be the next head that I take.” Lanius stated in a deadly serious tone, pointing his executioner’s sword at Silvanus.

Silvanus scoffed at him. “Oh please… Lanius, you should know far better then I that if the Greater Gods refuse to take action against me then clearly I have done absolutely nothing wro—”

Lanius cut off Silvanus with a flick of his sword which left a horrible gash on Silvanus’ face, despite the fact the lesser god of justice was standing too far away from him to actually reach him with the blade of his sword. “Do not make me repeat myself!” Lanius growled at him.

Silvanus gave him an absolutely murderous glare. “Fine… You wish to stop me? You wish to protect these insolent worms?! THEN DIE YOU SELF RIGHTEOUS PRICK!” He roared. Suddenly roots shot up out of the ground towards Lanius at supersonic speeds in an attempt to spear him.

In a flash Lanius swung his sword and cleaved through all of the roots before they could reach him. “That was the last mistake you shall ever make, nature god… Silvanus, I hereby declare you guilty of all charges and for your heinous crimes I sentence you to death.” Lanius said in a grim tone, raising his sword in a combative stance.

[Meanwhile in Equestria]

About five minutes into building the device that would block King Sombra’s magic Gerhardt’s sensors detected an almost imperceptibly small arcane energy signature. Since his sensors were a little overdue for a standard recalibration he dismissed it as little more than a normal fluctuation in the usual background noise and completely ignored it. Though he did make a mental note to take the time to recalibrate his sensors at his earliest possible convenience since little errors like this were a bit annoying.

Exactly twenty minutes had passed as Gerhardt finished the small ring he had been building. Picking it up, he opened a portal back to the throne room in the Crystal Empire and stepped through before closing it behind him. As he had predicted he was left with exactly 13.817% of his total arcane energy reserves. Some of that would likely recharge while he waited for Celestia to return, but not nearly enough to really matter.

Perhaps in the future he could build a device to gather ambient magic and channel it into his soul in order to help his energy reserves charge faster. He hadn’t been allowed to do so in his world because of the laws surrounding necromancy but those laws didn’t exist here so nothing was stopping him anymore. He might even be able to use what he learned about how changelings feed in order to assist this process, though significantly modified to skip the emotions and the requirement of a living victim to parasite off of and instead go straight for the arcane energy in the atmosphere.

As Gerhardt waited for Celestia, Shining Armor and the others he began drawing up schematics for this device and mentally debated the pros and cons of placing it either inside his mouth, inside his chest, or inside his hands. Eventually the idea of placing it inside his mouth won out. It would be a decent representation of how he would be “devouring” magic just as the changelings devour love, plus the device would be closer to his brain and thus closer to the location that his soul was bound to his body which would theoretically make the process more efficient then it would be if the device was further away from his brain.

After about seventeen minutes and thirty four seconds had passed and he was starting to wonder where in the world everyone was, finally there was a flash of golden light. Suddenly both Celestia and Luna were standing in front of him and floating in between them was a very gaudy box surrounded by dark blue aura. Unsurprisingly considering the changes that Cadance had undergone Luna had grown to be the same size as Princess Celestia.

“Greetings Princesses. I was not expecting both of you to come along. Am I correct in assuming that this box is what contains the Elements of Harmony.” Gerhardt inquired.

Celestia nodded and said, “Yes it is, and Luna refused to stay in Canterlot while I came here to help subdue King Sombra. Before I sent Twilight here to save the Crystal Empire she had insisted on coming with all of you, so when I told her what happened she was justifiably upset.”

“I told you so.” Luna stated in a tone that was both somewhat smug and somewhat frustrated.

Celestia rolled her eyes. “I know, Luna. I heard you the first ten times. I have already told you how sorry I am for not listening to you earlier.”

“I’m just making sure you remember so next time something like this happens you actually take what I say into consideration. I might be the younger sister but that doesn’t make me any less competent than you.” Luna told her.

Celestia sighed and asked, “You’re never going to let me live this down are you?”

Luna shook her head and said, “No.”

“Well, Princess Luna, it seems that you were absolutely right in this case. However, it appears as though that has already been established. Having already yelled at Celestia for her mistake earlier, I shall not press the matter any further.” Gerhardt stated.

Luna chuckled slightly. “I heard… Not literally, unfortunately, but Celestia already told me what happened. Honestly I wish I could have been there to see it. I just can’t imagine you of all ponies yelling at anything, Mr. Mechanica.”

“Admittedly, it is quite rare for me to lose my temper and actually shout at someone. However, I was in a very bad mood earlier and this entire debacle just managed to get under my skin, metaphorically speaking. Regardless, shall we go look for the others and get this over with? The sooner King Sombra is dealt with the better it will be for everyone.” Gerhardt said, wanting to change the subject. He always found it somewhat embarrassing whenever he lost his temper like that, even when it was entirely called for.

“Yes, that would be for the best.” Celestia stated before proceeding to lead the way out of the throne room. It took them another solid half an hour of searching since none of them really knew the layout of the castle but they eventually found where Shining Armor and the others were located. They appeared to have been in the middle of discussing something when the three of them walked in.

Upon hearing the door open and seeing Gerhardt enter with the Princesses, Twilight immediately demanded, “Gerhardt! Is it true?! You actually wrote a book on magical exercises and training techniques and you never told me?!”

“Er… Yes. Apologies, Miss Sparkle, but Princess Celestia requested that I keep it secret until she and the other princesses decided how to distribute the information to the public while minimizing any possible backlash. They decided to have it published as a book under my name.” Gerhardt informed her.

“Fine, but that still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me after they decided to have it published!” Twilight exclaimed, sounding quite frustrated.

“I’ll be perfectly honest, the thought simply never crossed my mind as I do not view the information as very significant. These exercises and training techniques are common knowledge in my world. Besides, considering your relationship with the princesses and the fact that you run a public library, I just assumed that they would send you a copy once they were finally ready to be released to the public.” Gerhardt said.

“Of course. I was actually planning on sending you the very first copy as soon as it was ready. In fact it should be ready in the next couple of days.” Celestia told Twilight placatingly.

Twilight huffed in irritation and glared at Gerhardt but didn’t press the matter any further.

Celestia smiled at Twilight before looking at the entire group and saying, “I assume Shining Armor told you all our plan to defeat King Sombra?”

Applejack nodded. “Yup. We're goin’ to send Mr. Mechanica out there to hogtie King Sombra long enough for us to use the Elements of Harmony to restore his body. Then you or Princess Luna are gonna beat the hay outa him and Mr. Mechanica will put one of his fancy thingamajigs on King Sombra’s horn that’ll keep him from using magic. Then you’ll lock him up in Tartarus where he won't be a threat to anypony ever again.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “Correct. Are there any questions?” She waited for a moment but no one said anything.

“Well, assuming there are no questions I suggest we get moving. My arcane energy reserves are running low so I will only be able to hold him for a minute or so. Be ready to use your artifacts as soon as I have him restrained.” He said before turning and walking back out of the room.

Several minutes later Gerhardt and the others were standing near the edge of the barrier. Looking over his shoulder behind him, he saw Twilight and her friends wearing various bits of jewelry that he could only assume were supposed to be these so-called “Elements of Harmony”. Both of the princesses were standing on either side of them. “Are all of you prepared?” He inquired. All of them nodded in response. “Good. Then when I restrain him, be careful not to be hit by any of his spells. Keep in mind, while I can keep him stuck in one place I can’t stop him from using magic until his physical body is restored.”

With that being said, Gerhardt proceeded outside of the barrier with all eight of the others following behind him. It honestly reminded him a bit of some of the missions that he had been on back on Earth, except with significantly less machinery and death. He sort of wondered if this was what it was like for members of the army branch whenever they were deployed without any vehicles, combat golems, or members of the R&D branch to back them up. He doubted it was exactly the same considering the circumstances, but still.

As soon as they were outside the barrier, Gerhardt overclocked his brain and drastically sped up his perception of time until to him it looked as though everything around him was moving at a crawl. This would give him ample opportunity to react to any of King Sombra’s spells. After what felt like a few minutes to him but was only a few seconds in real time, King Sombra finally materialized in front of him and the others.

Not giving Sombra any time to do anything, Gerhardt immediately sprinted around him and slid to a stop a ways behind him. As soon as he was behind Sombra, both of his hands were engulfed with an other worldly ethereal green aura as he cast a spell to restrain the shadowy creature. Suddenly ethereal green chains appeared and wrapped themselves tightly around and even through Sombra before embedding themselves in the ground to hold him firmly in place.

Sombra thrashed around and roared furiously, futilely trying to escape his bindings. He even tried his best to turn and shoot some beams at Gerhardt. Unfortunately for Sombra those beams were moving at a snail’s pace to Gerhardt thus he avoided them with ease. All of them struck the ground around and behind him and created several large jagged pillars of the same black crystals from before. It seemed as though Gerhardt would have a second chance to collect samples of these crystals for study, which he was definitely not opposed to.

After what felt like a few minutes to Gerhardt, Twilight and her friends began glowing and rising up into the air before firing a massive rainbow colored beam of magic at King Sombra. When it was over, King Sombra had regained his physical body and the ethereal chains that were binding him in place had shrunk to match his new size. Seeing that he no longer needed to keep restraining him, Gerhardt released his spell and allowed his perception of time to return to normal.

That was when both Celestia and Luna sprang into action. Both of them blasted King Sombra with primitive combat spells simultaneously, and it was clear by the fact that no one had died that both of them had made certain to remain aware of their power. King Sombra had tried to raise a shield to protect himself but the shield of a single mortal mage was less than useless when up against the combined power of two demigods. Thus the shield collapsed almost instantly and the princesses' attack sent him flying and knocked him unconscious.

When Sombra finally landed and stopped rolling, Gerhardt broke a chunk off one of the nearby pillars of black crystals and quickly pocketed it. He then immediately walked over to him and stuck the ring he had built onto Sombra’s horn. There was a quiet whirring sound as four screws drilled into Sombra’s horn and bound the ring in place. Then the ring began to glow red hot for a few moments as it permanently fused itself to King Sombra’s horn. The intense pain of this process actually woke king Sombra up and made him scream in agony. As soon as the process was over, Gerhardt immediately cast a sleeping spell on King Sombra to knock him back out. Once the dark unicorn was unconscious again, Gerhardt picked him up and threw him over his shoulder before carrying him back over to the others.

“What happened?! Why was he screaming?!” Celestia demanded as soon as Gerhardt was close enough.

“Because apparently he found the way the ring bound itself to his horn to be quite painful. It makes sense. Four screws were drilled into his horn, and then the outside of the ring heated up to partially melt his horn in order to fuse itself to the horn and permanently weld the screws in place. I told you that it will be impossible to take off without having to completely remove his horn along with it. I never said that the process would be completely painless. Regardless, he’s still alive and he shall never be a threat to anyone ever again. Furthermore the pain should be gone or at the very least significantly dulled by the time he wakes up.” Gerhardt explained.

Celestia rested her face in one of her forehooves and sighed. “Ugh… At least he’s not dead and all of his limbs are intact, so I suppose that’s progress.” A golden aura surrounded her horn as she grabbed King Sombra with a telekinetic spell and levitated him off of Gerhardt’s shoulder. “I’ll be taking him to Tartarus now. I should be back in a few minutes.” She said before she and Sombra both vanished in a flash of golden light.

“Well. While it was a lovely walk all the way out here, I think I would rather not have to walk all the way back to the castle. So, everypony please gather around. I’ll be saving us a bit of time by teleporting us back.” Princess Luna told everyone. Thus all of them gathered around Princess Luna. Then in a flash of dark blue light they were all standing in the middle of the throne room once more. Luna then proceeded to gather up all of the Elements of Harmony and put them back in their box.

Unfortunately as soon as they were back inside the barrier the black crystal that Gerhardt had collected for study disintegrated inside his pocket, meaning he would have to collect another on the way back. Fortunately it wasn’t long before they were all preparing to leave. Shining Armor woke up Princess Cadance just to let her say goodbye to Twilight and the others. Celestia and Luna said their goodbyes, Celestia had a short private conversation with Twilight, then they both teleported back to Canterlot with the Elements of Harmony. Finally they began making their way back to the train and Gerhardt was able to collect a few more of the crystals for study on the way back.

The train ride took a few hours, which allowed Gerhardt’s energy reserves to recharge all the way back up to 32% by the time they got back to Ponyville. So as soon as they were back, he immediately opened a portal back to his lab and got to work trying to use what very limited tools he had in order to study the crystals he had collected. It was extremely difficult as they blocked almost all forms of magic but after a couple of days he eventually had somewhat of a breakthrough and managed to figure out what kind of magic they responded to. He determined that it was actually a type of curse though it was not any kind of curse that he was familiar with.

He would have continued working to figure out how the crystals worked, but eventually there was a knock on his door and his sensors detected the presence of three ponies. Two pegasi and one earth pony. Setting down the crystals, he walked over to the door and opened it up. Standing outside was Scootaloo with whom Gerhardt could only assume were her parents. Seeing this he lowered his hood to look a bit less intimidating and said, “Ah, good day. I am Gerhardt Mechanica, a master technomancer. You must be Miss Scootaloo’s parents, correct?”

Scootaloo’s parents looked somewhat intimidated by him but eventually her father cleared his throat and said, “That we are, mate. The name’s Snap Shutter and this is my wife Mane Allgood. We’re here because we were told you can fix Scootaloo’s wings. Is that true?”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Shutter and Mrs. Allgood. And yes, I can. I have already informed Miss Scootaloo of this, but there are two options available if you wish for me to do so. First, I can replace her wings with augmentations like this.” He rolled up one of his sleeves and showed them his mechanical arm. 

After letting them examine the limb for a moment he finally lowered his arm and straightened out his sleeve before continuing, “They would function just as good if not better than organic wings. Unfortunately I’m still trying to replace all the tools that I lost when my original kingdom was destroyed in a natural disaster recently, so currently I am unable to make them look organic. They would be solid metal and would be blatantly artificial. The second option is that I can use what biomancy I know to fix her current wings. The only drawback being that I am not as skilled in biomancy as I am in technomancy so while I guarantee they would function and look just fine, they may not be absolutely perfect. However if you chose the artificial wings you would likely have to wait for a few more days as I am currently out of materials and we would likely have to set up an appointment with the local hospital, plus she would likely have to be on pain killers for a few days as she recovered as it would require surgery to remove her current wings and attach the new ones. Biomancy has none of those issues, should be completely painless, and you can be present for the entire thing.”

Scootaloo’s parents looked at each other for a moment before looking back at him. “Can you excuse us for a moment? We would like to discuss this before we come to a decision.” Mane Allgood requested.

“Of course. Take all the time you need.” Gerhardt said understandingly.

“Thanks mate.” Snap Shutter said before the three of them walked out to the road away from him and had a short conversation. Gerhardt did not wish to invade their privacy so he did not increase the sensitivity of his audio processors in order to hear what they were saying. After about two minutes the three of them walked back over to him.

“How much will this operation cost?” Mane Allgood inquired.

“I try my best to keep my prices fair so that would be 486 bits for the artificial wings, that’s just 20% over the material cost so I can make somewhat of a profit as I am trying to start up a business. For the biomancy, since it costs me nothing and since I’m not quite as good at it as I am at technomancy, I’m willing to lower that price to 314 bits which is a full 35% discount.” Gerhardt informed them.

Both of Scootaloo’s parents looked completely shocked. “A-Are you sure about that, mate? That sounds extremely cheap. I’m pretty sure an operation like this would normally cost at least one or two thousand…” Snap Shutter said, sounding completely baffled.

“As I said, I try my best to keep my prices fair and to be perfectly honest I have no idea why a simple procedure like this would cost so much. It’s not as though the materials are expensive enough to warrant it. Then again I have been in the military my entire life and have never had to run a business like this before and I have never had to deal with finances before considering mages like me never actually got paid in my kingdom since we were never actually allowed to leave the military. So I honestly have no idea how civilian doctors determine costs in the first place. Regardless, the price is what it is. So which do you choose?”

“Uh… Well we all agree that we would rather have Scootaloo keep her current wings, so we would like you to use biomancy instead of replacing her wings with artificial ones.” Mane Allgood told him.

“As you wish. Would you like for me to do it now or would you prefer to schedule an appointment for a later date? I estimate that it should only take me roughly… ten to fifteen minutes. Possibly twenty depending on if there are any complications or not.” Gerhardt inquired.

Scootaloo’s mother thought about it for a moment and said, “Well, in that case, now should be fine.”

“Very well. Then feel free to come in. I do not have any furniture as I do not really need any due to my augmentations, but try to make yourselves as comfortable as you can.” Gerhardt stated before turning and walking into the living room of his house. The three of them followed him inside and one of them closed the door behind them.

As soon as they were all inside, Gerhardt sat down on his legs and requested, “Miss Scootaloo, could you please sit in front of me so I may begin?”

“Sure!” She said happily before walking over and sitting down in front of him. Gerhardt raised a hand above Scootaloo’s head and a copper colored aura enveloped her wings. “Oh, that feels really weird.” She said as the copper aura enveloped her wings.

“If at any point you feel uncomfortable or in pain I need you to inform me immediately so I may undo whatever it is I did.” Gerhardt told her in a very serious tone.

“Nah, it doesn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable or anything like that. It just feels really weird. Sort of like my skin and feathers are moving.” She said looking back at her wings.

“That’s because they are moving. Your bones and muscles are moving too so you might be able to feel that as well if you decide to focus on it. I am currently having to use my magic to make them grow as well as repair a few minor issues I believe I have found. Were I better at biomancy this likely wouldn’t take nearly as long as it will, but I’m trying my best to be as careful as possible to ensure I don’t make any mistakes.” He explained.

“So, Mr. Mechanica, earlier you said that you’re trying to start up a business here. What is it that you do exactly?” Mane Allgood inquired, apparently trying to make small talk while Gerhardt worked.

“I’m a technomancer. I combine magic and technology to make machines. These machines can range from the augmentations that make up my body, to weapons, and even to simple cleaning golems. Recently I even built an animal from my home kingdom as a gift for an individual named Fluttershy as she was quite afraid of me.” Gerhardt stated.

“Built an animal? You mean like a toy?” Snap Shutter asked, somewhat confused by Gerhardt’s wording.

“No. I mean I built an actual honest to the gods animal. It may be made of metal like me, but like me it is still very much alive. It was actually the first truly sentient golem that I have ever built. Though I can understand why you might have that misconception since that is very likely the first true artificial intelligence this world has ever seen. Even I am not an actual artificial intelligence. I used to be fully organic. Now all that’s left of my old organic body is my frontal lobe.”

They continued to make small talk for a while. Eventually fifteen minutes passed and Gerhardt finally lowered his hand. Looking at the wings on Scootaloo’s back he frowned. They were a bit larger than they should have been. They weren’t freakishly large, but they were still bigger than they should have been. With a frustrated huff he said, “They’re a bit larger than they should be but they should function just fine. I might be able to fix that if you want but it would take a bit longer.”

Scootaloo looked at her wings and happily exclaimed, “What? No way! This is awesome! Thank you so much Mr. Mechanica! I can’t wait to try them out!”

Scootaloo’s parents smiled happily. Snap Shutter reached into a pouch on his saddle bags and pulled out a large sack of bits. “Here ya go, mate. Six hundred bits.”

Gerhardt stood up and looked at him. “You do realize that you're overpaying by almost double, right? The price was only 314.”

“Yeah I know. It’s just that I’d feel like I’m rippin’ you off if I gave you any less. I don’t know if you realize how much you just helped my daughter but this is my way of showing how grateful we all are for it.” Scootaloo’s father said, holding out the bag of bits.

Gerhardt walked over and took the bag. “I suppose if you’re certain…” Gerhardt said somewhat reluctantly. “Well there shouldn’t be any complications, but if anything does come up then please feel free to come back. I’ll be more than happy to give you a full refund and fix the issue to the best of my abilities.”

The three of them nodded at him and said their goodbyes before leaving his house.

Looking at the sack of coins in his hand he already knew exactly what to do with it. Setting it against the wall next to the fireplace, he opened a portal to the Carousel Boutique. There was an open sign on the door so he walked inside. Hearing him come in, Rarity looked up from what she was doing and said, “Hello Mr. Mechanica. What brings you here today? I imagine it’s because you would like me to repair your clothes, correct?”

“Actually no, though I do plan on asking you to do so at some point after I commission my more formal uniform. I’m actually working on a new project and I would like to commission you to make a different set of clothes. Might you have a piece of paper I could borrow? I could draw you a picture of what I have in mind and give you all of the measurements.” Gerhardt requested.

“Of course! Give me a moment.” Rarity said before going to retrieve a piece of paper. Coming back with the paper she levitated it over to him.

Gerhardt took the paper out of the air, took out his fountain pen, created a shield in the air in front of him, and proceeded to use the shield as a surface to write on. He drew a simple robe that was similar in design to his and a simple pair of pants, and wrote out all the measurements with lines pointing to what measurements were for what part of the clothes. When he was finished he put the cap back on his fountain pen and put it away, picked up the paper, and let the shield fall. He then used his own telekinesis to levitate the paper back over to Rarity.

She took the paper from him and examined it for a moment before a confused expression spread across her face. “Um… Mr. Mechanica… I don’t mean to question your measurements but judging by what you’ve written here these clothes seem rather small for one of your significant stature… Also, they are dreadfully bland.”

“That’s because they definitely aren’t meant for me. As I said, I am working on a new project. These clothes are for that project, not me. Also, it’s supposed to be at least somewhat bland. It’s for everyday use like my current robes, not special occasions like the formal uniform I will be commissioning from you in the future will be. You may think of my sketch as a template and tweak the design somewhat if you wish, as long as you don’t go overboard and you keep in mind that it shouldn’t be too excessively ornate. Also, I would very much appreciate it if you could keep the project I’m working on secret until I’m actually ready to unveil it. I would be absolutely devastated if it’s existence were to be revealed before it’s actually ready.” He told her.

“Alright my lips are sealed, but what is it that you’re working on if you don’t mind me asking? Judging by the design of these clothes it almost seems as though you’re building another smaller version of yourself.” Rarity inquired.

“That’s close to what I have in mind, but no. I will not be building a second me. Just one of me is already more than enough in my personal opinion. As for what it is exactly I will be building, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to find out like everyone else. In fact, you’re the only one I have told about this particular project in the first place and that’s strictly out of necessity because what I’m building needs clothes and I do not have any idea where to buy fabric nor am I a professional tailor like you. Anyways, could you give me an estimate as to how much this will cost?”

“Hm… Let’s say… One hundred and fifty bits, and I’ll even repair your current attire for no extra cost.” Rarity offered.

“Er… The price is more than fair, but… um… I think I would prefer not to remove my clothes. At least not until I have other clothes to change into.” Gerhardt said somewhat uncomfortably.

“Oh? Why not?” Rarity inquired, not understanding what the issue was with him removing his clothes.

“Cultural differences. In my kingdom it is considered indecent to walk around without clothes. I believe this is at least partially due to the fact that my species can not hide our more “delicate” areas like your species appears to be able to, plus we lack fur so clothes help us regulate our body temperature. My body is mainly made up of augmentations and I do not care to make it look like my old organic body so I no longer have these issues so technically I could walk around without them, however given my society’s culture I still find it somewhat embarrassing to be seen without any clothes.” Gerhardt informed her.

“I see. I’m so sorry Mr. Mechanica I honestly did not mean to make you uncomfortable. If that’s the case then I will not press the issue any further. Just know that after you do eventually commission your new uniform from me, the offer still stands.” Rarity said with a friendly smile.

“Thank you, Miss Rarity. That is very generous of you. I shall keep that in mind.” He stated, before creating a portal back to his lab and grabbing the sack of bits that he had just received. Using telekinesis he counted out exactly one hundred and fifty bits and set them all in several neat stacks on a nearby table. “There, exactly one hundred and fifty bits. Now, I shall let you get back to work. Good day, Miss Rarity.”

“You’re quite welcome. Good day, Mr. Mechanica.” Rarity responded as Gerhardt turned and left the boutique.
> Chapter 9 (Rewrite) (Version 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After commissioning the clothes for the golem he was planning on building, Gerhardt left the Carousel Boutique and instead of heading back to his lab he made his way into the Everfree Forest. While Rarity was already going to make the golem’s clothes, since the ponies obviously lacked feet there were no cobblers in this town that he could hire to make the golem’s boots. He knew that sometimes shoes were made out of some sort of thick and durable fabric, however he didn’t know where to buy such fabric and he didn’t want to waste materials building a device specifically to make shoes since the only ones in the world that actually needed shoes would be him and that golem. So he was going to need to make them himself by hand and for that he needed leather. The ponies obviously weren’t carnivores so he highly doubted leather was sold anywhere in Equestria. As such he needed to go hunt an animal, take its hide, and make the leather himself.

Taking out his teleportation pistol as he entered the forest he switched the safety off and increased the range of his sensors from 50 to 100 feet. With that, his hunt was on. After about an hour into his hunt he had accidentally stumbled across a bog and saw several crocodiles. He had been planning on hunting a bear or something but a crocodile would work just fine. Grabbing one with a telekinetic spell he lifted it into the air and shot it in the head, killing it instantly. Drawing the combat knife attached to the belt of his pants, he levitated the crocodile’s corpse over to himself and proceeded to skin it. Once he had its hide, he opened a portal to one of the rooms on the second floor of his lab, used telekinesis to fold up the skin and levitated it through the portal before closing the portal behind it. He would head back to his lab and begin treating the crocodile hide to turn it into usable leather after he disposed of the now skinless carcass.

With a simple but powerful fire spell he quickly incinerated the crocodile’s corpse and let the ashes fall to the ground in the forest. The ashes would serve as fertilizer for the plants, which would serve as food for the herbivores that inhabited the forest, which would serve as food for the other crocodiles. It was just the basic food chain and humans were apex predators, so while he personally didn’t need to eat he felt zero remorse over killing a single animal. He needed its skin so he took it, then he discarded the rest of the body so even in death it could continue to perpetuate the cycle of natural selection. Thus the nature spirits that inhabited the Everfree shouldn’t have any issue with his actions. Especially since it was a one off. He had no intention of having to come back and do this again at any point. Once his lab was more set up he could simply grow any animal hides he needed in vats.

With that done he returned to his lab and began treating the crocodile hide. He didn’t have the right materials to do so and he didn’t know where to buy them, so he was forced to use magic as a substitute. It took about half an hour but he finally had usable leather. Now he just needed to cut it into the shapes he needed and then wait until he had the machine to make metal thread and fabric so he could use some steel thread to sew it all together. He would be making the soles out of hard rubber and would be giving it snap on straps since the only boot laces in this world were his and he sort of needed them for his own boots. He would make a better set of boots for the golem at some point later on.

Technically, it’s feet would be made of metal so it could walk around barefoot just fine. However that risked causing them unnecessary damage which would mean he would have to conduct maintenance on it more frequently. So while it could walk around barefoot giving it boots was simply the best option for both it and him. One could never say that he didn’t try his best to take as good of care of his machines and subordinates as he possibly could. Many technomancers he had met in the past wouldn’t bother going this far for a golem, even if it were sapient like this one would be. Either way he had to wait until he got the materials to make the rubber and black shoe polish before he began making the actual boots themselves. Until then, he got back to work studying the black crystals that King Sombra had made.

The next day his materials arrived and he got to work building that machine to make metal fabric for Rarity. That took about two and a half days. When it was finished he loaded it with a bit of steel and made the thread he would need for the golem’s boots. Then he loaded it with some gold and silver and made two spools of metal thread for Rarity. Opening a portal to the Carousel Boutique, he informed Rarity that he had built the machine to make metal fabric and thread. He then handed her the two spools of gold and silver thread as samples. Those two were free since she offered to repair his robes essentially for free, but he fully planned on charging her for any more than that. She thanked him for the thread and immediately ordered several lengths of gold and silver fabric.

He informed her the fabric would be ready in two days and immediately returned to his lab and loaded the machine with the materials it would need to make the fabric. Then he got to work building the golem and improving upon the design of the love generator for the changelings. Currently he would be working on building the golem’s body. Its brain would come last after he figured out just what the hell was up with these “Elements of Harmony”. First Twilight Sparkle was talking about them as if they were philosophical concepts, then he learns they’re actual physical artifacts. He was confused and he hated being confused. He was going to get to the bottom of this one way or another.

To that end, after the lengths on metal fabric that Rarity had ordered were complete and he had delivered them to her, he then took a few minutes to head to Golden Oak Library to read any books Twilight had on these “Elements of Harmony”. It only took him about three and a half minutes to read every book that was in the library on the subject. Apparently they were both powerful magical artifacts as well as philosophical concepts. That was frustrating, but at least he wouldn’t have to change his plans of including the “Elements of Harmony” in the golem he was building.

Twilight came over a few times for more lessons in technomancy, so he was forced to hide the body of the golem he was working on in the rooms on the second floor whenever she was there and work on the love generator for the changelings instead. He would hide it in the lower floors, but the first room was less than a quarter of the way finished. He still had a lot of digging to do, a lot of dirt to turn into granite, and lights to make before it was ready for use.

Then one day his sensors detected a surprisingly large number of Earth ponies approaching his lab. Opening a portal to the second story floor of his house, he carefully set the body of the golem down in the room before closing the portal behind it. Then before he could make his way over to the front door to his lab to see what in the world was going on, both the front and back doors burst open and a horde of Pinkie Pies came swarming in. Blinking in surprise, he demanded, “What is the meaning of this?! How are there so many of you?! Wait, don’t touch that!” The Pinkie Pies began messing with his equipment chanting, ““““Fun! Fun! Fun!””””

“Stop! Stop touching my equipment! Alright that’s it!” Gerhardt shouted at them before drawing his teleportation pistol, switching the safety off, and pointing it at them. “ALL OF YOU GET OUT OF MY LAB THIS INSTANT, OR SO HELP ME I WILL MAKE YOU ALL LEAVE BY FORCE!” His voice was heavily distorted by his sheer outrage over their complete lack of respect for him and his property.

All of them paused and gave a collective disappointed ““““Awww…”””” before making their way out of his lab. Detecting one upstairs in the room his golem’s body was located he switched the safety back on and put his pistol back in its holster before immediately marching upstairs. Aggressively grabbing the Pinkie Pie by the scruff of her neck and carrying her back down stairs, he cast a mental illusion spell on her to make her forget the last five minutes so she wouldn’t go talking about his golem since it was supposed to remain a secret until he was ready to unveil it. Then he threw her out the front door of his house before slamming it shut and locking it. He then proceeded to do the same to his back door.

He had no idea what was going on or how on earth there were so many Pinkie Pies but he assumed some sort of magic was involved and either way he wanted absolutely no part of whatever this was. So with both of his doors now locked, he proceeded to survey the damage that had been done to his equipment. Fortunately nothing was broken but now his lab was a gods damned mess. As such he spent a few minutes using mass telekinesis to clean everything up and put everything back where they belonged, then he got back to work on his golem. Fortunately it’s body hadn’t been damaged.

He continued working for a few more days and one time actually had the Changeling that was currently staying in Ponyville come over to test his new iteration of the love generator. It functioned well enough and apparently the taste was now bearable but it was still taking damage far too quickly for it to be useful. By his calculations it could survive maybe a day or two of being fed on before requiring maintenance. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he got that up to several months at least. He did not make machines that were anything less than the highest possible quality.

Eventually, however, Rarity came by and delivered the clothes she had made for the golem he was building. She also informed him that she absolutely loved the gold and silver metal fabrics that she bought from him and as such ordered four more lengths of both, two of each.

As Gerhardt examined the clothes, it was clear to him that Rarity had apparently used some of that gold and silver fabric in its construction. The robe had a silver trim and golden pentagrams surrounded by gears on either shoulder just like Gerhardt’s robe — though it lacked the runes that were beneath the gears on his robes. It also had several beautiful blue sapphires sewn into it near the cuffs of the sleeves and inside the points of the pentagrams on the shoulders as well as a bit of beautiful gold and silver scrollwork in several places, though it didn’t look gaudy like Gerhardt’s old formal uniform. There was also a small silver gear surrounding a stylized golden heart near the cuff of either sleeve between two of the sapphires, as what Gerhardt could only assume was some sort of joke or play on words about his name. The buckle of the belt that would hold the robes closed was also made of gold and had some beautiful scrollwork engraved into it.

All in all, the robe was more ornate then he would have liked considering these were clothes meant for everyday use, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as he had feared. It was somewhere in between the two. The pants were pretty much the same as the robe, up to and including its belt.

Having received the clothes he folded them up and set them in one of the rooms upstairs and got to work making the boots for the golem. He had already made the rubber for the soles, the black shoe polish, and the steel thread so all he had left to do was cut the crocodile leather into shape and put it all together. He finished the boots in a few hours. He probably could have gotten it done faster if he really wanted to, however he was a master technomancer not a master cobbler so he took his time to ensure his work was as perfect as it could possibly be.

With the golem’s clothes done he went back to the main work area of his lab and got back to work on the golem, only to hear a knock on his door a few minutes later. With a sigh he set down his tools and walked over to his front door. Opening it up he saw a grey pegasus with eyes that were not perfectly aligned. Apparently her name was Derpy Hooves and she had heard about how he had fixed Scootaloo’s wings, so she had come over to see if he could fix her eyes. As such Gerhardt offered her the same choice that he had offered scootaloo and her parents, he could either replace one of her eyes with an artificial one or he could try to realign them with biomancy. She was surprised by how cheap his prices were just like Scootaloo’s parents had been, and unsurprisingly she requested that he just realign them with biomancy.

Creating an optical illusion of a white square with a black x in the middle, he had her look at it and had her help guide him in the realignment. The process was far simpler than fixing Scootaloo’s wings had been so it only took about five minutes. When it was done she paid him and thanked him for his assistance before leaving. When she was gone, he wondered if this would start becoming a regular thing. Ponies coming over to have him fix their defects with biomancy. Not that he would be opposed to such a thing as it was another source of income and it cost him nothing which meant he could purchase even more materials, but he wasn’t a medical mage or biomancer.

This made him wish that Isabel or at least one of the other professional medical mages were there with him so they could deal with the medical side of things while he could just focus on the technological side of things. He was glad that neither Isabel nor any of the other medical mages were there with him, of course, as the Human Kingdom needed them now more than ever, but the point remained. Naturally they were far better suited to such tasks then he was while he was far better suited to dealing with technology then they were.

Eventually, however, he ran out of materials to work with and as such he had to inform Twilight that his schedule was finally free, as per their deal. His storage shed was also starting to fill up with empty crates so he decided to take them apart and use them to create a bit of furniture. Mainly tables for him to put more tools and machinery on. Though he did make a bench for ponies to sit on during biomancy procedures and a couple of smaller tables which he placed in the recreational lounge of his lab to display his wares on when his business was fully up and running.

Twilight informed him that his second friendship lesson was with Pinkie Pie, and he was already dreading it. Out of all of the ponies he knew, she was probably the one he liked the least. Regardless, on the date and time that Twilight had scheduled Gerhardt took a moment to mentally prepare himself before opening a portal to Sugar Cube Corner and stepping through it. As soon as he was on the other side Pinkie Pie all but appeared in front of him as if from nowhere. Once again his sensors failed to detect her approach, which still perturbed him.

“Hiya Gears! Are you ready for your super duper funerific lesson in friendship and laughter?” Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully.

Gerhardt sighed and closed the portal behind him. “Let’s just get this over with…” He muttered, his reluctance very clear in his voice.

“Aww… Don’t be like that, Gears. It’ll be fun, and that’s a Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie stated happily.

“Miss Pie… There is an old saying in my kingdom. That saying is: don’t make promises you can’t keep. I believe I have completely lost the capacity to have “fun” centuries ago during my time as a High Lord. In all my years of living there has only ever been one thing that I have ever truly enjoyed. That being my work as a technomancer building, repairing, improving upon, inventing, and experimenting with various machines. Unfortunately my duties as the High Lord of the R&D branch has sucked all of the happiness, enjoyment, pride, and satisfaction out of my work leaving nothing behind but stress and anxiety. In the past eight hundred years there have only been two things I have legitimately enjoyed, the first was building Goldy the sentient golem I made for Miss Fluttershy while the other is building something that shall remain a secret for the moment. So I sincerely doubt that there is absolutely anything you can do to make this experience “fun” for me. Nor should you even bother trying as, if I’m not mistaken, this is meant to be educational not “fun”.”

Pinkie Pie was actually tearing up a little as she heard Gerhardt say this. “Gears… When was the last time you even so much as smiled?” She inquired sadly.

“A few seconds after Goldy was first activated. Before that, however, the last time I smiled was exactly 642 years ago after learning that the individual who started the First Necromantic War had been killed in battle by a Combat Mage from the Army Branch. The last time I smiled before that was before I became a high lord 807 years ago. Why?” Gerhardt asked, not understanding how him smiling was even remotely relevant to anything.

Pinkie Pie looked absolutely devastated by this news, though for the life of him he couldn’t understand why. “That’s horrible! This is way worse than I thought! That settles it. I’m going to teach you how to have fun and smile again!”

Gerhardt sighed in frustration and inquired, “Miss Pie, what in the world does this have to do with friendship?”

“What does it have to do with friendship? It has everything to do with friendship!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Then she proceeded to break out into a song about smiling, laughter, fun, and friendship. Oddly enough it was even accompanied by music that seemed to be emanating from nowhere. Even stranger, Gerhardt felt a very strong compulsion to sing along with her for some reason but managed to resist it. However he was forced to lock his jaws shut and shut down his vocalizer and completely cut off his ability to speak at all in order to do so. Pinkie Pie tried to convince him to sing along with her but failed miserably. Other than humming his lullaby to himself whenever he was alone in order to help himself relax, he simply refused to sing. Thus Pinkie Pie’s song very quickly came grinding to a halt.

The majority of the rest of the day was spent with Pinkie Pie trying everything she could think of in an attempt to get him to loosen up a bit and laugh or even so much as smile in an attempt to teach him the value of laughter. All of her attempts failed miserably. The sun was starting to set by the time she finally ran out of ideas. She apologized for failing to teach him how to have fun and smile again but declared that she wasn’t going to give up. The only thing that had been even remotely productive about the day was that he had managed to convince her to let him scan her so he could learn how Earth pony magic worked.

Like pegasi and unicorns magic was constantly flowing through their bodies via a system of nerve-like structures. Similar to how pegasi had denser clusters of these structures in their wings to allow them to fly, the earth ponies had denser clusters of them in their legs which granted them super strength and abnormally high endurance. Also similar to how the pegasi’s structures were “tuned” in such a way as to grant them some level of control over the weather, the earth ponies’ were tuned in such a way as to grant them some level of control over plants.

With nothing else to do until his next shipment of materials arrived, Gerhardt got back to digging and turning the walls, floor, and roof of the underground level of his lab from dirt into solid granite. This process was sped up and made significantly more efficient by the fact that he had ordered the materials to make the alchemical reagent that was normally used with the spell to convert dirt into granite. Or at least a very simplified and primitive version of the alchemical reagent. It wasn’t nearly as fast or efficient as it would have been with the real thing but it was still far more efficient then just using the spell on its own.

Once he got his next shipment of materials he spent a few more days working on the golem before it was finally finished at which point he put all of its clothes on its body for it. With that done he opened a portal to Golden Oak Library and proceeded to knock on the door. “Miss Twilight, are you home?” He asked.

“Yes, feel free to come in.” She called back to him from the other side of the door.

“Actually, Miss Sparkle, as per your orders I have made a new friend before the end of this month and if you aren’t too terribly busy at the moment I would like to introduce you to them. They are currently waiting to meet you in my lab. It should only take a few minutes but if this is a bad time, I can introduce you to them at a later date.” He said, keeping the fact that this “friend” was a golem that he had built a secret for the moment.

“Oh, of course! Give me a minute and I’ll be right out!” Twilight responded, sounding quite excited. After exactly two minutes and fifty one seconds the door opened up and Twilight came walking out of the library. Gerhardt walked back through the portal and waited for her on the other side. Once she was inside his lab, Gerhardt closed the portal behind her as she began looking around. “Where’s this friend you wanted to introduce me to?” Then she spotted the currently inactive golem sitting on the new wooden table in the middle of his lab. 

It was about the size of an average four or five year old, so it was a little under half of Gerhardt’s height. The exterior of its body was made of the purest silver that Gerhardt could get his hands on. Despite the fact it was made out of metal, however, it still looked far more human than Gerhardt himself did. It had two of the clearest and most perfect sapphires Gerhardt could find for eyes (which just so happened to have been pink), a small nose, and the plates that made up its face were specifically designed to look exactly like an androgynous human face save for the fact its mouth had clear separations in between the plates that made it up so as to allow the plates to slide in many various ways so the golem could make expressions. It had steel teeth that were exactly like Gerhardts, except it actually had a throat, tongue, and small ducts that would produce a mostly harmless chemical that would help prevent its teeth from rusting and would help it break down food. 

Considering Pinkie Pie’s issues with him being unable to eat, he had included features in this golem that would allow it to eat. It even had a small artificial stomach that would break down anything it ate before incinerating the left over mush in order to convert it into extra energy. Furthermore considering Princess Luna’s issues with him being unable to sleep he had even given it the ability to sleep, though it didn’t actually ever need to do so. He had also considered building it with the magic of the ponies, but had ultimately decided against it for the moment since the materials he could spare were limited and he had already granted it extra features that it didn’t really need.

“Oh…” Slapping a hoof against her face she groaned in frustration and said, “Gerhardt, you know full well that this isn’t what I meant when I told you to make a friend.”

“It isn’t? Oh. My mistake.” Gerhardt said, playing ignorant despite the fact that he was indeed fully aware that this isn’t what Twilight meant. “Regardless, I have followed your orders to the letter and made a friend before the end of this month. So, I would like to introduce you to it all the same. Please wait for a moment.” He said before raising his hands. One of them was surrounded by his usual copper colored aura as he cast the spell to activate the golem, while his other hand was engulfed in an ethereal green aura as he used necromancy to ensure the conditions present when its soul formed would make it a mage, and a very powerful one at that. The golem was engulfed by both auras which seemed to meld together for a moment before its near perfect pink sapphire eyes snapped open and began to glow and it looked straight at him before giving him a large toothy smile.

Once the golem was active Gerhardt released his spells and opened his mouth to speak, but the golem cut him off before he could by shouting, “Daddy!” It’s voice sounded surprisingly feminine and child-like, and its mouth moved perfectly in sync with its words. It then jumped off the table and ran over to him before wrapping its tiny arms around his legs in a big hug. Its movements looked completely natural and not unsettling in the least, unlike Gerhardt’s.

Gerhardt didn’t even blink in surprise, instead he just completely froze up having absolutely no idea what to make of this situation. Had it just called him, “Daddy”? Taking a couple of microseconds to play and replay that particular memory inside his head, he confirmed that it had indeed called him that. He found this both completely baffling and absolutely terrifying. He had programmed it to recognize him as it’s creator and its friend, but he most certainly had not programmed it to think of him as it’s father. Then again, he had created it so he was indeed its father in a certain way. Its soul was new, it had knowledge but absolutely no memories, and it was small so he could save materials on building it. He had just built a gods damned child! This realization terrified him even more. How had he not considered this possibility before he began building it?! He was completely overwhelmed as a million different thoughts began running through his mind all at once.

Twilight looked just as surprised as Gerhardt felt for a moment before her expression changed to a warm smile. “Awww! That’s so cute! Though I will admit I’m a bit surprised but it’s still really cute. So what’s this adorable little golem’s name?”

Hearing Twilight’s voice the golem turned its head and looked at her, though it continued to hug Gerhardt’s legs. “Daddy, who’s this? Ooh and what is my name?!” It asked excitedly.

“Uh… Apologies but both of you please give me a moment. I’m afraid that I need to consider a few things.” Gerhardt said before he overclocked his brain and drastically sped up his perception of time so as to give himself time to consider his options and figure out what he should do about this situation. This was bad, very bad. He had no interest in taking care of a child, he knew he would be a terrible father, and he didn’t want to have such an easily exploitable weakness as family but what could he do about it? It wasn’t like he could just kill the golem and try again. Well, technically it was well within his power to do so, however such a thing would be morally reprehensible so he simply refused to do so. He was a soldier not a murderer.

He couldn’t just kill it, he couldn’t just manipulate its mind to force it to stop considering him its father, he couldn’t just abandon it, and he couldn’t just put it up for adoption since he was the only one in the world who could actually take care of it. What options did that leave him with...? He honestly couldn’t think of anything. No options that he liked anyways. The only thing he could think of was to keep the golem and allow it to continue to consider him its father. However if he did that then he would have no choice but to lie and pretend that he loved it, which he obviously did not. He was very accustomed to lying, however this golem was just as immortal as he was. So how long could he possibly keep up the deception? Because if he went down this route then he very well might have to try to keep up the lie for the rest of eternity if someone or something didn’t kill either him or the golem in the meantime.

Keeping up a lie for weeks was a matter of simplicity in and of itself. Keeping up a lie for months was a bit more challenging but was still extremely easy for him. Keeping up a lie for a few years was not difficult but it wasn’t easy either. Keeping up a lie for decades was quite challenging but still possible. Keeping up a lie for anything over a century or more was extremely difficult if not damn near impossible. So keeping up a lie for an eternity — even a lie so simple as this — would be effectively impossible and the resulting fallout once it was inevitably discovered would be disastrous.

With his brain overclocked as it currently was time seemed to stretch on for hours upon hours for him as he wracked his brain trying his damndest to think of a solution to this conundrum, however in real time only ten seconds had passed. Unfortunately as a full ten seconds had passed according to his chronometer, Gerhardt was forced to let his perception of time return to normal. It seemed that he was just going to have to pretend for now until he could find another more permanent solution.

“Thank you both for your patience. This is Twilight Sparkle, an acquaintance of mine. Unfortunately I am having a bit of trouble thinking of a name for you, little one.” He lied. He hadn’t been thinking about a name for it at all, but he wasn’t about to inform them what he had actually been thinking about for those ten seconds. He knew that it probably wouldn’t go over well if he were to inform them of the truth, which was the very reason that this was such a problem in the first place. “Well, you are able to talk so how about I let you name yourself?”

The little golem gasped excitedly. “I can choose my own name? Then I choose Gerhardt!” It said before hugging his legs even tighter.

“No no. That’s my name. You should choose your own original name. It would be hard to differentiate us if we both had the same name” Gerhardt stated, still trying to think of a solution for this problem. He hated the fact that he had created this golem in the first place. Not because he hated the golem itself, not even close. He was actually quite proud of his creation. It was likely the best work he had ever done, especially considering how limited his current tools and materials were at the moment. The reason he hated the fact that he had created it was because he knew full well how awful of a father he would be, especially considering the fact that he honestly couldn’t bring himself to actually love the golem as a parent should. A child like it deserved far better than him.

The golem pouted and looked up at him. “But… I want to be just like you, daddy…” It said sadly.

Those words actually hurt somewhat. He knew how awful of a person he was, how unhealthy his lifestyle was, and how terrible his life had been. He was very aware that many individuals in the human kingdom — especially in the R&D branch — saw him as a role model and some one to look up to. He had always hated that fact ever since he first learned of it. As such he hated the fact that this little golem also looked up to him and saw him as a role model. He didn’t want anyone to try to be like him, especially not children like this.

The golem released him as he knelt down and placed his hands on its  shoulders, looking it straight in the eyes. “No… Please… For the love of the gods don’t be like me… I’m… I’m an awful person and you deserve to have a far better life than mine… I am not someone you should try to emulate… So many bright young engineers and technomancers have tried and — aside from a few notable exceptions — it has almost always ended in disaster for any who have ever attempted it. Instead always strive to be better than me in every capacity, little one. Strive to be a better technomancer, to be a better mage, to be a better person, and to live a far better life. You deserve so much more than to live in my shadow forever trying to emulate an ancient failure like me...” He pleaded in a very tired tone as he suddenly felt every bit his age, metaphorically speaking. Physically he felt just fine, but mentally and emotionally he felt absolutely ancient.

As soon as he was finished speaking the little golem wrapped its arms around the back of his neck and said, “No! Daddy is the best in the world! You made me after all, so you have to be the best person ever! Why are you being so mean to yourself, daddy?”

Twilight watched the scene with a large smile on her face, trying her best to remain silent so as to not ruin the moment despite the fact she couldn’t understand a word they were saying considering the two of them were speaking in the Human Language. Eventually Gerhardt released the little golem, and tried to stand back up. This time, however, the little golem kept its arms wrapped around his neck so he ended up picking it up off the ground. Seeing as it seemed like the golem was going to let go any time soon Gerhardt sighed before putting one arm beneath its legs and beginning to carry it in earnest, much to it’s delight.

Looking at Twilight he said, “I apologize Miss Sparkle. This is not how I expected this would go. If I knew that I had built a child rather than a friend and lab assistant, I would not have interrupted whatever you were doing and brought you here.” He left unsaid the fact that if he had known that this would be the result, he would have just dismantled the golem before he ever activated it and would have repurposed the materials for some other project.

Twilight just smiled at him and said, “It’s fine, Gerhardt. I’m glad you brought me here to introduce me to your new daughter! Speaking of which, what do you say I go get the others to introduce them to her?”

“Daughter…? Her…?” Gerhardt inquired in confusion.

“Well, of course. We can’t just call her “it” now can we? Besides, she’s obviously a girl. Just look at her eyes and listen to her voice.” Twilight pointed out.

“I suppose…” Gerhardt said somewhat hesitantly. He did see Twilight’s point but he still found the idea of a golem being either male or female to be extremely odd. Then again, he was male and he was just a step away from being a golem himself so perhaps it wasn’t really that strange. “Is that fine with you, little one? You technically have no sex since you’re a golem and I did not build you with any reproductive parts.”

“Mhm!” The little golem nodded with a large smile on its face.

“Very well. Then it is decided, you are my daughter. Now to answer your question, Miss Sparkle, I suppose they are going to learn about her sooner or later, so we may as well get it over with.” Gerhardt stated, hiding how extremely reluctant he was to call the golem his daughter.

“Alright then! I’ll be back in a little while. In the meantime you two should talk and get to know each other.” She said before turning and walking to Gerhardt’s front door.

“Good bye, Miss Twilight!” Gerhardt’s new daughter exclaimed cheerfully.

“Good bye, I’ll talk to you later!” Twilight responded just before she walked out the door and closed it behind her.

“Shall we take this into the recreational lounge?” Gerhardt inquired, looking down at the golem. “I feel like I need to sit down for a moment… This is… It's a lot for me to process...” He sighed tiredly. This was not something he ever wanted to deal with, but now it seemed that he had no choice but to roll with the punches.

“Okay!” She said happily, leaning her head into his chest with a large grin on her face.

Gerhardt carried her into the living room and sat down against a wall with his daughter sitting in his lap with her arms still wrapped around his neck. He would have sat on the wooden bench he had made instead of the floor, but it was much too small for him considering the fact he had built it for the ponies rather than himself. Both of them were silent for a solid five minutes before Gerhardt finally said, “Well little one, I downloaded some information into your memory banks but not much so I assume you have quite a few questions for me. You may ask whatever you wish and I will answer you to the best of my abilities.”

“Oh alright… Daddy, do I have a Mommy?”

“No, little one. You do not. I do not have nor have I ever had a wife and I made you by myself. I’m sorry but I’m afraid that I’m the only family you have. However, the same can be said for me. You are the only family that I have as well. I hope this fact does not upset you, dear.” Gerhardt said in a slightly apologetic tone. He was actually somewhat sorry for that fact because if she had a mother then it was possible that she would have at least one parent who actually cared about her. As it was though, Gerhardt didn’t love her in the least even if he tried his best to pretend to.

“Nope! I don’t need a mommy as long as I have you!” She said cheerfully, hugging his neck a bit tighter.

Trying his best to pretend that he actually gave a damn, he gave her a small smile. Wrapping his arms around her to return her hug he said, “Thank you, dear. I’m very glad you feel that way.”

“I love you, Daddy.” She said happily.

“I love you too, little one.” Gerhardt lied to her with a perfect but completely fake smile on his face. He didn’t love her in the least, but he could at least tell her that he did just to make her feel better.

“Daddy, what’s the Human Kingdom like?” The golem inquired.

This time Gerhardt’s smile became at least partially genuine. He was actually somewhat glad that she was taking an interest in the place that he had dedicated the vast majority of his life to defending. He then proceeded to explain to her what he knew of the cities, the people, and the culture of the Human Kingdom while trying his best to leave out any of the darker things he knew about his world. This went on for a while before Gerhardt eventually heard her muttering some incomprehensible. Releasing her and examining her in slight concern he saw her eyes closed. Quickly establishing a wireless connection with her brain, he began running a systems diagnostic on her to see what was wrong with her. Apparently she had just gotten so relaxed that it had ended up activating her sleep function. She was currently dreaming. Deciding to respect her privacy, he disconnected from her brain rather than watching whatever she was dreaming about.

Well he couldn’t really move without risking waking her, but at least this gave him a bit more time to try and think of a solution to this little conundrum of his without any distractions. So that’s just what he did, continue to think about possible solutions to this unfortunate situation.

[Meanwhile in the Dream Realm]

Princess Luna was currently tormenting herself with nightmares about Nightmare Moon, as a form of penance for what she had done and to ensure she would never do anything so foolish ever again. That was until she sensed another presence that she had never felt before entering the Dream Realm. It was unusual for individuals to sleep during the day, unless they were herself or bat ponies. However this presence didn’t feel like a bat pony. It didn’t feel like a pony at all! It was a presence unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Curious, she temporarily banished her self imposed nightmare and went to investigate this unexplained presence. Quickly locating the dream in question, she entered it in order to find out who it belonged to. As soon as she did, she found herself in the middle of what looked like the living room of a small house. Except the living room was strangely barren of any furniture except a couple empty wooden tables and a wooden bench that sat up against one of the walls. Seeing nothing in this room she looked around and saw an entryway leading to another room, past a small set of stairs. So she very quietly walked over to these stairs before cautiously peeking her head into the next room. There she witnessed the last thing she expected to ever find within the dream realm.

The next room was what appeared to have once been a kitchen but had been converted into something else entirely as it was crammed full of all these strange tools and machinery the likes of which she had never seen before. However, while it was indeed odd that in and of itself wasn’t what caught her off guard. It was the fact that she saw Gerhardt leaned over a table working on some machine or another, and he was smiling as he talked and laughed with somepony else. Leaning a bit further into this strange scene to see who he was talking to, Luna was shocked to see another smaller being that looked extremely similar to him except a lot smaller, a lot less unsettling, and made of silver instead of copper. Plus it had pink eyes instead of Gerhardt’s blue eyes. It was standing on a small wooden box to help it reach the top of the table as it helped Gerhardt with whatever he was building. Unfortunately they were speaking to each other in a language that Luna couldn’t understand so she had absolutely no idea what was going on.

For a moment she wondered if Gerhardt had given himself the ability to sleep once again. However, she very quickly dismissed the idea as completely ridiculous. She knew him well enough to understand that he was far too invested in his work to ever spend even so much as a few minutes away from it if he didn’t have to, so the thought of him sleeping was absolutely ludicrous. Especially since she knew that it was currently the middle of the day. But the only other pony that was in the dream, except for her, was the smaller creature that was standing next to him. Thinking about this for a moment, her eyes widened in realization as a thought came to her mind. However, what she was thinking sounded even more far fetched to her then the idea of Gerhardt having granted himself the ability to sleep.

She decided she needed to investigate this further and paused the dream. The only ones who would be able to move would be herself and the owner of the dream. The little creature standing next to Gerhardt turned out to be the owner of the dream as it was the one who kept moving. They seemed confused as to why Gerhardt had suddenly frozen in place, and somewhat distressed by this fact.

Luna quickly approached the little creature and said, “It’s alright. Mr. Mechanica is perfectly fine. You’re currently asleep and this is just a dream.”

The creature turned and looked at her in surprise and asked, “It is? Wow…” Her voice was very child-like and feminine, and was laced with child-like wonder as she looked around at everything. “It all looks so real!”

Luna chuckled and said, “That it does. Now, allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria and ruler of the night and dreams. What’s your name, little one? Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your relationship with Mr. Mechanica here? Did he build you?”

“Hello, Princess Luna! You’re so pretty! I haven’t thought of a name for myself yet, since Daddy won’t let me name myself “Gerhardt” after him. I’m Daddy’s daughter! He first activated me only a few minutes ago. I think I might have fallen asleep in Daddy’s arms while we were waiting for Miss Twilight to come back with her friends in order to introduce me to them.” Gerhardt’s daughter explained.

This information caught Luna completely off guard. Gerhardt had never struck her as the type to ever want to be a single father yet here she was speaking with his newborn daughter. “I see… Well thank you very much, little one, I think you are quite pretty yourself” She replied with a friendly smile. She then spent another minute or two conversing with Gerhardt’s daughter before leaving and resuming her dream. Instead of going back to her own self imposed nightmare Luna let herself wake up. Getting up out of her bed, she proceeded to start running to the throne room. Celestia was going to be so surprised when she learned Gerhardt of all ponies had a new daughter.

[Later in Ponyville]

After about an hour of sitting there with the golem in his arms thinking about what he should do he finally had an idea. He wouldn’t have to lie and pretend that he loved her when he really didn’t if he actually did love her.

Gods he didn’t want to do this because he didn’t like doing anything to any part of his brain and him loving the golem would mean he would have a weakness that could be used against him. He hated that fact with every fiber of his being. However, doing so would likely be the best for both of them. He wouldn’t have to lie to her and pretend he cared about her — quite possibly for the rest of eternity —, he wouldn’t have to constantly stress over the fact that he had built a child since he would actually love her, and she would have a parent that actually cared about her. He would still always hate the fact that he loved her but it was still far better than pretending that he loved her for who knew how long before she inevitably learned the truth and the resulting fallout inevitably blew up in his face. As such he very reluctantly proceeded to take a few milliseconds to reconfigure a few things in his E.P.U.

More time passed and Gerhardt had been sitting there with his daughter sleeping in his arms for a few hours now and the sun had set and the moon was starting to rise. By this point he believed Twilight had completely forgotten to go get her friends and was not going to be coming back. So at this point he was just waiting for his daughter to wake back up as he felt that it would be rude to wake her when he didn’t have to. Plus, after what he had done to his own E.P.U. he was actually sort of enjoying holding her like this for some reason. However, now that he actually loved her the fact that he had a daughter now was very close to as terrifying to him as his first time fighting demons had been.

What if something happened to her? What if someone tried to hurt her or hold her hostage to get to him? What if he made a mistake that unintentionally ended up hurting or killing her? What if… What if… What if… There were so many gods damned what ifs. So many possible scenarios that could end up with her getting hurt or killed. Plus he knew that he wasn’t fit to be a father. He was far too laser focused on his work and research and he didn’t understand the emotions of others and had no idea how to deal with them. How was he supposed to deal with any of this? He was a technomancer, a military leader, and occasionally even a teacher. He was not a father. Though he supposed now that his daughter was already built and activated and he had already altered his own emotions he would have to find some way to adapt to being a father and very quickly at that.

Unfortunately for him, he did not like the fact that he now loved her in the least. He honestly wished he didn’t love her and that he didn’t have to love her. His feelings were somewhat conflicting as he did love her now and was glad he had made her, but he hated the fact he felt that way in the first place and that he honestly had no choice but to feel that way. He debated whether to reconfigure some things in his E.P.U. even further in order to get rid of these conflicting feelings. On the one hand they were how he actually felt if he hadn’t modified his own emotions and he didn’t want to alter his mind any more than he already had, on the other hand they were a nuisance and would likely cause him more trouble than they were worth. That debate would go on for quite some time after this.

His thoughts were interrupted by his front door opening back up and Twilight walking in. “I’m so sorry it took me so long! The others had a million questions for me when I told them the situation. Well, either way they’re waiting for us back at the library and they’re all very eager to meet her! Also, has she decided on a name yet?”

“She is asleep and has been for several hours now. So, no. She has not decided on a name yet.” Gerhardt informed her. For some reason Twilight didn’t seem even remotely surprised by this information, which Gerhardt found rather odd. Deciding he was probably just being overly suspicious, he proceeded to gently shake his daughter and said, “Wake up dear. Miss Sparkle has finally returned.”

“Mmm…” His daughter groaned as she slowly woke back up. Looking up at him she smiled and said, “Good morning, Daddy!”

“Actually, little one, it’s night time right now. You slept through the entire day. Regardless, Miss Sparkle has returned and the others are waiting to meet you at her library. I don’t know why she didn’t just bring them here, but I suppose it doesn’t matter either way.” Gerhardt explained.

“Oh. Alright!” She said with a happy smile.

Gerhardt waited for a moment but she continued sitting on his lap. “Uh… Dear, could you please get up?” Gerhardt inquired.

His daughter pouted but reluctantly said, “Yes, Daddy…” She then proceeded to get off of him and stand up.

With her no longer sitting on his lap, Gerhardt also stood up before looking at Twilight and asking, “So, should I open a portal or should we walk there? Personally, I think it would be a good idea to walk so she can learn the route there.”

“That’s a good point. Walking should be fine, though it is a bit dark outside right now.” Twilight stated.

“That’s no issue. Both of our eyes are capable of functioning as flashlights.” Gerhardt stated. As he started walking over to the door, his daughter tried her best to keep up with him and took hold of one of his hands. He looked down at her and smiled slightly, before they both continued towards the door. Once all three of them were outside, Gerhardt and his daughter’s eyes both grew much brighter until they were emitting light like high quality flashlights. Though the light did have a tint to it due to the color of their eyes. The light Gerhardt’s eyes emitted was blue and green whereas the light his daughter’s eyes emitted was solid pink. With that they set off towards the library. It only took them a few minutes to get there.

Twilight walked inside first, but as soon as Gerhardt and his daughter walked in Twilight and her friends all shouted, ““““Surprise!”””” That was when Gerhardt noticed all the strange decorations, including a large paper banner that read ‘Happy Birthday!’ with ‘Congratulations, Gerhardt!’ written beneath it. He was also quite surprised to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both present for some reason. Equally surprising was the presence of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. It also seemed that Fluttershy had brought along Goldy for the occasion, who squeaked happily upon seeing him.

“Alright, I may not have been entirely honest when I said they had a million questions for me. I mean pretty much everypony did have at least a few questions since this sort of caught us all off guard but not that many. The real reason I took so long to come back was because we were setting up a small party for both of you. After hearing you had a new daughter Pinkie Pie insisted we throw you a party to celebrate, and I agreed to host the party here in the library. We would have done it at your house instead but everypony wanted it to be a bit of a surprise and we had no way of getting you out of there for long enough to get everything set up.” Twilight explained.

“I see.” Was the only thing Gerhardt said in response to this.

“Hello everyone! I hope we can all be friends!” Gerhardt’s daughter exclaimed with a large grin on her face as she waved her free hand in greeting.

“Wow, metal head. When I heard you had built yourself a daughter I had been expecting a miniature version of you, but just from that I can already tell she’s nothing like you at all.” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Of course she’s not. After all, I did my very best to give her some initial programming in such a way as to have the philosophical concepts behind the “Elements of Harmony” form the very basis of her personality. Honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and even magic. I realize that magic isn’t exactly a personality trait. What I mean by magic is that she can actually use magic as she is a mage like me. Though, unlike me, I have ensured that due to the conditions present during the formation of her soul she is far more powerful then I will ever be. That was the green spell you watched me cast, Miss Sparkle.” Gerhardt explained.

“Ah ha! So that’s why you came over and read all of the books we have about the Elements of Harmony!” Spike said in sudden realization.

“Wait, he did?! When?!” Twilight asked, clearly caught off guard by this information.

“Uh… I don’t know, like, a little over a week ago or something?” Spike said a bit uncertainly. “You were out taking care of some chores at the time when he came by. It only took him like five minutes or something like that to read all of the books we have about them, then he just left.”

Twilight sighed in frustration. “Well… There goes quite a few of my future lesson plans…” She muttered. This caused more than a few giggles from the other ponies.

“Oh-oh-oh! Twilight told us, you haven’t decided on a name yet! If you’re still having trouble deciding, I can help!” Pinkie Pie offered excitedly.

“Okay. Daddy’s being mean and won’t let me name myself “Gerhardt” after him, so I still haven’t decided on one yet.”

“I’m not being mean. Trust me, little one, if I let you name yourself after me you would come to regret it later on in life. Besides, Gerhardt is a male name.” Gerhardt stated.

“I never said you were being mean to me, Daddy. You’re being mean to yourself. Remember what you said after I told you that I want to be just like you?” His daughter refuted his words.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that so he just remained silent.

Pinkie thought for a moment and said, “Hmmm… If you want to be named after him but he’s not letting you name yourself “Gerhardt”, then what about “Gear Heart”? It’s the first nickname I ever thought of for him but I decided it didn’t really suit him so I shortened it to just “Gears” which suits him waaay better, so the name should be open!”

“Okay!” Gerhardt’s daughter said with a large grin on her face.

Gerhardt just sighed and said, “Ugh… Fine… She was made here in Equestria with Equestrian materials so I suppose it’s fair that she should have one name that fits Equestrian naming conventions. However, she isn’t actually a pony and that’s still far too close to my name for my liking, so she’ll still need another official name. Little one, can you think of any Human names that you would like to be called, other than mine? Hell, at this point I’d even settle for Elven or Dwarven names.”

Gear Heart raised a hand to her chin and thought about it for a moment. “Hm… Nope!”

“Gods above… Why does this have to be so damn difficult? Fine. If you can’t think of one then I suppose I will have to do so myself. Hm… I’ll let you choose. Which of these names do you like the best: Silver, Sapphire, Pixel, Elizabeth, Sophia, or Alice?” Gerhardt asked.

“Mmm… Silver and Alice sound nice… but I think I like Pixel the best!” His daughter said.

“As you wish. Your name is officially Pixel Gear-Heart Mechanica.” Gerhardt stated definitively.

“Yay! Thank you Daddy!” Pixel exclaimed with a large grin on her face before releasing his hand and hugging his legs.

“Aw! This is so sweet!” Pinkie Pie stated happily.

“Ah yes, speaking of sweet, Miss Pie, I think you’ll be happy to know that due to your concerns about me not being able to eat, I have built Pixel so that she actually can eat and drink, unlike me. She even has a tongue so she can actually taste her food and drinks. Also, Princess Luna, since you were so upset about the fact that I neither sleep nor go out at night I have also granted her the ability to sleep.” Gerhardt explained.

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Really?! That’s awesome! I can’t wait to show her all kinds of yummy foods! In fact, I brought some cake and cupcakes to celebrate so she can try some of those! Ooh, if I had known you made her able to eat I would have brought even more! Oh well. I made extra anyway!”

“What’s cake?” Pixel inquired. The information that Gerhardt had downloaded into her brain did not extend to food since he himself didn’t know much about food and didn’t really care to learn about it.

Both Pinkie Pie and Princess Celestia gasped in horror. “You don’t know what cake even is?! You need to try some, stat!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed before retrieving a slice of cake and handing it to Pixel in a few milliseconds. Gerhardt wondered just how in the infernal realm she had managed to do that.

Now holding onto a plate containing a slice of cake but lacking a spoon or a fork to eat it with, a silver aura surrounded one of Pixel’s hands and the slice of cake as she picked it up with a telekinetic spell and levitated it closer to her mouth. She then proceeded to take a small experimental bite and as soon as the cake touched her tongue her eyes started glowing brighter and a surprised expression engulfed her face. She then proceeded to absolutely devour the rest of the slice of cake. Gerhardt was almost surprised she didn’t end up eating the plate it was on as well, he was pretty sure he hadn’t even seen her chewing her food. When she was done, her face was a mess but she had the largest smile on her face that Gerhardt had ever seen. He cast a quick spell and cleaned her face off for her.

Luna chuckled to herself and said, “It seems young Pixel and my sister have something in common, their intense love of cake.” Celestia shot Luna an annoyed glare, which Luna completely ignored. “Anyways, I already know that you gave her the ability to sleep, Mr. Mechanica. I met her in the Dream Realm a few hours ago. Imagine my surprise when I learned you had a new daughter. In fact, that’s the reason why my sister and I are even here right now. When I told Celestia about your new daughter she wanted to meet her. She wrote a letter to Twilight asking if she knew you had a new daughter and Twilight sent one back informing us that she was there when your daughter was first activated and that she and her friends were planning on having a small party for both of you to celebrate. The time she estimated that everything would be set up — around now to be precise — fit perfectly into both of our schedules since neither of us are usually very busy around this time. So we decided to attend so we could both meet her in person.”

“Yes. When were you planning on telling us that you had a new daughter, Gerhardt? If Luna hadn’t met her in her dreams, then we would never have known about her in the first place.” Princess Celestia inquired.

“Never? You are the rulers of this kingdom. I used to be a High Lord of the Human Kingdom but now I am merely a civilian. So why would I bother you about the fact that I had built a daughter? You both have far more relevant things to focus on than the family of one simple civilian.” Gerhardt explained.

Both Celestia and Luna gave him a withering look before Celestia said, “A simple civilian? Gerhardt, you single handedly stopped the Changeling invasion of Canterlot and brokered a peace treaty between our kingdoms. You have written a book that will greatly benefit every unicorn in Equestria and thus Equestria as a whole. You have built machines for our hospitals that make it possible to completely sterilize entire rooms including the air inside the rooms, the doctors’ tools, and the patients wounds reducing the chances of infection during surgery very nearly all the way to zero. You have helped us defeat King Sombra and made me realize just how poorly I handled the situation in the Crystal Empire. And from what I’ve been told, you’ve even been using some strange form of magic from your world to fix a couple of ponies deformities which even our most skilled doctors could do nothing about. I believe it is safe to say that you’re a bit more than just a simple civilian. Besides, personally I like to think we’re friends. Perhaps not particularly close friends but friends all the same. So if a major event like this happens then you’re more than welcome to at the very least write us a letter if nothing else. In fact, please do! I would enjoy getting more than just business letters from you every week or so.”

“While I view you more as a close acquaintance and ally rather than a friend, after everything you’ve done for Equestria I do have to agree with my sister in this regard.” Luna stated.

“I suppose I shall keep that in mind, Princesses. Anyways, Pixel, how about you go introduce yourself to everyone. I’m sure they would all like to get to know you a little better and I’ve taken up enough of everyone’s time trying to speak with everyone all at once.” Gerhardt stated, looking down at his daughter with a smile.

Seeing Gerhardt smile caused Pinkie Pie to gasp in shock and elation, but before she could make any comments about it Pixel said, “Alright, Daddy!” She then let go of his hand and walked over to the ponies and began talking to them. After that, everyone quickly began grouping up and having their own conversations.

Gerhardt just walked to a space near the side of the room that was relatively out of the way and just stood there as he personally had nothing to say to anyone else. However, Rarity approached him and said, “So this is what you wanted those clothes for, Mr. Mechanica. I must say that I am quite surprised, I never expected that you might be building yourself a daughter of all things. Regardless, you did an excellent job in designing her. She looks positively gorgeous! And I do believe those clothes do look quite excellent on her too. Although if I knew you were building yourself a daughter I would have tried to convince you to allow me to make a nice dress for her instead.”

“To be perfectly honest with you, Miss Rarity, I never expected that I might be building myself a daughter either. I legitimately thought I was building myself a friend and lab assistant as a sort of work around to the first “friendship lesson” Miss Sparkle assigned me. She told me I was to make a friend by the end of this month so that’s exactly what I thought I was doing, making a friend. Thus why I included all of the “Elements of Harmony” into her personality. The possibility that her mind would be so childlike and that she might consider me her father rather than just a friend is not something I anticipated. That she might be female was even more unexpected. I legitimately thought she would be completely androgynous considering the fact that she is a golem and is thus technically sexless, however her voice and personality seem to be those of a little girl. The color of her eyes was pure coincidence. Those pink sapphires were the only corundum crystals that I could find that were large and clear enough to serve as functional eyes so they are what I used. However, very rarely does fate do as one expects.” Gerhardt replied.

Rarity chuckled and said, “My word. Now that is significantly less surprising. Though, I sort of think I prefer this outcome. When you looked at Pixel when you sent her off to introduce herself to everypony, that was the first time I have ever seen you smile. Don’t take this the wrong way but until now I actually thought you were incapable of doing so.”

“Understandable, I don’t often use body language or make facial expressions unless it is very intentional and I usually have no reason to smile, so until very recently I never did. For reference, before building Goldy for Fluttershy the last time I smiled was 642 years ago and the last time I smiled before that was 807 years ago. So I am not the least bit offended by the fact you thought I was physically incapable of smiling. I’m sure that many people from my world thought the exact same thing.” Gerhardt told her.

Rarity frowned. “Well that’s quite sad. I’m sorry, Mr. Mechanica, I didn’t mean to bring up such a depressing topic. This is a night for celebration, so let’s put such depressing matters aside for the moment. Anyways, I believe I have taken up enough of your time for now. So if you’ll excuse me, I would very much like to go meet this lovely daughter of yours. Congratulations on becoming a father, Mr. Mechanica, even if it was unintentional on your part.”

“Very well. Have a good night Miss Rarity.” Gerhardt said as she turned and began walking away.

A couple minutes later the next ones to approach him were Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Well it looks like yer daughter’s already hit it off with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, Mr. Mechanica. I managed to talk with her a bit and she seems like a nice filly. Seems to think the world of ya too.” Applejack said as they approached.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “I know, and I really wish that she didn’t. One of the first things Pixel said to me is that she wants to be just like me… Gods… That’s the last thing I want for her. I am an awful individual and have led a very hard and grueling life over these past centuries. If anything I want her to be a far better person than I am and to lead a far better life then I have. If she ever becomes just like me then I will have failed her.”

“Eh… Don’t be so hard on yourself, metal head. I mean, I still don’t like you all that much but you did fix Scoot’s wings and saved her and her friends from the timberwolves so I guess you can’t be all that bad.” Rainbow Dash told him. “Anyways, Pixel’s a pretty cute filly. I talked to her for a bit and she ended up challenging me to a hoof race later on, so of course I had to accept.”

Gerhardt looked at her for a moment and said, “Miss Dash, I’m afraid that is a challenge that you are inevitably going to lose. Unless you cheat and use your wings then there is no possible way for you to win.”

“Oh yeah?! And why’s that?! I mean, she’s just a filly so how fast could she possibly be?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“Miss Dash, are you capable of running faster than one hundred miles per hour and can you drastically speed up your perception of time so that you can react to turns and obstacles in a matter of microseconds to nanoseconds? Because Pixel can. She’s a golem made from military grade augmentations so her physical capabilities are far superior to those of organic beings. She will never grow fatigued and would win in a foot race against a cheetah with ease. So could I for that matter. I’m actually slightly faster than her since I have longer legs, though it does balance out fairly well as she is much lighter than I am and thus has less weight to contend with, but I digress. The point is that unless you possess some form of super speed on land and can react to things at a supernaturally fast rate, you are inevitably going to lose. That’s not me speaking as a father boasting about my daughter’s abilities, it’s just an objective fact.” Gerhardt explained.

“Oh…” Rainbow Dash muttered, now looking significantly less confident than she did before.

Applejack chuckled and patted Rainbow Dash on the back. “Well, good luck with that race RD. It sounds like you’re gonna need it. Anyways, Mr. Mechanica, I just came over to say congratulations on your new daughter.”

“Yeah… uh… Congratulations…” Rainbow Dash muttered, clearly still thinking about what Gerhardt had just told her about Pixel’s capabilities. With that both of them turned and walked away.

A couple more minutes passed and the next two to walk over to him were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. “Gerhardt, you have really outdone yourself! Pixel is an absolutely wonderful little filly! Having spoken with her and watched her interact with the other foals I can guarantee that your implementation of the Elements of Harmony into her personality has worked very well. She is quite possibly one of the friendliest individuals that I have ever met! It's actually quite jarring how different her personality is from yours.” Celestia said with a friendly smile.

“Indeed, she is quite the delight to be around!” Luna agreed.

“Thank you. I always strive to ensure my work is of the highest quality it can possibly be. Though I will admit I did go all out in building Pixel. She is by far the finest work I have ever done. I certainly consider her my greatest masterpiece.” Gerhardt stated. There was much more he could say about the differences between his and Pixel’s personalities, but he chose not to comment on it at all.

“Well, I am very eager to see what she will be able to accomplish when she is older! Considering who her father is and everything he has managed to do in just a few short months, I have very high expectations for her. To that end, I would highly recommend trying to get her enrolled into the local schoolhouse as soon as possible.” Celestia suggested.

A small frown formed on Gerhardt’s face. “Why? That would be both redundant and a complete waste of her time. I have already downloaded the vast majority of my own knowledge directly into her memory cores. Furthermore I will already be teaching her myself and I’m certain that I can give her a far better education than anyone else in this world considering my world is far more advanced than this one. Besides which she can read every book in this entire library in about an hour or two at most. After all she can read just as fast if not slightly faster than I can. Most likely faster than I can considering the fact that her entire brain is made up of augmentations whereas my frontal lobe is still organic. Plus I gave her slightly upgraded versions of my current brain augmentations, which I just recently designed specifically for her. So she’s already easily one of the most intelligent beings on this planet. Or are you trying to imply that I have done shoddy craftsmanship or that I am not intelligent enough to give her a proper education on my own?” Gerhardt asked, taking some personal offense over Celestia’s recommendation..

Both Celestia and Luna looked quite surprised by Gerhardt’s reaction. Celestia shook her head and said, “No! Of course not! I know your work is likely flawless and that you are highly intelligent! I simply believe it would be better for her overall if she were to attend a public school. It would be good to interact with other foals and I believe it would help her make friends.”

Hearing that Gerhardt started to calm down a bit. He still found the idea of his daughter attending a public school highly insulting since he knew that he would be a far better educator for her, but he was no longer quite as offended that the princess had recommended it. “I’ll consider it, but I make no guarantees.” He stated in a gruff tone.

“Ehem… Moving on, Celestia and I just so happened to overhear your conversation with Rarity a little while ago.”  Luna stated, trying to change the subject.

“Oh? And what of it?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I just wanted to applaud you for the amount of effort you put in to not having to try to make any friends by turning Twilight’s words against her and literally making a friend. Had your plan worked as you had intended, that would have been a very clever method of circumventing Twilight’s lesson. A bit rude, but still quite clever.” Luna said with a slightly amused look on her face.

Celestia just sighed in frustration and rested her face in one of her forehooves. “Yes… Very clever indeed… Please don’t try to do something like that again. I suppose in the end what you did this time actually ended up working out extremely well considering the fact that it resulted in the creation of Pixel, but that’s completely besides the point.”

“No, no. I have already learned my lesson. Considering how hard my plan has backfired on me, I can assure you I will not be trying anything like this ever again.” Gerhardt stated.

After that, the three of them continued to speak for a few minutes before the princesses had to head back to Canterlot. Just a few minutes later both Applejack and Rarity had to leave as well, since it was late and both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle needed sleep. Rainbow Dash was the next to leave. That just left Gerhardt, Pixel, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Goldy. Fluttershy had a short and very timid conversation with Gerhardt, telling him how much she liked Pixel and congratulating him on his new daughter before both she and Goldy left.

Gerhardt and Pixel both offered to help Twilight and Pinkie Pie clean everything up. They accepted the offer, so that’s what Gerhardt and his daughter spent the next few minutes doing before heading back to Gerhardt’s lab. They spent the rest of the night working together to improve on the design of the love generator for the Changelings.

[On Earth]

Silvanus was recovering from his battle with Lanius within the capital city of the Serpentine Republic, one of humanity’s greatest enemies. Having already heard about his efforts to exterminate the humans the serpents had happily welcomed him to their country with open arms. From what he understood, their priesthood was even considering adding him to the very short list of deities that they actively worshipped, Deimos the lesser god of war that declared genocide on humanity twenty thousand years ago being the god that was at the very top of that list. Silvanus was always open to gaining more worshippers and he had a somewhat friendly relationship with Deimos so he had no reason to object if they did decide to do so, in fact he encouraged it. Their best priests were attending to him daily to heal his wounds.

Lanius had also been severely injured in his battle with Silvanus and was currently recovering in the Human Kingdom and was being attended to by their best medical mages, including the High Lord of the medical branch herself. The many churches in the Human Kingdom were already worshiping him alongside the other gods they worshipped for helping the military fight off Silvanus. He had informed the high lords that he absolutely hated how they had made an exception to their laws surrounding golems and necromancy to allow the R&D branch to build a sapient golem that was a perfect mind clone of Gerhardt to replace him as high lord. However he also forgave them for doing so as these were exceptional circumstances and thus they were well within their rights to make minor exceptions to their laws to ensure the survival of their species as long as they didn’t go overboard with doing so. He was very strict when it came to laws but he was not completely unreasonable.

Currently Silvanus was watching what was happening to Gerhardt with vested interest. Apparently Gerhardt had been building himself a “friend” as a way of getting out of his “friendship lesson” one of the mutant horses had given him, however it turned out he had accidentally ended up building himself a daughter instead.

A malevolent smile spread across Silvanus’ face as he saw how Gerhardt treated the little metal freak. At first it was clear to him that Gerhardt had only been pretending to love it, but he had apparently done something to himself and it seemed that he now actually legitimately loved the worthless bucket of bolts. It was the first thing he had truly loved in centuries, other than Humanity and the Human Kingdom. As such, it was a very major weakness he had not previously had and one Silvanus had never expected him to have. Well, he wasn’t one to pass up the chance to exploit such a rare opportunity no matter how unexpected it may have been. Perhaps the tin can would actually be useful for something after all. It would be instrumental in helping Silvanus shatter the metal bastard’s will. All he had to do was tell the greater spirit of nature that was trapped within the Everfree forest that it had another target to destroy once he finally managed to free it from its restraints, and the rest would take care of itself.

After all he had already made contact with the spirit and had found what was restraining her. It was a spirit of harmony who’s physical form was some sort of crystalline tree. There were also a few other much older and much stronger restraints that had been placed on her by what he could only assume had been some very immature spirit of chaos. He was currently working on undoing the restraints placed on her by the spirit of chaos since those weren’t currently being maintained like those of the spirit of harmony and they were the largest hindrance of the two. She had agreed to try her best to assist him in dealing with the spirit of harmony after the restraints placed on her by the spirit of chaos were gone and she had regained most of her power.

The main issue was that it was a greater spirit of chaos who had made the restraints so they were particularly difficult to get rid of because they were constantly changing in ways that were completely random. This made it particularly difficult for him to remove since he was neither a god of chaos nor a god of order and he was unable to bring his full power to bear upon it unless he wanted to get caught in an instant. He was making progress but it was slow. It would take him quite a while to free her but he couldn’t wait to see the metal bastard crumble as everything burned down around him. It was going to be absolutely beautiful.
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day Gerhardt went out to Ponyville to look for somewhere that sold furniture in order to buy a bed for Pixel considering the fact that she had the ability to sleep and would probably want to do so on occasion. The first furniture store he found only sold quills and sofas, so he and Pixel kept looking. After about half an hour they finally found a store that actually sold beds. Upon finding one that was big enough for Pixel, Gerhardt immediately purchased it and opened a portal to one of the empty rooms on the second floor of his house before grabbing the bed with telekinesis and moving it through the portal and into the middle of the room with the headboard up against one of the walls. Both he and Pixel then stepped through the portal themselves before Gerhardt closed it behind him.

“Well, dear, you have a bed. So I suppose that makes this room your private barracks now. Whenever I am not teaching you, you are not assisting me in my lab, and you have nothing else to do then you may come up here and sleep in your new bed.” Gerhardt stated.

“Yay! Thank you, Daddy!” Pixel exclaimed with a happy smile.

Gerhardt returned the smile and said, “Of course, dear. If there is ever anything else you want, merely tell me and I will see what I can do to procure it for you or to build something that is equivalent if not superior for you. Though, I may not always be able to afford it, in which case please understand that it will take some time before I can get it for you. Anyways, I have been considering something Princess Celestia suggested last night and I would like your opinion on the matter since it’s about you.”

Pixel tilted her head curiously and asked, “What is it?”

“Princess Celestia recommended that I get you enrolled in the local schoolhouse. While I am absolutely certain that I can give you a superior education, she suggested that it would help you make friends and I am inclined to agree with that assertion. So I leave the matter up to you. Would you like to attend a public school in order to make friends, or would you prefer for me to teach you everything myself? Keep in mind that I will be teaching you either way so going to a school will mainly be for you to make friends, though I would fully expect you to keep your grades up. I personally hold the belief that friendship is but a distraction from one’s work, however I will not attempt to force my opinions upon you. Especially since friendship is supposed to be a crucial part of your very being considering how and why I made you.” Gerhardt explained.

Pixel thought about it for a few moments, which meant she was thinking very hard about it indeed since her mind processed information even faster than Gerhardt’s did. Eventually she said, “I want to make new friends, Daddy!”

Gerhardt sighed and said, “As you wish, little one. I shall look into getting you enrolled into school as soon as possible. For now though I would like to teach you a bit more about technomancy, so come. This world’s medical technology is quite primitive, so I will be building a few small but quite advanced surgical tools from my world to sell to the hospitals of Equestria.”

They both went back down stairs and Pixel watched as Gerhardt built the surgical implements and listened as he explained the entire process to her. Since these were fairly simple devices after he finished making the first set of surgical tools he let Pixel try building the next set. As she worked Gerhardt tried his best to guide her, correct some of the larger mistakes she made — which were far and few between considering her memory was just as perfect as Gerhardt’s —, and answer any questions she had. When she was finished building her set of surgical tools, Gerhardt proceeded to examine them and activated them in order to test them to ensure they worked as they should.

They all functioned adequately. Were she a recruit back in the human kingdom and this was a graded assignment then almost any other Technomancer probably would have given her an A. Gerhardt, on the other hand, would have given her a solid B. They worked but they were nothing truly special nor were they even particularly well made, at least not by his standards, meaning there was plenty of room for improvement. Regardless, considering this was her first time building anything on her own and she had only just learned how these particular tools were made she had done some very impressive work. As such, Gerhardt patted her on the head and praised her for her work, much to her delight.

That was when both of their sensors detected a giant wave of magic. Frowning Gerhardt said, “Pixel, wait here. I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Pixel responded obediently, a bit of confusion and worry in her voice.

Gerhardt then walked over to the front door of the lab, opened it, and began looking around. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Not at first anyways. After a couple seconds he looked up towards the sky and finally noticed what looked like a giant force field covering the entirety of Ponyville. Then he closed his door and walked back to the work area of his lab where Pixel was still waiting for him. He had no idea what was going on but he assumed the ponies would sort things out eventually so he wanted no part in whatever this was.

He and Pixel continued to work for about an hour before there was a knock on his door. His sensors informed him that there were multiple ponies outside and one dragon, who he assumed was Spike. With a frustrated sigh he set down what he was doing and walked over to the door. This time Pixel followed along behind him, eager to talk to everyone. Opening the door he saw all of Twilight’s friends minus Twilight herself. “Yes? How can I help you all today?” Gerhardt inquired.

Applejack stepped forward and said, “We hate to come bother ya like this, Mr. Mechanica, but we sorta need yer help. See, there’s this unicorn named Trixie who’s causin’ all sorts of trouble in Ponyville. She’s got a hold of somethin’ called the “Alicorn Amulet”. Apparently it’s supposed to grant whoever wears it “untold power” but it also corrupts whoever uses it. We would just try to take it from her ourselves, but it's got some magical lock so Trixie’s the only pony who can take it off. So uh… You got any suggestions as to how we can get it away from her?”

Gerhardt was silent for a moment as he processed all of this and thought of possible solutions. Eventually he said, “I suppose I can think of a few things but first I would like to ask, why come to me of all people? Why not ask Miss Sparkle? She seems quite clever and very competent in magic, at least by this world’s standards. Plus you all know her and like her far better than you know or like me. Also, on an unrelated note, why is Miss Pie’s muzzle missing and how can she possibly breath without a nose or a mouth? By all accounts she should be suffocating at the moment.”

“Ugh… We would do that but Trixie banished Twilight from Ponyville and put this stupid giant force field around the town. So we decided that it would probably be easiest to just come to you and see if you could help. Sending Fluttershy to sneak past the barrier and go tell Twilight what we learned is plan B.” Rainbow Dash explained.

“As for Pinkie Pie, Trixie cast some sort of absolutely dreadful spell on her that removed her muzzle so she can’t speak anymore. Though I am unsure as to how she is able to continue breathing like this. I can only assume her muzzle still exists somewhere and is still attached to her somehow.” Rarity added.

“I see. Well, feel free to come inside. I don’t think the bench I built is large enough to accommodate all of you but try to make yourselves comfortable while we discuss our options.” Gerhardt stated before turning and walking back inside.

“Hello everyone! I’m so sorry someone’s being mean to you. Don’t worry, I’m sure Daddy will be able to fix this in no time!” Pixel said in a cheerful tone before turning and following Gerhardt.

Once all of the ponies and Spike were inside and were sitting down either on the bench or on the floor Gerhardt said, “Alright, so based on what you’ve told me there are several possible solutions to this matter.” Quickly casting a noise dampening spell on Pixel so she couldn’t hear what he was about to say he continued, “The first option is the most obvious, the quickest, and the easiest though admittedly I do not expect you to agree to this and I would rather avoid it if at all possible. I could simply kill her and take this amulet off her corpse.”

“No.” Applejack said in an unamused tone.

“I expected no less. The second option is that I could use a portal to sneak up on her, grab her by the horn, threaten to break it if she tries to cast any spells, and use curses to inflict pain on her until she agrees to relinquish the amulet. I would also like to avoid doing this if at all possible as torture is never one of my prefered methods of doing things unless I have absolutely no other choice. It is quite barbaric.”

All of the ponies just stared at him silently for a few moments. “Is that a yes or a no?” Gerhardt inquired, not understanding why they were all being so silent.

“I believe that is a no, Mr. Mechanica. Might you have any suggestions that do not involve the use of excessive violence?” Rarity inquired.

“Plenty.” Gerhardt stated, letting the noise dampening spell he cast on Pixel dissipate. “The third option is that I could use some mental illusion magic to control her mind and force her to remove it, which I would also like to avoid as controlling minds is not something I enjoy doing. The fourth option is that I can challenge her to a contest of sorts for the amulet. However, that is entirely reliant on her willingness to lose the amulet in the first place, how confident she is in winning the contest, what she would get if she won, and whether or not she would actually hold up her end of the agreement or not. So I honestly don’t see that option working. The fifth option is that I can use mental illusion magic to force her to see nightmarish images and scare her into giving me the amulet. The sixth option is that I can use what I learned from the crystals King Sombra made to curse her horn and prevent her from using magic. Then I would hold her magic hostage and would only agree to undo the curse if she gave me the amulet. Personally, I would prefer the fifth or sixth options as those two are the only non-violent options that I am confident will actually work.”

“Could ya give us a moment to discuss our options?” Applejack requested.

“Go ahead.” Gerhardt stated in an uncaring almost bored tone. The ponies then gathered together and began whispering to each other.

“Daddy… I think something is wrong with my audio processors… I couldn’t hear the first two options.” Pixel stated, in a worried tone.

“No. Nothing is wrong with your audio processors. I cast a noise dampening spell on you so you couldn’t hear those two options as they are quite violent and I didn’t want you to hear them and start thinking that such things are acceptable.” Gerhardt told her, looking at her with a small smile on his face.

“Oh... Alright.” Pixel said, not sounding upset in the least, much to Gerhardt’s relief.

Eventually the ponies broke up their circle and looked at him. “We all agree with you that option five or six would likely be for the best. Personally I would prefer if you used option six as Rainbow Dash has informed us what sort of images you can conjure if you so choose, but we will leave that decision up to you.” Rarity informed him.

“Very well. I need someone to show me where to find this individual, and I would appreciate it if at least one of you could do me a favor and stay here with Pixel while I am gone.” Gerhardt stated.

“Um… Mr. Mechanica, I can stay here and watch Pixel for you until you get back. It’s the least I can do after you built Goldy for me.” Fluttershy said in her usual quiet tone with a timid smile on her face.

“Thank you very much, Miss Fluttershy.” Gerhardt said appreciatively. “Pixel, stay on your best behaviour and listen to Miss Fluttershy while I am gone. She is in charge until I return. This shouldn’t take very long.”

“Alright metal head, follow us. We’ll bring you to Trixie.” Rainbow Dash stated, before getting up and walking to the door.

The four remaining ponies and Spike led him to town hall. Upon entering he saw a blue unicorn sitting on what looked like a throne, wearing what he could only assume was the Alicorn Amulet.

“You five wait here, I shall handle this.” Gerhardt stated before proceeding to walk up to Trixie. As he did he was very surprised to find that his sensors informed him that she was on the very edge of surpassing the peak of power that the strongest mortal mage should be able to achieve. That meant he would have to be extremely cautious about this as she was far more powerful then he was.

“Ugh… Who and what are you, and why do you approach the Great and Powerful Trixie, you ugly metal beast?” Trixie said in a disgusted tone.

“Greetings, oh “Great and Powerful Trixie”. I am Gerhardt Mechanica, a master technomancer. I merely wanted to congratulate you on conquering Ponyville, and I came to make you an offer…” Gerhardt stated, taking slow predatory steps towards her.

Trixie scoffed and said, “Oh please… What could a metal freak like you possibly offer the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

Gerhardt crossed his arms behind his back to conceal the aura that appeared around his hands as he cast a mental illusion spell on her. “Hm… Well… I can stop them.”

“Stop who?” Trixie asked in confusion. Then she reeled back in terror as she saw dozens of arch demons crawling and flying all across the room, very slowly making their way towards her.

“Them. These arch demons you see before you. They are Spirits of Evil, and they are attracted by that amulet around your neck. However, if you undo everything you have done here in Ponyville and give the amulet to me, then I can banish them before they take their time slowly violating and torturing you in ways too horrific for any sane mind to possibly imagine. They may not even kill you, in fact they probably won't. It’s far more likely that they will just use their magic to keep you alive forever to continue torturing you for all eternity, forever reveling in your suffering. Not even the end of time itself nor the death of the universe will stop your suffering as they are beyond the concept of time and space.” Gerhardt explained in a perfectly calm tone as he casually circled Trixie like a shark. He exaggerated slightly as Arch Demons were not beyond time and space, however Trixie didn’t need to know this.

He adjusted the illusion slightly so her mind was flooded with images of some of the less extreme tortures that Gerhardt had personally witnessed normal demons commit. He had been fortunate enough to have only ever encountered an Arch Demon once and it was the single most terrifying experience of his life. He only survived because an Arch Angel intervened and fought it off. So he had been lucky enough to have never had to witness nor personally experience the sort of tortures committed by Arch Demons, otherwise he would be filling her mind with images of those. “So what will it be, oh “Great and Powerful Trixie”? Will you undo all the damage you have done and give me the amulet or would you rather experience what hell is like?”

“N-Never! These m-monsters are no… No match f-for the Gr-Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie stuttered in defiance even through the intense primal fear that was currently coursing through her. A red aura surrounded her horn as she shot some sort of beam at one of the illusory Arch Demons she was seeing. Gerhardt altered the illusion slightly to have that one split into four more Arch Demons.

“Tsk tsk tsk… My word, now look what you’ve done. There’s four more in place of that one you just attacked, and they all seem quite angry. That is most unfortunate. If you hadn’t angered them the tortures they would have subjected you to would have merely been unimaginably horrific. Now that you have, I’m afraid your fate shall be far worse… Of course, it doesn’t have to be. You know the terms of my offer. You had better come to a decision fast, oh “Great and Powerful Trixie” as they are starting to close in and once they reach you I’m afraid there will be nothing I will be able to do to save you, especially without that amulet.” Gerhardt said in a tone so cold it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

He started adding things to the illusion. Rivers of blood forming behind the Arch Demons as they approached, everything starting to corrode and crumble to dust around them just like what happened around shades, the tortured screams of the damned and the scent of rotting and burning flesh and blood filling the air, ponies being grabbed by the Arch Demons before they proceeded to rip them to bloody shreds and their agonized screams joined with the disembodied screams of the damned, and the building starting to catch fire around them.

Gerhardt leaned down from behind Trixie’s throne and whispered, “Tick tock... tick… tock… Time is running out and they are almost upon you… Do you see it? Do you see what they are doing to the other ponies? All of that is nothing compared to the horrors they will inflict upon you once they reach you… Do you hear the screams of the damned? Your voice shall join them in chorus as yet another lost soul damned to burn within the infernal realm unable to do anything except scream for eternity, and unlike these ponies you see dying all around you your suffering shall forever be without end...”

Trixie began to hyperventilate in terror and tears began to stream down her face. Her body was visibly trembling from fear. Gerhardt was almost worried that she may very well be on the verge of having a heart attack. Not that he really cared. If she did, then he could just use biomancy to restart her heart and revive her to continue the illusion. “F-F-Fine!” Trixie stuttered in abject terror. A red aura surrounded her horn and a wave of red arcane energy exploded out from her in all directions. “T-Th-There… I un-undid ev-everything, now ta-take the b-bucking amulet and save me!” Trixie shouted, ripping the amulet off of her neck and tossing it to the ground. 

As soon as the amulet was off, Gerhardt’s sensors began registering her as a normal unicorn albeit a particularly strong one by Equestria’s current standards. He assumed that she had heard about his book and was using the magical exercises detailed within it. Still she had quite a long way to go before she reached peak fitness, so currently she was still quite weak by his standards.

Gerhardt picked up the amulet and examined it for a moment before saying, “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” He then allowed the illusion to fade from her mind. “Now, I am not totally unreasonable. So if you would like, I could obscure this memory from your mind for you. You will know that you had a terrifying experience and agreed to give up the amulet in exchange for my assistance and even agreed to allow me to obscure the memories for you, but you will not remember any of the specifics. I already have the amulet so I do not require anything in exchange for this.”

“Y-yes please…” Trixie muttered, still trembling in terror.

“As you wish.” Gerhardt stated. He then raised a hand and cast another mental illusion spell, this time to heavily fog Trixie’s memories of this event. The memories could be brought back at any time with another spell but without that, she would never remember what happened here on her own. That was probably the most merciful thing Gerhardt could offer her at the moment as what he forced her to see was quite horrific.

When that was done, he turned and began walking back to the others who were waiting for him. “I chose option five. I decided that while I have learned much I still didn’t know enough about King Sombra’s magic to use that spell safely. I estimated that there was a chance that crystals would start growing out of her entire skeletal structure puncturing her skin and shredding her internal organs if I tried casting the spell and made a mistake. So rather than take that risk, I decided scaring her would be the better option. Afterwards I offered to obscure her memories of the event and she agreed, so there shouldn’t be any lasting trauma from the things that I made her witness.” He informed them as he approached.

“What did you make her see?” Spike inquired curiously.

“Arch Demons. The next level of spirits of evil above normal demons. I would have made her see the Devil, my world’s Greater Spirit of Evil, but I have never had the immense misfortune of having ever seen him myself, let alone in his conceptual form. So I couldn’t make an illusion of him, fortunately for her. The Arch Demons were doing things, but it is better that none of you know what.” Gerhardt explained. “Regardless, I shall be keeping this.” He held up the amulet for them to see. “Don’t worry, I am not so foolish as to ever use it myself knowing that it corrupts its wielder. I simply mean to study it to find out how it works and possibly find a way to safely incorporate it into a machine of some sort without risking being corrupted. Besides, it will be far safer with me then it will be with anyone else, especially once the underground portion of my lab is complete.”

“Well… Considering how much you have helped us in the past, we trust you not to abuse it like Trixie did. Though please do try to keep it as far away from Pixel as you possibly can. It would be absolutely tragic to see a darling filly like her be corrupted by such a vile artifact as that.” Rarity said.

Gerhardt opened a small portal and stuffed the amulet through it before pulling his now empty hand back out and closing it. “Indeed. I will be building a stasis device to contain it whenever I am not studying it or experimenting with it. Until then, I will be keeping it somewhere I know she will not be able to get to it. Regardless, I suppose one of you should go find Miss Sparkle and inform her that she is no longer banished. If you need anything else, I will be returning to my lab to get started on building that stasis device. Good day.”

He then opened a portal back to the recreational lounge of his lab and stepped through it before closing it behind him. There he saw Pixel and Fluttershy talking about something. He didn’t have time to learn what because as soon as he entered, Pixel immediately noticed him. Turning around with a big smile on her face Pixel exclaimed, “Daddy!” She then ran towards him and wrapped her arms around his legs. Looking up at him she asked, “Did you beat the mean lady?”

Gerhardt smiled at her and patted her on the head. “That I did, dear. Though we didn’t actually fight, fortunately. With that amulet enhancing her power I don’t know if I could have actually won if we had come to blows as she was significantly more powerful than me until I convinced her to give the amulet to me. Well… I might have been able to beat her but I would have had to use some very underhanded methods to do so, and the end results would be… let’s just say it wouldn’t have been pretty. Thankfully it didn’t come to that, and the Alicorn Amulet is now safely within my possession.”

Pixel pouted at him and said, “No! You’re the strongest mage around, Daddy! No one could beat you!”

“No, I am far from the strongest mage. I may be the oldest human mage perhaps, but I’m not even close to the most powerful. To be perfectly honest I am barely above average for a mage. Hell, you yourself are already far more powerful than I will ever be, Pixel. So please don’t overestimate my ability to such an extent as despite my augmentations I am still only human. To be honest I am something of a jack of all trades, I am competent at almost everything but the only things that I truly excel at are Technomancy, Alchemy, and all things scientific.” Gerhardt told her. He honestly didn’t like the fact that she thought so highly of him and had such high expectations of him. He may have built her but by no means did that make him a god. He was still very much a mortal and he had his limitations.

He heard Fluttershy chuckle. Looking over at her he said, “Ah yes. Thank you very much for watching my daughter while I dealt with this amulet situation, Miss Fluttershy. It’s also good to see that you don’t appear quite as afraid of me anymore.”

Fluttershy smiled at him and said, “Your welcome, Mr. Mechanica. Pixel is an absolutely wonderful little filly and it was a delight talking to her while you dealt with Trixie. She was so curious about all the animals I take care of that I almost wish we could have talked for longer! And… um… After building Goldy for me and seeing how nice your daughter is, you just seem a bit less scary to me… I’m sorry, but... I am still a bit afraid of you after what happened in Canterlot…”

“That’s fine. I honestly don’t expect that you will ever truly stop being afraid of me, and I do not blame you for that. Though, it is good to see that you’re no longer cowering in fear at the mere sight of me. Regardless, you have done me a favor looking after my daughter so if you ever need anything then you need only ask and I shall endeavor to do my best to assist you.” Gerhardt stated.

“Thank you... I need to go check on my animals. Have a good afternoon, both of you!” Fluttershy said before getting up and walking over to the door.

“Good bye, Miss Fluttershy! I hope I can come see your animals some time!” Pixel chirped happily, waving at Fluttershy as she left.

“Indeed. Good day.” Gerhardt stated before turning and walking back towards the main work area of his lab. He then got started on building the stasis device to contain the Alicorn Amulet.

“Daddy, what are you building? That doesn’t look like the things we were making earlier.” Pixel asked curiously, standing on a small wooden stool to see what Gerhardt was doing.

“That’s because it’s not. I am building a device to contain the Alicorn Amulet whenever I am not studying it or experimenting on it. It’s too dangerous to just leave laying around where anyone can grab it. Do you remember what I told you about my teleportation pistol if I ever leave it somewhere?” Gerhardt inquired.

“It’s dangerous so I shouldn’t touch it unless you are watching me so I don’t accidentally hurt myself or someone else.” Pixel responded.

“Correct. This amulet is much the same as my pistol but many times worse. Unless the situation is so dire that you have absolutely no other choice, then you are never to touch it period. From what my sensors detected when Miss Trixie was wearing it, it is an extremely powerful magical artifact that drastically increases the power of any mage who wears it. However it corrupts whoever uses it and I don’t want that to ever happen to you. Even I refuse to wear it, knowing what it does to people. So trust me, it’s for your own good that you don’t touch it unless the situation is so bad that me, you, and everyone around us will die if you do not. Do I make myself clear?”

Pixel nodded. “Yes, Daddy.” She said in a solemn tone.

Gerhardt turned his head and smiled at her. “Good girl. Now, while I’m doing this how about you make a few more of those surgical implements? You still have plenty of room for improvement and practice makes perfect.”

This time she smiled back at him and said, “Okay!” She then proceeded to start building more of the surgical tools for the hospitals.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days had passed since the debacle with Trixie and the Alicorn Amulet. Gerhardt had finished the stasis device that would contain the amulet whenever he wasn’t studying or experimenting on it. The enchantments on the amulet were significantly more complex than the curse that King Sombra used to make his magic blocking black crystals. That meant it would take Gerhardt a bit more time to understand how it functioned than it would take him to understand the crystals. He estimated he would fully reverse engineer the curse used to make the crystals sometime before the end of the month. The Alicorn Amulet, on the other hand, would likely take him several months if not until some time around the beginning of next year.

He had gotten Pixel enrolled in the local schoolhouse and apparently she was getting along fairly well with most of the other students. However, apparently the school had a bully known as Diamond Tiara. He had been furious when he had learned of this though he restrained himself. Instead of doing anything rash he told Pixel to just ignore and avoid her as much as possible. As long as the arrogant little brat didn’t physically harm his daughter, then he wouldn’t do anything to intervene. Pixel reported that her ignoring the bullies was working quite well as her pretending that the brat didn’t even exist seemed to infuriate Diamond Tiara and her little follower Silver Spoon to no end.

Currently Gerhardt was at Applejack’s farm for one of his “friendship lessons”. She was supposed to be teaching him about honesty. He had left his teleportation pistol in the unfinished underground level of his lab as he had promised, since Applejack only agreed to this on the condition that he came unarmed. It was going far better than his lesson with Pinkie Pie had.

“I see. So if I am understanding this correctly honesty builds trust and trust is an integral part of friendship. That makes sense, I suppose. However, one cannot possibly be honest all the time. Sometimes deception would be required for the benefit of those around you.” Gerhardt stated.

“Eh, close enough. There’s a bit more to it than just trust but trust is definitely part of it. Also, I get where you’re comin’ from but personally I have to disagree. Sometimes sayin’ some things may hurt yer friends’ feelin’s but it’s always best to be honest. For example, Rarity has asked me how she looks in a few of her dresses in the past and I always give her my honest opinion, whether I think she looks good in it or not. It’s better to hurt her feelin’s for a little while than to let her go out in somethin’ that looks ridiculous and embarrass herself.” Applejack replied.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “I understand that sometimes it is better to tell someone something they don’t want to hear. I have had to look countless gravely injured soldiers in the eyes and tell them there was nothing we could do to help them and that they were going to die. Many accepted it without issue while many others reacted very poorly to the news. Regardless, I could never bring myself to lie to them about such a thing.”

Applejack grimaced at that. Apparently she didn’t like the idea of having to tell someone that they were going to die.

Gerhardt ignored her reaction and continued, “However, there are certain situations that lying to someone would be better for them than telling them the truth. For example, 642 years ago the High Lord of the Army branch that was in office at the time knew where the individual who started the First Necromantic War was located. However she knew that if she told me I would have gone there to fight him myself and that if I went there to fight him myself I would have been killed. So instead she lied to me and said her scouts and infiltrators were still trying to find him, and secretly sent a full battalion of soldiers to kill him. Out of the 400 soldiers she sent only three returned and one of them — a combat mage who is now regarded as a legendary hero — was carrying the bastard’s severed skull. All three of them, that combat mage included, later died of their wounds and curses. When I learned of this I was disappointed that I wasn’t the one to defeat Caedes for everything he had done but I was very glad he was finally dead. And while I was a bit angry I was also extremely grateful to that High Lord of the Army for lying to me as it kept me from doing something extremely reckless and stupid not beffiting of an individual of my rank. So in some cases, lying to someone is indeed better than telling them the truth.”

“I… Er… That’s… Huh…” Applejack didn’t seem to know how to respond to that.

Seeing that she wasn at a loss for words Gerhardt continued, “I have lived a very long time, Miss Applejack. Far longer than I should have, in fact. I have experienced much in that time. More than that, for almost a millennia I was one of five leaders of an entire nation that is constantly under threat by forces that seek to exterminate or enslave it and everyone that lives there. So I am one of the most qualified individuals in this entire world to say that sometimes lies are extremely important and honesty can sometimes lead a person or even an entire kingdom or species to damnation. That isn’t to say that honesty doesn’t have its merits in certain situations. It can be an extremely valuable tool and virtue if utilized correctly. However only a fool would never tell a lie under any circumstances because sometimes the truth can be far worse or do far more damage than any lie ever could. So strive to be as honest of an individual as you possibly can. That is a very respectable goal. However, always keep in mind that the truth is not always the correct answer in every situation.”

Applejack sighed and said, “Well shoot… Here I thought I was supposed to be the one teachin’ you about honesty… Well, I still think it’s better to be honest but I guess I do see yer point so I’ll try to keep yer advice in mind. Anyways I guess we’ll end this lesson here. I already taught ya what I know about how honesty relates to friendship, so I ain’t sure what else I could really teach ya that ya don’t already know.”

“As you wish. Though now that our lesson is over before I leave I would like to make you a business offer. Only if you would be willing to hear it of course.” Gerhardt informed her.

Applejack gave him a curious look and said, “Alright, I’ll admit I’m sorta curious so what is it?”

“Well, as you know my business is building and selling machines. So I would like to inquire if you would be interested in some farming equipment from my world, or if I could perhaps build you some custom equipment if none of what I show you piques your interest. If not, that’s perfectly fine. I’ll just allocate the materials I would be using to make these machines for you to build more equipment for my lab and the hospitals instead.” Gerhardt explained.

Applejack thought about this for a few moments. “Hmmm… I’m not sure… We Apples like to keep our farm and orchard as traditional as possible. So how ‘bout this. I’ll go get Granny Smith and Big Macintosh and you can show all three of us what yer offerin’ then the three of us will discuss it and decide if we want any of it or not.”

“Very well, and that is completely understandable. As I said, if you do not wish to purchase any of it then I will not press the issue. It is only an offer to see if you might be interested in any of it or not.” Gerhardt stated.

Applejack nodded. “Sounds reasonable enough. Just wait here. I’ll be back with Big Mac and Granny Smith in a bit.” With that she turned and walked away.

After exactly thirteen minutes and fifty seven seconds Applejack returned with two other ponies. “Granny Smith, Big Mac, this is Mr. Mechanica. Mr. Mechanica, this is Granny Smith and my older brother Big Macintosh.” Applejack introduced them.

“Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Gerhardt greeted politely.

Big Mac just nodded in greeting and said nothing. Granny Smith looked him up and down and said, “My word, you are a big one aren’t ya? Applejack told us ya wanted to offer us some sorta fancy farmin’ equipment?”

“Indeed I do. Of course, as I told Miss Applejack, it is merely an offer. If you are not interested then that is perfectly fine. I can simply use the materials elsewhere. So might you be willing to see what I have to offer?”

“Eh… Go ahead. No guarantees we’ll agree, but I suppose we may as well see what ya got.” Granny Smith stated.

“Very well. I will create optical illusions of several different machines so you can see what they look like and will explain what they all do.” Gerhardt informed them before creating an illusion of a tractor. Motioning to it he explained, “This is a tractor. It is a vehicle that can be used to pull a variety of farming implements for plowing, planting, cultivating, fertilizing, and harvesting crops. It will eliminate the need for you to do many tasks manually. Think of it like a smaller version of a train but far more versatile and not limited to driving on rails. However if you would rather continue doing things as you currently are, there is a smaller alternative.”

He created an illusion of a small truck next to the tractor. “This is called a truck. It is extremely similar to a tractor but it is smaller and isn’t designed to do the same tasks as a tractor. Instead it can be used for personal transportation and can haul materials in the built in tail bed. It also has a port in the back where one can attach a trailer or even a simple cart to transport even more materials then you would otherwise be able to. It can also serve as a viable alternative to a train if you would like to go to other towns or cities in a short amount of time. However it is not recommended to drive it while tired or under the influence of any drugs, alcohol, or magic that affects one’s mind or eyesight as doing such can lead to horrific accidents. I do not say that as a slight to any of you. It’s just that there were many irresponsible people in my home kingdom that did such things and it was prevalent enough of an issue that I feel I have no choice but to warn you in advance. Wearing the built in safety harness is also highly recommended whenever you are driving at high speeds in the event of an accident. So do either of these vehicles interest any of you?”

“Well the truck might let us expand our business a bit. Plus I suppose it doesn’t interfere too much with any of our traditions since it’s basically just a fancier cart. The tractor on the other hoof is a bit much…” Applejack said, examining the two illusory vehicles.

“Yup. The truck might be fine, but I’d rather not take the tractor.” Big Macintosh nodded in agreement.

“Hm… I don’t know… The truck sounds awful dangerous…” Granny Smith stated eyeing it warily.

“All tools are dangerous if they are used improperly. Though if it makes you feel any better I would be including systems to minimize any chance of accidents occurring even if one of you were to ignore my warnings and use the truck incorrectly. Crashes were a far larger issue centuries ago when I still had flesh and bones rather than metal and circuitry. Nowadays vehicles that do not require a driver and can operate entirely on their own are the norm. They can still be operated by a driver but it is not strictly necessary. Accidents still happen when people operate vehicles manually, but they are rarer than they used to be. Though as I said, when a person is operating vehicles accidents are still prevalent enough even with the accident prevention systems in place that I still had to give you that warning. Also, I could include systems to allow it to fly so you wouldn’t have to contend with any obstacles on the ground, only birds, pegasi, clouds, and the weather. That would limit the chances of a crash even further.” Gerhardt explained.

“We’ll think about it.” Granny Smith stated, still not convinced.

“Very well. Please get back to me as soon as you come to a decision.” Gerhardt said, before letting the illusions fall. He then created an illusion of a drone in front of him. It looked like a flying saucer with a camera on the front, two metal arms on the sides with almost crab or scorpion-like pincers at the ends, a few small holes in the top and bottom for speakers, and a couple swiveling lights on either side of the camera. It had no visible propulsion system as it would have an internal telekinetic lift system to propel it.

“This next machine I have to show you is a type of golem called a drone. This one in particular could have multiple functions. I could build multiple of these for a relatively low price and they could assist you in harvesting apples from your orchard. They could also serve to scare off or dispose of any pests or local wild-life that may ruin your crops or otherwise just generally cause you trouble. They could also constantly monitor your entire farm and orchard for trespassers and/or thieves and either attempt to scare them off, incapacitate them with a built in taser or stun gun, and/or warn you of their presence.” Gerhardt informed them.

Granny Smith thought about it for a moment before saying, “I don’t know about the rest of it but scarin’ off pests and such could be useful. Could these floating thingamajigs work on timberwolves too? They wander into the orchard from the Everfree sometimes and cause all sorts of trouble all over the farm.”

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed slightly. “What...? They actually wander out of the Everfree...? That’s a bad sign… A very bad sign indeed… Well, to answer your question I sincerely doubt that anything could actually legitimately scare these “timberwolves”. Timberwolves are not exactly normal animals. In fact they aren’t animals at all. They are artificial constructs created by the nature spirits that reside in the Everfree Forest to protect the forest and attack anything they do not like. You ponies to be specific. So the timberwolves have no actual minds, feelings, or wills of their own. Thus the only way these drones could get rid of them is if I attached weapons to them and programmed them to attack the timberwolves if they ever enter the borders of your property. The weapons I would need to attach to them would be quite dangerous as they would have to involve fire and/or explosives. That isn’t a good idea for obvious reasons. So I refuse to include those as I would rather avoid risking starting a forest fire and setting your orchard ablaze. So no these drones can not get rid of timberwolves. That being said I might be able to build a device to create a magical barrier to prevent any such constructs from entering your property at all.”

“Hmph… Well shoot… I suppose scarin’ off pests and such is good enough. We might buy a couple of these “drones”. How much would the “drones” and this magic barrier thingamajig cost?” Granny Smith inquired.

“It would be about seventy bits per drone. As for the barrier generator, after building the main device I would need to build a small tower to mount it on so it would be about five hundred and twenty bits in total.” Gerhardt explained.

Applejack shook her head and said, “No need for you to do that. We can build that tower for ya. Ain't that right, Big Mac?”

“Yup.” Big Macintosh confirmed.

“Very well. In that case it would cost about four hundred and thirty five bits, and I would need to draw up and provide you with the blueprints for the tower. Unlike the tower of a larger barrier generator meant to protect an entire city, this one doesn’t need to be made out of anything specific so wood should work just fine. So if you wish to purchase the barrier generator then I’ll get the blueprints to you by tomorrow afternoon so you can start building the tower. If you wish to purchase the drones, how many and what specifications would you like?”

“Yeah, we’ll take the barrier generator. As for the drones we’ll take… hm… four of ‘em. At least for now. If they’re as useful as you say then we might consider buyin’ a few more from ya at some point in the future. As for the specifications, we mainly want ‘em to scare off pests and crows and such.” Applejack stated.

“Very well. Then I shall go back to my lab and get started on building them for you as soon as my next shipment of materials arrives. If you come to a decision on the truck or if you think of any other machines that you might find useful, please feel free to come inform me. Good day to you all.” He said before turning and opening a portal back to his lab and stepping through.

He closed the portal behind him and was about to get back to studying the Alicorn Amulet when Pixel ran over to him with a large smile on her face and exclaimed, “Daddy! I made something for you!” Her hands were hidden behind her back so he couldn’t see whatever it was.

“Oh? And what would that be, little one?” He inquired curiously.

Pulling her hands out from behind her back she revealed a small stylized heart made of gold with a small chain attached to it. Gerhardt reached out and took it. He examined it for a moment and saw an inscription on the front that read ‘I love you daddy!’ A small smile appeared on his face as he saw that. Then he noticed a small button on the side. He pressed it and the heart folded open revealing two small illusory images inside on either half. On the left half was a picture of Gerhardt — though in the picture both of his eyes were blue instead of one being blue and the other being green like in real life — and on the right side was a picture of Pixel. Both of them were smiling.

“I see.” He continued to examine the locket for a couple moments with a smile on his face before eventually closing it. Raising one of his hands, he lowered his hood then slipped the loop of chain over his head and around the back of his neck. He then tucked the golden heart underneath his robe. “Thank you very much, Pixel. I will always keep it with me.” He said sincerely. Kneeling down he gave her a hug which she returned.

“Your welcome! I love you daddy!” Pixel chirped happily.

“I love you too, dear.” Gerhardt responded. He released her and stood back up. However, before he could do anything else there was a knock on the front door. His sensors informed him that a changeling was waiting outside. However this changeling was too powerful to be the one Queen Chrysalis had sent to stay in Ponyville until the love generator was complete. In fact it was even more powerful than he was which was a surprise to say the least. There was only one Changeling he knew of that could possibly be that powerful. Queen Chrysalis herself.

Gerhardt frowned slightly, wondering why she was here. He walked over to the door with Pixel following close behind him. Opening the door he saw that his suspicions were indeed correct. Queen Chrysalis was standing there with an annoyed expression on her face. “Queen Chrysalis. I wasn’t expecting you. So what brings you to my lab today? I assume it has something to do with the love generators that I am developing for you.”

“Hello!” Pixel greeted happily.

Queen Chrysalis looked at Pixel in a way that set Gerhardt on edge. He didn’t like the way she was looking at his daughter. He didn’t say anything about it as he knew for a fact that she was perfectly aware of all of his emotions, so he let those emotions serve as a warning in and of itself. Queen Chrysalis continued staring at her for a few moments before looking back at Gerhardt. “I was unaware you had a child.” She commented.

“No I imagine not. She’s very new… Pixel, it would appear that Queen Chrysalis and I have a few things we must discuss. So how about you head to Sugar Cube Corner and buy yourself a couple treats. Here’s a few bits.” Gerhardt said in a serious tone, handing Pixel a small handful of bits which he pulled out of a portal.

“Alright. Thank you daddy!” She replied, taking the bits and putting them in one of the small alligator leather satchels on the belt of her robes. She then gave Gerhardt a quick hug before running off, leaving Gerhardt and Queen Chrysalis alone.

“Hm… It seems that she genuinely loves you. Though it would appear that the feeling is not truly mutual. The love you feel towards her is tainted by reluctance and is clearly completely forced and artificial. I assume you did this to yourself?” Queen Chrysalis inquired.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “Indeed. However our emotions are none of your concern. We are not your prey, “Changeling”. I saw the way you were looking at her. So just know that if you even consider trying to feed on either of us then I will not hesitate to kill you. While I do not want an entire kingdom as my enemy, I guarantee you do not want me as your enemy.”

Queen Chrysalis glared at him. Not about to back down he just glared back, looking her dead in the eyes. This went on for a couple moments before Queen Chrysalis turned her head and scoffed. “Enough of this! You are taking far too long to build this Love Generator! I demand to see what progress you’ve made for myself!” Queen Chrysalis growled at him.

Gerhardt rolled his eyes. “Yes, developing new technology is usually a slow process so I would request that you be patient but as you wish. Please feel free to come in. I’ll show you the latest iteration of the device.” He then turned and walked back to the main work area of his lab. Chrysalis followed after him.

Motioning to a twelve inch by twelve inch silver cube on the table he said, “This is it. Here, allow me to activate it for you.” He then flipped a switch on the side and turned the dial all the way to maximum. “This one won’t explode like the proof of concept I showed you back in Canterlot, but it still isn’t robust enough to withstand being fed on for more than about a week before requiring maintenance. I’m trying my best to get it to the point where it can last at least a few months to half a year of constantly being fed on by at least a hundred of you simultaneously before requiring maintenance. However the way you feed is quite… intense, shall we say, so it is rather difficult to build it in such a way as to withstand the strain you put upon its circuitry. Thus the reason why it is taking so long. In the meantime, feel free to test it for yourself if you wish.”

Queen Chrysalis opened her mouth and a stream of pink energy began flowing out of the device and into her mouth. This went on for a few minutes before she eventually closed her mouth cutting off the stream of pink energy and said, “Hmph, at least it tastes better than the first one. I don’t care what it takes, just hurry the buck up and finish it!”

Gerhardt frowned at her. “My word, you are quite bossy. Look I used to be a leader of a nation myself so don’t give a damn if you’re a queen or not. I do not live in your kingdom therefore I am not one of your subjects so you have zero power over me. So do not try to push me around as if I am one of your servants otherwise I will throw you out of my lab and will never allow you back inside.”

Queen Chrysalis gave him a death glare which he completely ignored.

Continuing on he said, “What you seem to fail to realize is that I am the one who has all the power in this arrangement. The only thing I have to do is build this fucking device for you and as you can clearly see I have already done so. As such I could easily just build a few machines to mass produce this specific model or perhaps even a previous iteration which will break and require maintenance constantly. The only reason I do not do just that and force you to either pay me to repair them all or to purchase new ones from me every couple of days or so is because my morals and my pride as a technomancer prevent me from doing so. However, if you continue your arrogant attitude then perhaps my opinion on the matter shall change… You wouldn’t want that now would you?”

At this point Queen Chrysalis was openly snarling at him in indignant fury. “No… I wouldn’t…” She growled at him through bared teeth.

“That’s what I thought. Then I would highly suggest that you learn some gods damned respect as I refuse to tolerate your belligerent attitude. Now, if there is nothing else you have seen the progress I have made so now I believe it is time for you to leave.” Gerhardt stated.

“Fine… I’ll leave for now…” She hissed before marching off towards the front door. She opened it but before she left she said, “Congratulations on your new daughter… She loves you quite a lot… Quite a lot indeed...” There was a somewhat ominous tone in her voice.

Gerhardt glared at Queen Chrysalis. “Are you attempting to use her to threaten me?” He inquired in a dangerously calm tone.

Queen Chrysalis didn’t respond and instead just walked out of his lab closing the door behind her.

Gerhardt gritted his teeth in complete and utter outrage. This is one of the largest reasons he never wanted any family or friends, they could easily be used against him. Well now that he had a daughter, whether he liked that fact or not, he refused to allow anyone to threaten her just to get to him. A pitch black aura surrounded his body as he walked over and began staring at the Alicorn Amulet which was currently suspended in stasis. He began plotting how best to go about guaranteeing his and Pixel’s safety. He would not… No. He could not accept any margin for error or even the slightest flaws or imperfections in his plans whatsoever. Even the slightest flaw could prove absolutely catastrophic.

The first thing he realized as he plotted was that for whatever he was going to do he was going to need more money and lots of it in order to buy as much materials as physically possible. He had already started receiving a fairly substantial amount of income from the book the princesses had published for him. So arguably one of the fastest ways for him to make more money would be for him to start printing and publishing more books. He would have to avoid writing anything on technomancy or biomancy for quite some time until his business had expanded significantly so he wouldn’t have to deal with any sort of competition in the market. Competition would mean he would be earning less money so he had to avoid that at all costs if he wanted to truly guarantee the safety of his daughter and thus his own safety.

He was going to need to build himself a new body, combat golems, construction golems, combat drones, rockets, missiles, bombs, weapons of mass destruction, barrier generators, multiple factories some of which would need to be hidden most likely underground, and so much more. Thus far he had been trying to be patient and take his time slowly building up his business. Now that Queen Chrysalis had threatened to hurt Pixel, however, he had decided it was officially time for that to change. This relatively peaceful world had lulled him into complacency but now he was done being complacent and was going to start being much more proactive. And if necessary he would make sure Queen Chrysalis regretted the fact that she had ever threatened his daughter, that is if she lived long enough to regret it in the first place.

For a brief moment he considered killing a few animals in the Everfree Forest and using necromancy to create some of the worst monstrosities unleashed by Caedes during the First Necromantic War as a final contingency if he were ever to die or if something were to ever truly happen to Pixel. However he immediately dismissed the notion. Things were not so bad that he would allow himself to stoop to Caedes’ sordid level. He was absolutely disgusted with himself that he had allowed such a thought to have crossed his mind for even so much as a nano second. He would do much to ensure the safety of Pixel but he would never resort to that.

Still while something so morally reprehensible as the darker aspects of necromancy were out of the question, a few hidden intercontinental ballistic missiles loaded with multi-megaton antimatter or eleven spatial dimensional warheads were definitely a viable option. Lasers, particle beams, magic weapons, teleportation weapons, multi-spatial dimensional weapons, and WMD deployment platforms stationed in orbit of the planet were also an option. He would spare no expense to ensure no one could ever use his daughter against him.

He could no longer abide having even the smallest, most insignificant of weaknesses. To that end the very first thing he did was use what few materials he had left over in order to start building the augmentation that would finally replace his frontal lobe. Organic matter was a weakness thus he was now determined to get rid of what very little organic matter he had left. To the infernal realm with whether or not he could truly be considered human after this.

[Meanwhile on Earth]

High Lord Mechanica Mk. 2 as the R&D branch had dubbed him was currently shouting orders through his built in communication systems. The Serpentine Republic had officially joined forces with Silvanus and had led several major assaults on the Human Kingdom. As such, he was currently leading the R&D branch in a retaliatory assault on their kingdom.

It was currently midday but the sky was almost pitch black with storm clouds making everything as black as a completely moon and starless night. The only illumination were the lights of the currently burning city, the flashes of the lightning, explosions, gunfire, combat and war spells being cast, and the absolutely vicious battle between Lanius and Silvanus that was currently raging in the sky above the city. Thus it was actually fairly easy to see even without his eyes’ night vision mode all things considered. Unnaturally heavy rain and hail pelted down from the sky accompanied by all sorts of different bullets, bombs, and artillery shells. The sheer percussion of all the gunfire, explosions, crumbling buildings, and the unnatural amount of lightning was enough to cause what felt like a mild earthquake.

A vicious scowl was spread across his normally emotionless silver face and his crimson red eyes glowed like flashlights in rage. He fired his arcane rifle at an enemy tank that was a fair distance away and caused it to explode like a small bomb.

The first thing he had learned upon his initial activation was that the R&D branch had built him to replace the real Gerhardt because they were too gods damned incompetent to decide on anyone else as the next High Lord. Then he learned what had happened to the real Gerhardt and that the kingdom was currently at war with Silvanus. Then he had learned how many hundreds of thousands if not millions of people had died from Silvanus’ rampage across the Human Kingdom before the R&D branch had finished building him. Now every kingdom in the entire world was involved and this war had officially turned into a second War of Survival. So to say he was furious was an understatement. His E.P.U. was damn near on the verge of melting from the immense anger and hatred he currently felt.

He saw a squad of serpents stealthily advancing on the skyscraper sized Super Heavy Combat golem he was currently escorting and defending. His upgraded sensors informed him that each of them were carrying powerful bombs. They were clearly trying to sabotage the golem.

Snarling at them a black and green aura engulfed his hands as he cast a pain curse upon all of their very souls so they would continue to experience the agony of the curse even after he killed them. A copper aura then replaced the black and green aura as he lifted each of the screaming serpents up into the air with a telekinetic spell. He then proceeded to rip each of their entire skeletons apart down to the very last bone. Finally he remotely armed their bombs and tossed their ruined gory remains far off in different directions towards the city and the Serpentine Republic’s nearest troop formation. Fifteen seconds later each of the bombs on their ruined bodies exploded. Some did damage while others exploded harmlessly in the middle of nowhere having landed too far from their intended targets to really matter.

He was significantly more powerful than the original Gerhardt. The R&D branch had used necromancy to ensure his soul would form in such a way as to ensure he was as powerful as physically possible for a mortal mage. So to him that little display of violence was nothing.

Some of the troops around him stared at him in horror, clearly absolutely terrified by what they just witnessed him do to those serpents. “What are you looking at me for?! DO YOUR FUCKING JOBS AND KEEP FIRING AT THE GODS DAMNED ENEMY!” High Lord Mechanica roared at his soldiers. He knew that this was not how he should be treating his men if he wanted to inspire their confidence and loyalty, but right now he was far too stressed and angry to care. They all quickly rushed to follow his orders and returned to what they had been doing before they heard the serpents tortured screams.

Activating his built in communication systems High Lord Mechanica said, “Lord Lanius, in two minutes I will be ordering every super heavy combat golem in the area to fire at Silvanus all at once. So I highly suggest you either get clear or put up some significant defenses as this is going to be quite painful even for a god.”

“Understood, golem. I only need exactly thirty seconds to get enough distance from him. After that you may fire whenever you wish.” Came Lanius’ reply.

The High Lord took note of this and decided to have them all fire at Silvanus in exactly thirty seconds rather than in two minutes. After thirty seconds had passed he activated his com system again and declared on all human channels, “This is High Lord Mechanica. All Heavy and Super Heavy Combat golems, tanks, and artillery units are to simultaneously fire on Silvanus on my mark… Mark!”

Suddenly the entire area went from dark as the blackest of nights to almost blindingly bright as every single one of humanity’s most powerful conventional weapons fired at Silvanus all at once. The resulting roar was loud enough to rupture the eardrums of anyone that wasn’t either augmented or wearing significant ear protection. The concussive blast was enough to temporarily disperse a large section of the unnatural storm clouds and cause many buildings in the city to completely collapse. The High Lord watched the massive explosion in the sky with an expression that was so filled with complete and utter hatred that it would give a demon pause.

He knew Silvanus had survived that but he honestly didn’t care. He swore that he was going to find a way to destroy the bastard one way or the other. Even if it cost him his life he was going to destroy Silvanus. Even if he had to wipe these damnable Serpents and their gods forsaken allies off the face of the Earth and completely erase them from the history books. Even if he had to resort to using necromancy or damning himself to burn within the infernal realm by selling his soul to the Devil himself. Even if it took him the rest of eternity! No matter what lengths he had to go to in order to accomplish it, Silvanus was going to be wiped from existence. He was going to make damn sure of it! He wouldn’t even be satisfied with just killing him either. He would destroy the bastard’s very soul for everything he had done!

Anything for his kingdom. Anything for Humanity. Anything to avenge all the innocent men, women, children, and soldiers who died because of this monstrous nature god. There was simply no cost too great.

[In Ponyville twelve days later]

Twilight was starting to get a bit worried. Gerhardt had been acting very odd recently. If it was even possible he seemed to be working even harder than usual and was acting even colder and more distant than normal. He still attended his last friendship lesson without issue — it had been a repeat lesson with Pinkie Pie since the last one with her hadn’t gone very well — but that was it. She had tried to come over to his lab to learn more about technomancy a couple of times in the past few days but he had completely refused to even so much as let her into his lab. He hadn’t even answered the door. He had just opened a small portal to the front door while continuing whatever he was doing and said he was too busy to deal with her and pretty much told her to go away. He had put it into more polite terms than that but still. 

She couldn’t help but wonder what happened to cause this sudden change of behaviour. Something must have happened but she had absolutely no idea what it could possibly be. She had tried to go over to his lab to ask him but he had just turned her away again. It was so strange.

Apparently he still took orders for more metal thread and fabric from Rarity and delivered them but even then he didn’t actually let her in his lab. It seemed like he was trying to keep everypony out. The only one he ever let in was his daughter Pixel for obvious reasons.

Wait… That gave her an idea! If anypony were to know what’s going on with Gerhardt it would be Pixel! School should already be over for the day so if Twilight was lucky she should be able to find Pixel somewhere in Ponyville.

“Spike, you take care of the library for a little while. I have something I need to do in town.” Twilight said before walking over to the door and exiting the library. Knowing how much Pixel loved desserts like cake the first place she decided to look was Sugar Cube Corner. Low and behold, there Pixel was walking out eating a doughnut with a large smile on her face.

“Hi there Pixel! How are you?” Twilight greeted as she approached the golem.

“Oh, hey Miss Twilight!” Pixel responded between bites. “I’m alright, I guess… I’m a little sad but it’s fine…”

Twilight gave her a somewhat concerned look. “Oh? What’s wrong? Does it have something to do with Gerhardt? I’ve noticed that he’s been acting a bit strange lately.”

“Yeah… He’s been really busy lately… He hasn’t even been humming my lullaby to me at night like he had every night since he bought a bed for me… Whenever I try to ask if I can help him he always tells me no… The only time I really even get to talk to him is my daily lessons with him…” Pixel muttered dejectedly, her smile having completely faded from her face.

Twilight frowned at that. “I see. Do you have any ideas on what could have caused this sudden change in behaviour? I would like to help but I can’t if I don’t know what caused the issue in the first place.”

Pixel shook her head. “I don’t know… He started acting like this after that scary lady came by awhile ago.”

“Scary lady? Do you know who this scary lady was?” Twilight inquired curiously. She was still getting used to the strange terminology that Gerhardt and Pixel used. Given the context she assumed the word “lady” was referring to a pony. Though she still had no idea whether it was meant to refer to a stallion or a mare.

“He said her name was Queen Chrysalis. I think she’s supposed to be one of this world’s version of Changelings. At first I thought he might have been taken and replaced since that’s apparently what Changelings from this world do, but I can still wirelessly connect to his systems so I know that it’s still really him.” Pixel explained.

“Hm… I’m honestly not sure whether that’s a relief or if that’s even more concerning than if he had actually been foalnapped by Queen Chrysalis…” Twilight said half to herself and half to Pixel. “I assume she came to check on the status of the love generators Gerhardt’s building for her and her hive. Though that alone shouldn’t have caused him to react like this… Hm… Maybe she said or did something to him? But what could she have said or done to him that would cause him to react like this? She wouldn’t dare attack or threaten him otherwise she would be compromising the peace treaty and would immediately lose access to the love generators that he’s building for her. With the state the changeling hive is in she can’t afford that. So what could it be?”

“Mental illusion magic?” Pixel suggested uncertainly. “Daddy told me it can be used to manipulate people and change how they act.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I’m sure he would have seen that coming and would have been able to do something to protect himself. He has to be acting like this of his own accord. That’s why I find it so strange… Hm… I think the only way to find out what happened would be to ask him but given his recent behaviour I don’t think he would be willing to take the time to talk to me about it.”

“I can help! Daddy may be really busy lately but he always listens to me even if he doesn’t always respond!” Pixel exclaimed before finishing off her doughnut.

“That’s a great idea! Thank you Pixel! If you have time we could head there now.” Twilight said.

“Okay!” Pixel chirped before turning and opening a portal back to the lab.

Twilight jolted in surprise and stared at the portal with a shocked expression on her face. “Wow… I see he’s been teaching you a lot. He’s explained that spell to me before and it’s really difficult. I’m honestly surprised that a filly like you is actually capable of using it. I’m impressed.”

Pixel tilted her head and stared at Twilight in confusion. “Hm? It’s just a portal. It’s not that hard of a spell. Anyone should be able to do it. After daddy explained how to do it and showed me, I was able to do it on my first try. Or is this another pony thing like how the other kids in my class sometimes get bad grades or fail tests despite the fact Miss Cheerilee has already taught that lesson before and they should have already read the textbooks? I know that I read faster than everyone else but they’ve all had the text books longer than I have so they should have already finished them.”

Twilight gave Pixel a curious and slightly concerned look. “Pixel, if you don’t mind me asking, how good is your memory?”

“What do you mean?” Pixel asked, not understanding the question.

“I mean do you ever forget things? Even tiny details?” Twilight explained.

“Hm… Nope. I remember everything. Sometimes things slip my mind but I never really forget them. I even remember exactly what I was thinking when I was first activated. Why? Is it even possible to forget things?” Pixel inquired.

Twilight sighed and said, “Yeah that would explain it. I should have known… Pixel, your brain works a bit differently than everypony else's. Gerhardt designed it so that your memory is legitimately perfect, or as close to perfect as it can possibly get. Organic brains are not designed to work like that. Organic ponies are actually capable of forgetting things. That’s part of the reason we have so much trouble learning certain things. That’s why Miss Cheerilee teaches certain things multiple times, to help your classmates remember them. That’s why they can get bad grades while you don’t.”

Pixel frowned at that. “But… Why? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would your brains be designed to forget things? Who made you and why would they do that to you?”

“No pony made us. We evolved naturally. So did humans like Gerhardt. He used to be organic too and more than likely had similar limitations as us. Thus the reason why he replaced most of his body with augmentations. You are very different from organic beings Pixel, and those differences are beautiful and make you very special. You likely have none of the issues or limitations that organic beings do. You will never get sick, you will never grow old, you will never truly need to breathe, sleep, drink, or eat, and you will probably live forever unlike the rest of us.” Twilight explained. She was legitimately surprised that Gerhardt hadn’t already had this conversation with Pixel yet. It was very important that she knew all of this.

An absolutely devastated look spread across Pixel’s face. “Y-you’re going to die? You won’t live forever like me and daddy?” She said in a distressed tone. The portal wavered for a moment before fading from existence. Pixel ran over to Twilight and wrapped her arms around her neck in a tight hug. “No! Please don’t die, Miss Twilight! I don’t want you to go!” Pixel sobbed. Her eyes may not produce any tears like organic beings, but apparently Gerhardt had actually given Pixel the ability to cry.

Twilight gave Pixel a sympathetic look and patted her on the back. She couldn’t imagine what that must be like, knowing you would live forever and would have to watch all of your friends grow old and die without you. It had to be absolutely terrible. Now she felt bad for telling Pixel all of this. A filly like her shouldn’t have to deal with something like that. Then she realized that maybe this was why Gerhardt hadn’t explained to Pixel the differences between her and everypony else yet and guilt began to gnaw at her. “Shh… Shh… It’s alright. I promise that I’m not going to die any time soon. Most ponies live until their late eighties to nineties. I still have quite a ways to go until that point.” She said in a comforting tone.

Twilight spent the next few minutes consoling the distraught golem. Eventually Pixel started to calm down enough that she finally stopped crying. “Feel better?” Twilight inquired.

“No…” Pixel muttered sadly.

Twilight sighed and said, “Maybe we should put off going to talk to Gerhardt about whatever is going on with him until tomorrow. For now, how about I buy you another doughnut or a few cupcakes. You probably really need them right now.”

“You don’t need to…” Pixel muttered.

Twilight shook her head. “No, I insist. I’m the one who made you so sad, it’s only right that I make it up to you.”

“Alright…” Pixel muttered still sounding extremely sad.

Twilight then bought a few cupcakes for Pixel, and the two of them continued talking for a while. Eventually Pixel had to head home, so the two of them said their goodbyes and parted ways. Later that night Pixel took off her boots and climbed in bed. Just like the past few nights Gerhardt didn’t come up to hum her lullaby to her. She fell asleep feeling extremely sad and alone.

Her dreams were not pleasant. She saw images of all of her friends off in the distance but whenever she got even close to them they would crumble to dust and disappear. She was sobbing in her dreams. “Please, come back… Please don’t leave me alone… Please…” She begged desperately but no matter how much she begged each and every last one of her friends would crumble to dust and would never come back. One after the other they fell until there was no one left but her. Her sitting alone crying in a dusty black void. The only person who hadn’t crumbled to dust was Gerhardt, but he was never in her nightmare to begin with.

Suddenly the black void was filled with stars and a full moon. Then Princess Luna descended from the moon and landed next to Pixel, who hadn’t even noticed the changes to her dream or that Luna was next to her and was still curled up into a ball crying into her knees. Luna sat down next to Pixel and asked, “What’s wrong little one? Why are you so sad?”

Pixel hesitantly raised her head and looked at Princess Luna. She waited for a moment, expecting her to crumble to dust too just like all the others. When she didn't, Pixel said, “E-everyone’s dead… Everyone ex-except me… I’ll live for-forever… All… All alone while… while everyone else is deeeaaad!” She then resumed sobbing into her knees.

Princess Luna gave the little golem a sympathetic and understanding look. “I see… So you are immortal and you finally learned just how terrible it can be… I know how that feels, being immortal myself. There are many ponies that I used to consider friends who have died long ago. It is truly horrible knowing that you will live forever while those around you will eventually grow old and die. However, that’s exactly why each and every friendship is so important to those who are immortal like us. Each one is special in its own way. And while those friends may eventually grow old and die and we will always miss them terribly we will still always have our memories of them which we can cherish for all eternity.” She explained.

“I don’t want them to die! I don’t want to be alone!” Pixel sobbed.
 
Princess Luna wrapped a wing around Pixel and said, “I know, little one. None of us ever want our friends to die. That’s actually part of the reason that I completely disagree with my sister’s decision to try to force your father to learn about friendship as it is a terrible if beautiful burden for immortals like us. However it’s simply a part of life that every immortal must learn to know and accept. I know it’s hard and it will never be easy but eventually you will learn to deal with it and keep moving despite the pain. And if it makes you feel any better, there are a few that you can always count on that will never grow old or die. The first is your father, Gerhardt. He is just as immortal as either of us. Then there is also myself, my sister, and Princess Cadance. All four of us will always be there to help you cope with the pain of the loss every step of the way.”

“R-Really…?” Pixel inquired, raising her head again and looking at Princess Luna.

Princess Luna smiled at her. “Of course. We would never leave you to deal with this burden all on your own. And earlier you said everypony is dead but I can assure you that is not the case. At least not yet. Whatever you saw isn’t real, this is just a dream. The only things that are real in this place are you and me. When you wake up everypony will still be there waiting for you and they will be for many decades to come. So you needn’t fret. At least not for quite some time as they all still have very long lives ahead of them. They will not be leaving you any time soon. Just remember to love and cherish them for what limited time you have to spend with them.”

“Okay…” Pixel muttered starting to calm down a little.

“I would stay a bit longer, but I’m afraid my duties demand I leave for the moment. So for now I will leave you with a much more pleasant dream.” Princess Luna stated before standing up. A dark blue aura appeared around her horn for a moment. Suddenly their surroundings changed and they were standing in the middle of Ponyville. All of Pixel’s friends were there and this time so was Gerhardt.
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thirteen days had passed since Queen Chrysalis’ visit and Gerhardt had been working as hard and fast as physically possible. In fact he was working so hard that he had spent the vast majority of his time with his brain overclocked, which was something he only ever did in the most dire of situations back in the Human Kingdom when he needed to work as fast as physically possible. As a result he was actually forced to keep his hood lowered and have the emergency cooling systems installed in his head constantly active in order to keep his brain from overheating. Even so the extra processing power and perception of time had once again proved invaluable to him.

It had been an extremely complicated and difficult process given the fact that he had to do it all himself, but he had successfully managed to replace his frontal lobe. He had been forced to spend a few minutes as a ghost in order to accomplish it which had been one of the single worst experiences in his entire life, but he had done it. He was now fully artificial. He had disposed of the remains of his organic frontal lobe by burning it in his fireplace.

Before that he had completed and delivered the barrier generator and drones to Applejack within the first day after his shipment of materials had arrived. He had spent the rest of the time working on advancing his business as fast as possible. To that end he had built a laser printer and had already written several dozen books and treatises on science and magic. Obviously he had deliberately avoided giving the ponies any information that would allow them to start up businesses that could potentially compete with his. He wanted a complete monopoly on all things relating to technomancy and biomancy so he could make as much money as physically possible. He would eventually write books on technomancy and biomancy and let go of his monopoly, but for the moment he simply could not afford to have any competition whatsoever. 

He had already bound all of the books he had currently written and sent them to the princesses in order to have them all published. He had also sent them a couple of specially designed printers to sell to the publishing company they were going through with instructions on how to use them. He hoped this would drastically speed up the production of the copies of his books so he could earn his money from all the sales even faster.

He had also built a few more advanced tools and equipment that would in turn allow him to build even more advanced and complex machines. Among these machines were the healing rays utilized by the Medical Branch to heal minor injuries and fractured bones so the medical mages could focus on tending to more serious injuries. He was not concerned that the technology or magic might be reverse engineered as it was too complex of a machine and the enchantments were too advanced and esoteric for the ponies to understand without prior knowledge of advanced technomancy and biomancy. He had already built a few such healing rays and had sent them to the princesses to sell to the hospitals. They wouldn’t be saving any lives but they would certainly help make the doctors’ jobs easier.

He had also swallowed his pride and had sent a letter requesting something of a loan from the Princesses. Just enough to purchase some land on the other side of the train tracks, hire some construction workers to build a factory building there, and purchase the materials to start building machines to mass produce augmentations. Then all he would have to do would be taking the measurements for each individual augmentation and send them to the factory to have the augmentation custom made for the individual patient. It would also be able to build his new more combat ready body for him as well as his secret personal army of golems, but the princesses didn’t need to know about that. He would have to look into redesigning it later on to produce weapons for him as well, but he had to be at least somewhat patient and take one step at a time.

Once the augmentation was ready he would then perform the surgery himself in a specialized room attached to the factory. That way he could get it all done the same day and wouldn’t have to go through any of the hospitals, thus maintaining his monopoly on augmentations and the surgeries involved with attaching them. That was another fact that the princesses didn’t need to know about. On a more positive note it would also drastically lower the cost of the augmentations and make them more easily accessible to almost everyone as his prices were apparently far lower than those of normal doctors. He also wouldn’t have to deal with trying to train every surgeon in Equestria to conduct such operations which would save him quite a bit of time and effort. Eventually he could build surgical golems to do all of it for him so the entire process could be automated and more patients could be tended to all at once in multiple locations all across Equestria.

These augmentations would range from internal organs, to eyes, to limbs, to wings, and even horns. The only augmentations the factory wouldn’t mass produce were brain augmentations as he had decided it wouldn’t be wise to let immortality spread too far. After all if too many people were immortal then overpopulation would very rapidly become a major and very complex issue. Thus the reason only members of the military had access to brain augmentations in the Human Kingdom.

The only reason a factory like this was even possible in the first place was because of what Gerhardt had learned about how unicorns’ horns functioned. That information would allow for the automation of enchantments, which had been completely impossible in his world. In his world each and every individual arcane machine had required one or more technomancers to be involved in the process of making it. That was not the case here in this world which made things much easier for him. He wouldn’t have to be directly involved in the process of building each individual augmentation.

Of course he explained his reasoning behind requesting the loan so they wouldn’t think he was just trying to leech off of them. He also informed them he would be willing to pay them back with a full 30% interest per month. He was only willing to have such a high interest rate as he fully intended to pay back his debt as soon as possible thus not allowing it to pile up too much. He also built two small portal devices and sent one to Princess Celestia with instructions on what it was and how to use it so they could exchange letters directly rather than having to go through Twilight.

Princess Celestia used the portal device and sent him a letter back stating that she was a little reluctant to loan him such a large sum of money. However she still agreed due to the potential benefits his augmentations could have for the citizens of Equestria. She also said that because she viewed him as a friend and she trusted him to pay it back in a timely manner she was willing to lower the interest to 25% rather than 30%. However she requested that he try his best to pay it back as soon as possible. She also specified that she wouldn’t be sending him the money directly but would be buying the land and hiring the construction workers for him. She would then have the materials he would need to build the machines delivered to the factory once it was finished being built. After that she would send him the bill. He would have to buy the materials for the augmentations on his own however, and he would owe Celestia a favor.

He was completely fine with this arrangement. He was a bit ashamed that he had to ask for even more help from the princesses like this and he hated owing anyone anything, let alone something like a favor. However, it would advance his business drastically. Far sooner than if he had to do it all entirely on his own. So he would just have to deal with it. As such he sent her back a letter saying that he agreed to her terms.

After that he had built himself a very powerful and somewhat ornate rifle similar in design to the one he had during his first encounter with demons 802 years ago. However it was significantly more advanced and it had six barrels instead of three.

The first barrel fired 1 in bolts of magic that could cause even the largest and most heavily armored Heavy Combat Golems or Heavy Tanks to either implode or explode like bombs depending on how much collateral damage he wanted to cause. The second barrel was essentially just a more powerful longer ranged version of his teleportation pistol except with fewer firing modes. The third barrel fired 1 in particle beams. The fourth barrel fired 1 in beams of concentrated coherent photons and could easily be calibrated to shoot at any frequency ranging from microwaves to gamma rays. The fifth barrel fired bolts of weaponized necromantic energy which could injure or destroy souls in order to combat ethereal creatures like King Sombra in his shadow form. And the sixth barrel fired specialized 15 mm smart projectiles at Mach 9 that shifted their spatial dimensional axis when fired in order to slip past most defenses before shifting back to the standard three dimensional axis once they were past the enemy’s defenses. Sometimes they would even shift their spatial axis and reappear in normal three dimensional space already inside the target’s body depending on the type of defenses the target had.

Spatial dimensional ammo was some of the most advanced and devastating kinetic ammunition in humanity’s arsenal. However it was extremely complex, was difficult to manufacture, was all but impossible to mass produce, and was extremely expensive. As such it was only ever used in special circumstances such as assassinations. Particle beams were the most commonly used kinetic weapons in humanity’s arsenal as they were the second most advanced kinetic weapons they had and were significantly cheaper and more efficient to use in most circumstances. Gerhardt had no idea when he would be able to manufacture even a single bullet of this ammunition or if he would ever even need to use such weapons in this world. However he had decided it would be better to at least have the option to use spatial dimensional ammo in the extremely unlikely event that he ever did need it. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The barrel that fired spatial dimensional bullets could also fire antimatter bullets since it was essentially just a regular telekinetic barrel which could fire pretty much every type of physical bullet. However antimatter bullets were far too dangerous to actually use except in the most dire of circumstances due to the bursts of gamma radiation antimatter explosions released. While he and Pixel would survive the bursts of gamma radiation since they were both fully artificial there was simply too high of a risk that it may kill or seriously injure innocent bystanders. Thus while antimatter bullets were far cheaper and easier to produce than spatial dimensional bullets and were quite destructive, he had zero intentions of ever using them.

Regardless he now had a far better weapon than the simple concealed teleportation pistol he carried around for self defense. So he felt far more confident in his ability to defend himself or Pixel in the event they were ever attacked. He was a technomancer not a combat or war mage so while he could use combat or war magic they were not his specialty. As such he was far more effective in combat whenever he had a proper weapon in his hands rather than having to rely solely on his magic like he had to while fighting King Sombra back in the Crystal Empire. This weapon would help immensely with that.

When he was finished building his rifle, he made sure Pixel couldn’t easily get to it by hiding it in the underground level of his lab which was nearly finished. All he had left to do was convert one last wall from dirt into granite, build and install some lights, move some of his larger pieces of equipment and machinery into it, and use a couple more empty crates in order to build one or two more work tables. It would be a relief to finally have space to work without having to hunch over just to be able to barely fit inside the room.

Currently he was in the above ground section of his lab and was using both his hands and telekinesis to build more healing rays for the hospitals. His hands and the parts were all moving so fast that they appeared as little more than a blur of dull colors and copper light. His brain was currently overclocked so from his perspective they all seemed to be moving quite slowly. As such he had more than enough time to focus on all of the devices at once to ensure he didn’t make even the slightest mistake in their construction due to moving at such a fast pace and having to focus on multiple things at once. If he had a couple of general purpose golems or extra bodies to control remotely then he would have been working on building even more of the devices. Unfortunately he did not so he was limited to working on about five devices at once. 

Using his magic like this was actually very draining for him so he would eventually have to slow down and work on one machine at a time with his own two hands so as to let his arcane energy reserves recharge. However until then he intended to finish as many of these devices as possible as soon as possible. He had spent the past few days working like this so he had already finished almost a hundred of the devices and was about ready to send them to Canterlot to be sold. Then he would have to order more materials because he was about to run out.

In the meantime until his next shipment of materials arrived he would either work on the love generator for the changelings or he would spend his time studying the Alicorn Amulet. He had already learned a lot from the amulet. Apparently magic worked even more differently in this universe than he had initially thought as this amulet violated several of his universe’s most fundamental laws of magic. So it would appear that this universe’s laws of magic were much more flexible than his universe’s. Whereas his universe had extremely strict rules by which magic operated, this universe’s magic seemed to allow for a surprising amount of freedom. As such, many things that were impossible in his universe should theoretically be possible in this universe which explained why it was actually possible for mortals to teleport in this universe. He still had to experiment to find out a functional arcane equation for teleportation but he expected that shouldn’t take more than a month or two considering how forgiving this universe’s laws of magic appeared to be.

He would have to experiment to find out just how flexible this universe’s laws of magic were. Depending on what he learned, he couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of weapons or machines he could make that would be completely impossible in his universe. Would such weapons or machines even have any practical use? He honestly had absolutely no idea but he was very excited to find out!

He had also found something odd about the Alicorn Amulet. It was enchanted with some form of magic he was not familiar with. It had some similarities with chaotic magic but was somehow extremely different. He didn’t really know how to explain it. For some reason he couldn’t help but think of the Pony’s superstition about “Harmony” except the exact opposite. What would that even be called though? Discord?

It was so strange… It was completely alien to anything he was even remotely familiar with. Either way, he hypothesized that this magic is what caused the corruption of the user. He had no idea how or why this “discordant” magic corrupted the user but he was pretty sure that it did somehow. He still needed to study it and experiment with it a bit more in order to prove or disprove his hypothesis but he was fairly confident that it was true. He still had no idea how the hell it increased the power of the wearer so drastically, that made even less sense to him than the fact that this “discordant” magic somehow corrupted whoever used it.

He would have to find a way to safely utilize this “discordant” magic in such a way that he wouldn’t get corrupted by it, if that was even possible. He could only imagine the possibilities that he could potentially unlock if he could find a way to safely harness it given what this amulet was capable of. Of course, he wasn’t stupid. He knew full well that he was effectively playing with fire and there was a very serious risk of him being corrupted if he used it himself. So he would have to conduct a lot of research on it to ensure he knew exactly what he was doing long before he risked trying to find a way to harness it safely. He wouldn’t dare risk allowing himself to be corrupted by it. The potential consequences were far too disastrous for him to allow that, especially given all of the extremely dangerous weapons and technology he was already planning on building for himself. If only he had a few imprisoned criminal or enemy mages to use as living test subjects to experiment on like he had back in the Human Kingdom. It would make the whole process so much easier. What a shame…

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when his sensors detected two presences approaching his front door. One he immediately recognized as Pixel due to the tracking systems that he had built into her so he could always find her. The other was a unicorn.

Gerhardt suddenly stopped what he was doing and set everything down. He then let his perception of time return to normal. Sighing in frustration he decided this seemed like it might potentially be important enough to temporarily stop what he was doing. So he opened a portal to just behind his front door and stepped through it. Closing the portal behind him he opened the front door and saw Pixel with her hand raised to open the door with Twilight Sparkle standing next to her.

Seeing the door open Pixel lowered her hand and looked up at Gerhardt with a somewhat forced smile. “Hi daddy!” She said in a tone that sounded as though she was trying her best to be happy but was clearly less cheerful than usual.

“Hello. May I inquire as to why you are here, Miss Sparkle? I am very busy at the moment and as I told you before I would prefer not to be disturbed.” Gerhardt said in a frustrated tone. Though he took note of Pixel’s change in demeanor and decided to ask her what was wrong as soon as possible. He had noticed she was acting a bit odd earlier that morning during their daily lesson but had dismissed it as her having had a nightmare the previous night or something to that effect and decided not to bother her about it. However, the fact that she was still acting this way hours later concerned him greatly.

“Er… Well Pixel and I have both noticed that you’ve been acting a bit odd recently… Uh… How… How did you know we were here before Pixel even opened the door? Were you about to go somewhere or…?” Twilight inquired, apparently either very confused or very unsettled by this fact. Possibly both. Gerhardt couldn’t tell and he didn’t care.

“Oh? I’ve been acting strange? How so?” Gerhardt asked, completely brushing off Twilight’s question about how he knew she and Pixel were there before he opened the door. He did not have the time nor the patience to explain to her about his sensors. Besides if he let her know then he would be giving away a major tactical advantage. It was better to keep the knowledge of his sensors limited to himself and Pixel so no one could attempt to find ways around them as his enemies did on a regular basis back on Earth. Had she asked him a few weeks ago there was at least a very slim chance that he might have told her. After Queen Chrysalis had threatened to use Pixel against him, however, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in the core of a neutron star that he would be telling her anything about things like his sensors.

In war secrets could easily decide who won or lost. Of course the greatest vulnerability of secrets was the human element. So there was a risk Pixel would tell someone about their sensors. While not preferable it wouldn’t be the end of the world if someone learned about their sensors. Those were only one small piece of technology which only provided a small advantage given the fact their range was severely limited due to the vast quantity of lifeforms with a connection to magic in this world. However, he was going to be keeping all of the truly important technology secret from everyone except himself. He would be the only one who knew about any of it.

Actually he might use what he learned about where he went wrong with Pixel to build one or two more sapient golems with the minds and bodies of adults. On the extremely slim chance that he did decide to do so, he would have them act as both generals for his army and assistants for research that he needed to keep top secret as they themselves would be top secret. They would likely live in a top secret facility that was either deep underground or in orbit of the planet completely isolated from civilization. They would only ever leave that hypothetical facility if he was ever truly forced to go to war at which point they would take command of his armies and fight alongside him. That would also be the only time they would ever be allowed to meet Pixel, at the very least until she had matured enough mentally to be called an adult and he trusted her enough not to give up any of his secrets to anyone. 

That actually gave him an idea he found equally humorous and outright depressing. Perhaps he could build four such sapient golems and have them take the rolls of the other four High Lords so his military would be exactly like the human military but manned entirely by golems. Gods he both loved and hated that idea in equal measure. That actually made him feel somewhat conflicted. On the one hand it made him much more eager to do it so he could have some sense of normality here in this accursed world. On the other hand it made him a lot more reluctant to do so as the idea just made him feel so damn pathetic. It felt as though it would make him seem like he was just some sad tired old man desperately trying anything in order to cling to the past as best as he possibly could. Technically he was but that didn’t mean he liked to be reminded of that fact.

If he did decide to do that, maybe he would consider instilling a couple of the “Elements of Harmony” into the cores of their beings. All of them would have the elements of loyalty and magic, but only the one meant to take the role of the High Lord of the Medical Branch would have any extra elements. Those being kindness and possibly generosity specifically as those seemed like potentailly valuable traits for the High Lord of the Medical Branch to have. Laughter was just plain useless and Honesty would be a bit redundant. In fact Honesty could even prove to be an issue considering the fact that their entire purpose would be to keep his largest and most important secrets and thus would be expected to tell quite a few lies if they were ever to leave their facility and come to Equestria.

Perhaps he could even give them a few bits and pieces of his own memories. Not enough to make them mind clones of him or even to have personalities that were all that similar to his but just enough to give them the skills and experience to lead armies, even armies of golems, and to let them know the true brutality of war. There would be no way that they would have the minds of children after that, cruel as such a thing may be given how awful some of his memories were. They would all be just as jaded as him or any other experienced veterans of war.

Of course all of that was purely hypothetical and would more than likely remain purely hypothetical forever. It was very unlikely that he would actually do such a thing but it was good to have a plan just in case something changed and he did decide to do so for whatever reason. Though it would probably take a nigh apocalyptic event to convince him to do so and even then it wasn’t guaranteed.

“Well you seem to be working even harder than usual and are acting even colder and more distant than normal. Apparently you’re even neglecting Pixel.” Twilight explained. “Pixel informed me that this all started after Queen Chrysalis came by awhile ago. Did something happen during that meeting? If so is there anything either Pixel or I could do to help?”

He’s been neglecting Pixel? Since when? Thinking back he realized that was actually true to some extent and he suddenly felt ashamed of himself. This proved that he was indeed correct and he was a terrible father. He would have to try his best to find a bit more time to spend with her. If nothing else he should at least hum his lullaby to her at night to help her sleep like he had been doing before the event with Queen Chrysalis.

“I see. I’m very sorry dear. I had gotten too caught up in my work and didn’t realize I was neglecting you. If something like this ever happens again, please tell me as soon as possible. I know I make for a terrible father but I do not want to mistreat you.” Gerhardt apologized to her.

“It’s okay daddy. I know you are busy and I don’t want to bother you…” Pixel said somewhat dejectedly. Perking up a little she gave him a frustrated look and in a tone that brokered no argument said, “And stop being mean to yourself! You’re the best daddy in the world!”

“No. That is no excuse. I may be busy but I should be able to make time for my daughter. The fact that I haven’t been doing so is terrible. I am ashamed of myself. I promise I’ll start making more time for you.” He said sincerely. He then turned his head and looked at Twilight. “Now to answer your question, Miss Sparkle, no nothing happened.” He lied. She didn’t need to know the truth so he wasn’t going to tell her the truth. “Besides, hypothetically speaking, even if something had happened if there was anything you or anyone else could do to help me do you not think I would have already asked for assistance? The only reason I wouldn’t request aid is if the issue was too large or complex for anyone else but me to deal with.”

Twilight gave him a deadpan look. “Gerhardt, you don’t need to lie to me. I know you well enough to know that something’s wrong. I also know that depending on what it was you would try to keep it secret and handle it yourself just like I know you’ve been keeping plenty of other secrets. I don’t know what those secrets are and I respect your privacy enough that I won’t pry, but I’ve already realized there are things you're keeping to yourself. Whatever this issue is being one of them. I don’t know if you’ve realized this but your personality is fairly predictable once somepony gets to know you well enough. Please just tell me. As your friend I want to help you. I promise I won’t tell anypony else if that makes you feel better.”

Gerhardt frowned at that. Twilight had just backed him into somewhat of a corner. She knew he was lying and didn’t seem like she was going to back down on the matter. He could simply refuse to tell her but he highly doubted that she would react very well to that nor would that be the end of it. Twilight was frustratingly stubborn sometimes. As such he very reluctantly decided to tell her what happened with Chrysalis since that was the least important part of the whole ordeal. Though he would be keeping everything he was planning to do about it secret no matter how much she tried to pry since he couldn’t afford to let anyone know about it.

With an annoyed sigh he said, “Fine… Both of you come inside and I’ll tell you. I don’t want to talk about it out here where anyone can hear our conversation. And make sure to close the door behind you.” Then he turned and walked back into the recreational lounge of his lab.

Twilight and Pixel followed him and Pixel closed the door behind them. She also went the extra step and locked it behind her so no one could open it and listen in. “Alright we're all alone, so what’s happening Gerhardt? Why are you acting like this?” Twilight inquired after sitting down on the bench on the side of the room. Pixel sat down directly next to her.

Gerhardt cast a noise dampening spell on the walls, the roof, the door, the windows, and even the fireplace and chimney to ensure no one could eavesdrop on them. “Queen Chrysalis was growing impatient with how slow the development of the Love Generator was so she came over and demanded to see the progress for herself. She met Pixel for the first time and I didn’t like the way the bitch was looking at my daughter. So I sent Pixel to buy herself a few treats at Sugar Cube Corner. We then had a short private conversation and I invited her inside and showed her what at the time was the latest iteration of the Love Generator. She was being a bossy arrogant bitch so I reminded her that I did not live in her kingdom nor was I one of her servants so she had zero power over me and that I refused to tolerate her belligerent attitude. Finally I explained to her how I am the one who holds all the power in this arrangement and essentially held the Love Generators hostage if she continued to act the way she was. She complied… for the most part. Then I kicked her out since she no longer had any business in my lab, however before she left she saw fit to threaten to harm Pixel.” He summarized the events in as few words as he possibly could.

Twilight gasped in shock and Pixel looked both confused and scared. “But… Why would the scary lady want to hurt me? What did I ever do to her?” Pixel inquired fearfully. She was more powerful than Chrysalis was but Gerhardt had yet to teach her how to defend herself, so she had a right to be afraid. Gerhardt made a mental note to train her in combat as soon as possible.

“You did absolutely nothing to her, dear. She threatened you as a means of gaining power over me. Unfortunately there are many individuals like her in the world who would stoop to any level no matter how morally reprehensible in order to gain power over others, especially others who have power over them. Unfortunately, back on Earth I had personally been forced to resort to such methods in the past in order to end major battles or even entire wars though I never enjoyed it. That is why I view family and friends as a weakness. An individual’s loved ones are far too easy to use against them.” Gerhardt explained.

“I’m a weakness?” Pixel inquired in a hurt tone.

“Yes. You are my greatest weakness, Pixel, specifically because I love you. The same can be said for me. I am one of your weaknesses specifically because you love me. Imagine, if you will, someone managed to defeat me and was holding me hostage. Then they began making demands of you and if you did not comply with their demands they would either injure or kill me. Would you do as they demanded of you?”

“But no one could beat you, Daddy!” Pixel exclaimed in a distressed tone.

“That wasn’t my question. I very much can be defeated and I have been in the past. So what would you do in that hypothetical scenario?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I… I would do whatever they wanted… I don’t want to lose you daddy! Someday everyone else is going to grow old and die so I don’t want to lose you too!” Pixel cried.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. “What…? I never told you that… I was going to tell you that when you were older and were mature enough to handle that information… How…?”

Twilight grimaced and said, “Er… That would be my fault… Yesterday we were sort of talking about the differences between her and everypony else and I may have told her about how everyone else will grow old and die while she won’t…”

Gerhardt glared at Twilight. “That was a very unnecessarily cruel thing to do, Miss Sparkle… She’s just a child. She shouldn’t have to deal with worries like this until she is more mature.” He growled. Now he understood why Pixel had been acting so odd today.

Twilight scratched the back of her head with her forehoof a bit sheepishly. “Er… Yeah… I’m really sorry about that… Uh… Anyways, if Queen Chrysalis threatened to hurt Pixel then she’s violated the peace treaty. You need to inform Princess Celestia as soon as possible.”

“No. She didn’t violate the peace treaty so there is nothing the Princesses can do. She didn’t threaten Pixel directly. The threat was implied rather than spoken so she could easily claim that she was just congratulating me on my new daughter. It’s a classic tactic that has been used throughout history. She definitely threatened me but she can easily avoid all the consequences as there is no way to prove what she said was actually a threat.” Gerhardt explained.

Twilight frowned. “But… If we can’t go to Celestia and Luna, what can we possibly do about this?”

“We can’t do anything. Or to be more specific, you and Pixel can’t do anything. I, on the other hand, already have a few things set in motion that will guarantee Pixel’s safety. Thus the reason I have been working so hard lately, because I need to earn as much money as I can as fast as possible if my plan is to succeed. To that end I have asked Princess Celestia for a loan to buy an empty plot of land to build a factory to mass produce augmentations. She has agreed on the condition I pay her back as soon as possible and I owe her a favor, which of course I agreed to. So the factory should already be undergoing construction on the opposite side of the train tracks. So neither of you need to worry, I have everything under control. There is no force in this universe save perhaps the gods themselves that shall be able to lay so much as a finger on Pixel as long as arcane energy continues to flow through my circuitry and my soul continues to exist.” Gerhardt informed them.

“I see. I guess that explains why you’ve been acting like this lately. Still, I think you could do with relaxing a little. It sounds like you have things pretty well handled so you don’t need to be in such a big rush all the time.” Twilight told him.

“No, at this stage in my plan I need to make as much progress as I possibly can as fast as possible. It will help out greatly in the long run as it shall serve as the foundation of everything I do from here on out. After the factory is finished, I have built all the machinery that it will use, and I have started selling my augmentations then I will be able to slow down a bit. Until then my current behavior will continue. Though I will definitely start making more time for Pixel. I do not want to neglect her because of all this like I have been until now.” Gerhardt stated.

“Thank you daddy!” Pixel said in a happy tone.

“You’re welcome dear.” Gerhardt responded.

Twilight sighed and got up off of the bench. “Alright, I guess that’s fair enough. Well I suppose I should let you get back to work. Sorry for bothering you. But if there’s anything I can do to help please let me know. I would be more than happy to do anything I can to help you. I’ll talk to you later Gerhardt.” With that she turned and started making her way towards the door.

“Good day Miss Sparkle. I trust you will keep everything we discussed here today secret from everyone. I do not want to risk letting the fact I am making plans to protect Pixel being leaked to the Changelings.” Gerhardt told her.

“Yeah, I will. I promise. I wouldn’t want to risk putting Pixel in any danger either.” Twilight said as she opened the door.

“Bye Miss Twilight!” Pixel chirped as Twilight walked out of the lab and closed the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Gerhardt let the noise dampening spell fade. Then he looked at Pixel and said, “I’m so sorry little one. I will not neglect you like this again. I swear it.”

Pixel stood up and rushed over to him before wrapping her arms around his legs. “It’s alright daddy. I forgive you.”

Gerhardt gave her a small smile and said, “Thank you dear.”

The factory only took about two and a half weeks to complete. Whatever company Celestia had hired to build it they certainly worked fast. When it was finished, Gerhardt went over and took a small tour of it. It was currently completely empty but it would serve his purposes perfectly. A couple days later and all the materials Gerhardt needed to build the machines had arrived. When they had, he immediately got started on building them. Even with his brain overclocked and his perception of time drastically sped up it still took him a full week of work to finish all the machines and the golem that would read the exact specifications of each individual augmentation. Once that was done he built a surgical table and all the tools he would need to install each individual type of augmentation from limbs, to eyes, to internal organs. Then he ordered all the materials to make quite a few augmentations and loaded them all into the factory. Finally his factory was open for business.

He spent the next couple days looking into how to advertise his business all across Equestria. Eventually he found several popular newspapers and a couple of well known advertising agencies. He sent out a couple letters through the normal postal service in order to get in contact with them. On the day he got letters back from them, Pixel approached him with a request he found quite surprising.

“Daddy, can you give me wings like a pegasus?” She inquired.

He blinked in surprise and set down the letter he was about to open and read. “What? Why?” He inquired, turning around to look at her.

“Well… Flying looks really fun and Scootaloo and Miss Rainbow have been telling me how much they love it. I want to be able to fly like them and I sort of want to visit Cloudsdale with them so I can make friends with even more pegasi!” Pixel explained in an eager tone.

“Hm… I suppose I might be able to. Though we would have to ask Miss Rarity to alter your robe for you or make you an entirely new one, otherwise they would be trapped under your robe and you wouldn’t be able to use them.” Gerhardt muttered half to himself and half to her.

“I don’t need a new robe, I like this one.” Pixel stated looking down at her clothes.

“Well I suppose that means the process will be a bit faster since she won’t have to make an entirely new one from scratch. I believe we will actually be able to get this done within the day. This will also serve as the perfect test run for my factory. Alright I need you to give me your robe so I can bring it to Miss Rarity. Then I’ll need you to wait for me inside the factory. It will take awhile for your wings to be made but once they’re ready we can begin installing them immediately.” Gerhardt told her.

“Okay!” Pixel chirped before removing her robe and handing it to Gerhardt.

Gerhardt took the robe and folded it up. Then he raised a hand and opened a portal to the surgical room of his factory. Pixel walked through and immediately hopped up on the surgical table with a large smile on her face. Gerhardt closed the portal behind Pixel and grabbed a blank sheet of paper before opening another portal to Rarity’s boutique. Walking up he saw the sign said “open”. So he pushed the door open and walked inside.

Rarity looked up from her latest dress and said, “Oh, hello Mr. Mechanica. What brings you here today?”

“Two things, I suppose. First, Pixel wants wings like a pegasus so if possible I need you to make a pair of holes in the back of her robe for them to fit through. Second, I suppose it’s finally time that I commission that more formal uniform from you.” He informed her. Using telekinesis he levitated Pixel’s robe over to Rarity, before creating a small shield in the air in front of him and using it as a surface to write on. He sketched an image of the back of Pixel’s robe and drew two holes in the back exactly where her wings would be and drew lines with the exact measurements he needed the holes to be. Then on the back of the paper he drew an image of another robe and a set of pants and wrote all of his own measurements directly next to them. He also drew an image of the symbol on his shoulders with the proper runes indicating his former rank beneath it. When he was done he put his fountain pen away and levitated the paper over to Rarity. “I suppose I’ll leave the design details of my formal robe up to you. Anyways, how much will all of this cost in total?”

“Hm… Given your substantial size and how much material I will need to use for the robe, let’s say three hundred and fifty bits. Though, the alterations to Pixel’s robe won't take very long and will only use a bit of thread so I’ll do that for you free of charge.” Rarity said with a friendly smile on her face.

“Thank you very much. Here are the bits.” Gerhardt stated before opening a small portal to his lab and grabbing exactly three hundred and fifty bits with telekinesis. He carefully counted them all out to ensure he neither underpaid nor overpaid. Then he set them all in a neat stack on a nearby table. “When do you estimate Pixel’s robe will be ready?” He inquired.

Rarity looked at the paper Gerhardt had given her. “Hm… Looking at these measurements, I estimate I will have the alterations done in about thirty minutes. Your new formal robe should be ready in three days.”

“Perfect. It will take about two or three hours for my factory to build her wings and for me to install them. So I’ll be back some time later today to come pick it up for her. Good day.” Gerhardt stated before opening a portal back to his factory and stepping through it.

Walking up to the golem that took the specifications for the augmentations, Gerhardt wirelessly connected to it and manually inputted all the specifications for Pixel’s wings. It took about an hour for the factory to make Pixel’s wings. When they were finished Gerhardt grabbed them and opened a portal to the surgical room where Pixel was waiting patiently, humming to herself and gently swinging her legs as she sat on the edge of the surgical table.

“Alright Pixel, I’ll need you to lay down on your stomach and go into low power mode. I don’t want to risk having you move around while I do this.” Gerhart told her, setting the wings down on a nearby counter. “Though before we begin, while we were waiting for your wings to be made I had somewhat of an idea I think you may enjoy. Since I’m going to be working on you anyways, how about I update your appearance slightly? Your current appearance was intended to be androgynous as when I first built you I had no idea that you would adopt the personality of a specific sex. However since you have I can make you look more like a beautiful young girl if you would like. Here’s what you would look like afterwards.” Gerhardt then created an illusion of the altered version of Pixel’s head that he had in mind.

Pixel examined the illusion for a couple moments. “Hm… I love it! Yes please!”

“Very well. Now I am about to get started with the operation so I need you to do as I said. Lay down on your stomach and go into low power mode please.” Gerhardt said as he took his portable tool kit off of the belt of his robes, unrolled it, and pulled out a couple tools. This procedure wouldn’t require anything more than what basic tools he had in his tool kit.

“Alright daddy.” Pixel said before doing as he said and laying down on her stomach. Her eyes then began to dim until they stopped emitting light entirely, signaling that she was now in low power mode.

When her eyes had fully gone out, he began the procedure immediately. The procedure to install her wings took another hour. When it was over he neatly folded up her wings before carefully flipping her over so she was now laying on her back. The next procedure to alter her features required a lot less rewiring and a lot more reshaping a few silver plates. As such it only took another half an hour.

When that was finally done he opened a portal back to Rarity’s boutique and picked up Pixel’s modified robe. Opening a portal back to the factory, Gerhardt set the robe down on the surgical table next to Pixel. He then proceeded to wirelessly connect to her brain and bring her out of low power mode. Her eyes began to glow again and she quickly sat up before opening a portal in front of her, the other end of which was directly behind her, allowing her to get a good look at her new wings. They were made of solid silver and even had metallic feathers similar in appearance to those belonging to a pegasus. She squealed excitedly and let the portal fade. She then began moving her new wings around trying to get used to them. “Thank you so much, daddy! I can’t wait to try them out!” Pixel exclaimed.

Gerhardt smiled at her and said, “You’re welcome dear. Now put on your robe and we can go outside to let you try out your new wings. I will admit, I am quite curious to see them in action myself.” He then turned and walked over to the door. Pixel quickly threw on her robe, hopped off the table, and immediately ran after him with an excited smile on her now feminine face. They walked through the waiting room before finally exiting the surgical portion of the factory. As soon as they were outside, Gerhardt grabbed Pixel by the shoulder before she could fly off and said, “Since this will be your first time flying, I want you to be extremely careful. Don’t fly too fast and don’t go more than twenty feet above the height of the factory. If you think you’re either about to fall or crash into something, grab yourself with telekinesis to stop your momentum and carefully lower yourself to the ground. Do I make myself clear?”

Pixel nodded. “Yes daddy! Can I try out my new wings now?”

He released her shoulder and said, “Go ahead.”

“Yay!” Pixel cheered. She then got a running start before spreading her wings and leaping high off the ground. In a matter of seconds she was already flapping her wings and climbing higher into the air. She then tilted to the side and started to turn. She then flew in a few large circles around the factory. A few minutes later she was cheering happily as she started doing a few stunts that set Gerhardt on edge as he was worried she might lose control and crash into something. This went on until the sun started to set and Gerhardt used his built in communication system to call Pixel back otherwise he was almost certain she would have continued flying throughout the entire night.

When they got back to Gerhardt’s lab Gerhardt immediately opened and read all of his letters. Apparently the newspapers would be sending people to check out his new factory, take a few pictures of both its exterior and interior, and interview him in about five days. The advertising agencies would be doing the same in seven days. That was perfect. His formal uniform would be ready before any of them arrived so he wouldn’t have to have any of the interviews while wearing his currently tattered casual uniform.

Three days later Rarity delivered his formal uniform to his lab and he immediately went up to the empty room upstairs and changed out of his casual uniform and into his new formal uniform. It was extremely similar in design to Pixel’s clothes but quite a bit more ornate. Also the gold insignias on his shoulders actually had the proper runes underneath them to signify his former rank in the human military. When his new uniform was finally on he immediately folded up his tattered casual uniform and brought it to Rarity to have the holes King Sombra’s crystals had made in it repaired.

A couple days later and the newspaper journalists arrived to look at his factory and interview him. Like most people who were meeting him for the first time they were somewhat intimidated by him but to their credit they were not nearly as afraid of him as most people tended to be. Other than that the interview went very well. The advertising agents were a bit more intimidated by him than the reporters had been but their meeting also went fairly well and he had successfully managed to hire them to help him advertise his new company.

With that a few days later and Mechanica Labs was officially open for business. It would take a bit of time for his advertising campaign to reach enough people for him to start having a steady flow of patients. Though on the morning of the first day his business had officially opened to the public he did already have a small handful of patients who needed augmentations.

A select few were slowly dying of different diseases and needed a new organ or two while the rest just needed the odd limb or horn. He treated them in order of how severe their issue was so the individuals who were legitimately dying and needed new organs obviously had top priority. That being said he did get to the ones who needed new limbs the same day, just a bit later on in the day than the ones who needed new organs. After each surgery he gave each of the patients a small bottle of fairly strong non-addictive painkillers from his world that he had made himself and informed each of them how much they needed to take per day until their bodies fully recovered from their surgeries. It had been a very productive day.
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[On Earth]

The cruel gods of death that the Ghouls worshipped had a great love of the undead thus the Ghouls were the only living species in the world to actually ally themselves with the Kingdom of the Wraiths within the Dead Lands in order to please their gods. In fact whenever a ghoul was old, sick, or mortally injured and knew they were going to die they would make pilgrimages to the Dead Lands — which they viewed as a holy land deeply blessed by their gods — in order to be resurrected and come back as undead. They even viewed Caedes as a saint for his invention of necromancy. Thus their mages always became priests and the first type of magic they ever learned was necromancy in honor of Caedes, the father of liches, and whenever they died they would willingly turn themselves into liches just like him.

The Monstrous Wraiths that ruled over the entirety of the Dead Lands absolutely loved the Ghouls for that very reason. They were the one and only species of living mortals that the Wraiths were willing to tolerate the existence of due to their intense love and worship of death and their eagerness to become undead themselves. The two kingdoms had a very symbiotic relationship and would often make gruesome trades with each other. The Ghoul’s would give the Wraiths raw materials and in exchange the Wraiths would give them rotten flesh to devour or freshly captured slaves to ritualistically sacrifice to their gods. And whenever one of the Kingdoms went to war the other Kingdom would always fight alongside them every single time.

That’s exactly what was happening at that very moment. The Wraiths seeking to take advantage of the chaos caused by the start of the second War of Survival, had joined the war themselves and the Ghouls immediately joined along with them. The two kingdoms were attacking both sides, the Humans and their allies as well as the Serpents and their allies, turning the war into a massive three way brawl. The one leading the war effort on the part of the Wraiths and Ghouls was the leader of the Kingdom of the Wraith’s military. An extremely powerful demigod by the name of Mors. He was the son of Erebus the lead God of Death worshipped by the Ghouls and Phasma the Queen of the Wraiths. He appeared as a fifty foot tall skeletal monstrosity made of pure darkness.

He had eight glowing blood red eyes, multiple rows of razor sharp teeth that were each about a foot long, four skeletal arms that ended in hands with claws that were strong and sharp enough to rend through the scales of a fully grown dragon with ease, large spikes protruded from the back of his monstrous skull, his shoulders, elbows, and each individual segment of his spine, and his lower half was little more than an inky black cloud of death that would instantly kill anyone who came in contact with it and resurrect them as undead. Like shades everything slowly withered, died, corroded, and crumbled to dust in a thirty foot radius around him, though unlike with shades this only happened if he willed it to be so. He also had an insatiable hunger for souls and would immediately devour the souls of everyone he killed. The only ones he wouldn’t devour were the ones from the individuals who died from being in a thirty foot radius of him or from coming in contact with the cloud that was his lower half. Those would become his slaves. The mere sight of him invoked an instinctual sense of existential dread in all living beings.

He was currently laughing in sadistic glee as he eagerly slaughtered Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Serpents, Orks, Ogres, and Trolls alike. With every swipe of his massive claws or spells he cast, more and more souls would be forcibly dragged into his mouth where they would then be consumed. All around him a massive army of ghosts, zombies, skeletons, shades, liches, wraiths and all other forms of undead monstrosities wreaked death and destruction upon the armies of the living. Grabbing a twenty foot tall heavy combat golem he lifted it up off the ground and proceeded to rip it completely in half before tossing its remains at a couple buildings in which he sensed living souls. The buildings collapsed and hundreds of souls flowed into his mouth.

He was having the time of his life! He couldn’t even remember the last time he ever had this much fun! Though it was entirely possible such a time had never occurred before now in the first place because he had never had a chance to do this much killing before! He was positively elated that Silvanus had started this war with the Humans otherwise he may have never had an opportunity like this! All this death, all this destruction, all these souls for him to devour it was positively exhilarating! Almost intoxicating even! Absolutely nothing could ever compare to this!

He was about to cast another spell to exterminate more of these insignificant mortals when something grabbed him by the spine and flung him backwards. He crashed through several dozen buildings, killing who knew how many hundreds if not thousands of mortals in the process, before he ended up completely outside the city. He kept flying for quite a ways, trying his best to grab himself with telekinesis to slow himself to a stop but something even more powerful than him was disrupting his spell. As such he tried to slow himself through more conventional methods but even that proved mostly unsuccessful. Hitting the ground he skipped like a stone across a lake a few times before he eventually landed and dug a fairly long and deep trench into the ground.

When he finally came to a stop he growled in fury and immediately forced himself up off the ground. Looking around for whatever had done that to him he quickly spotted both Silvanus and Lanius the Executioner floating in the air in front of him. “Hm… Little gods, why do you attack me? Shouldn’t you be trying to kill each other?” He inquired, his voice sounding like a ghostly whisper though his tone was as cold as the grave.

Lanius pointed his sword at the massive monster of a demigod and said, “You are too large of a threat to the mortals who fight alongside us. As such the two of us have come to an understanding that you must be dealt with before you cause any more destruction.”

Mors laughed and said, “I’m flattered you think so highly of me, executioner! Though, I’m afraid I don’t believe my father would approve of you trying to destroy me.”

“Your father’s opinion is irrelevant, you disgusting abomination!” Silvanus growled. “This is not your war so I will give you one warning, stay out of it! Otherwise I would be more than happy to wipe your malignant presence off the face of existence!”

“A very generous offer, oh grandfather of necromancy.” Mors said in a clearly sarcastic tone. Silvanus bristled at that title. “However, I’m afraid I must decline. Mother says she wants all of these pathetic mortals dead so I fully intend to fulfill her wishes. Besides, this is the most fun I have ever had! Why on Earth would I stop now when there are so many souls just waiting to be devoured?!”

A disgusted look crossed Lanius’ face for a moment before his stoic expression returned and he said, “How foolish… Very well, monster. If you wish to die then I shall gladly oblige and take your head.” Then in an instant he was in front of Mors with his executioner sword raised to chop off his head. However something had blocked his blade mid swing. It was an extremely familiar scythe. 

“What were you about to do to my son, executioner? Because to me it seems that you were about to kill him had I not intervened.” Erebus hissed in barely restrained fury. His skin was as pale as a corpse, his clean shaven face looked extremely emaciated, he had long blood red hair that appeared to be falling out, his eye sockets were completely empty, his nails appeared long like those of a corpse who’s nails were about to fall out, and the scent of death emanated from him like a miasma. He wore a tattered pitch black robe that was covered in bones. The handle of his scythe appeared to be some unfortunate creature’s spine and its blade was made of some unnatural black material that seemed to consume all the light around it.

“Erebus…” Lanius growled before quickly backing away from the lesser god of death. “Order your son to leave and not get involved in our war or we will be forced to destroy him.”

“Hmph… No. I don’t think I will. Mors, go on and bring death to those pathetic mortals all you want. I shall deal with these two myself.” Erebus growled. “Just make certain to make their deaths as painful as possible for me, would you?”

“With pleasure. Thank you father.” Mors said before teleporting himself back to the city to continue his murderous rampage. 

When Mors was gone Erebus pointed his scythe at Lanius and Silvanus. Then a massive beam of ethereal green energy erupted from it and streaked towards the other two lesser gods at several dozen times the speed of light. Both of them teleported out of the way before it could hit them. Then the battle between the three lesser gods began in earnest. It started out with both Lanius and Silvanus focusing all of their attention on Erebus, though eventually Silvanus started attacking Lanius as well. Thus, Lanius began attacking him back. At that point all three of them were just fighting each other with zero regard for which of the other two they were attacking at any given time. The sky was practically burning from the intensity of their battle.

[Back in the City]

High Lord Mechanica Mk. 2 saw Mors teleport into the middle of the city. He sneered at the demigod in disdain. His E.P.U. had zero space left to process fear as it was already overloaded with processing anger, hatred, and disgust. Mors was the single worst demigod in existence, as far as the original Gerhardt had been aware. He was nothing but a blight upon the face of the Earth that needed to be eradicated.

He had been hoping to test his latest weapon on Silvanus in the unlikely event that it might be able to kill him, but he supposed Mors would work too. After all, if it couldn’t kill a demigod what chance did it have of even so much as harming an actual god?

As such he kneeled down and braced himself and raised the massive cannon-like weapon he was carrying. Setting the crescent shaped stock around his shoulder he looked through the panel on the side which acted as the weapon’s sights. He then aimed straight at the monster’s head and pulled the trigger. There was a low pitched whine as the weapon slowly charged up, then after a few seconds an extremely intense concentrated beam of necromantic energy that was approximately two feet in diameter lanced forth from the weapon and slammed straight into the demigod’s inky black skull. Massive tendrils of concentrated destructive necromantic energy began erupting all over Mors’ body before proceeding to immediately lash out and start shredding him.

Mors screamed in hellish agony as the large beam continuously bored into his head and the giant tendrils ripped through his ghostly body. He tried raising all four of his skeletal hands and raising a powerful shield in order to block the beam. However the shield began to crack almost immediately and completely shattered in a matter of seconds. The beam then blasted all four of his hands apart before slamming straight into his skull again. This went on for a few more seconds until Mors apparently decided he had enough and teleported away again. That wouldn’t save him, the High Lord had made sure of it. The necromantic arcane energy would continue tearing into him for hours even after the beam had stopped firing on him.

Unfortunately Mechanica Mk. 2 sincerely doubted that it would actually kill the demigod. Seriously injure him and force him to flee from the battle until he could recover, yes definitely. Kill him? No. It just didn’t have enough power. The beam would have completely obliterated the souls of all but the most powerful of mortal creatures in an instant but Mors was decidedly not a mortal creature. Hell given the fact that he was half Wraith he was unusually powerful and resilient even as far as demigods were concerned. It would take a lot more than that to truly kill the bastard. So given a few weeks to recover he would return to battle as good as new. His hands would have fully regenerated and the gaping hole in his head will have completely sealed up as if nothing had happened in the first place. But at least he had bought everyone on both sides of the war a couple weeks where the monster would be in no condition to fight.

Even so he was far from satisfied with the results of the experiment. He knew from the start that this weapon wouldn’t actually kill Silvanus. It wasn’t even truly designed to. It was intended to prove whether or not the bastard could truly be harmed by weapons like this. Judging by what it had done to Mors, he sincerely doubted it. It had done about as much damage to the Demigod as some of the more powerful conventional bombs and missiles in the Human Kingdom’s arsenal would, and even full on W.M.D.s were effectively useless against Silvanus. So even if he scaled it up massively to fit on a Super Heavy combat golem it still wouldn’t have enough power to kill the bastard.

He would need to completely redesign this worthless piece of shit. Still at least it should prove useful in battle against many normal forms of undead. That had already been proven by how he had been using it to kill Ghouls and Undead for the past hour and would continue using it to do so until the battle was over. The bastards deserved to have their souls destroyed and this weapon was very effective at destroying souls.

[In Equestria a few days later]

About a month had passed since the opening of the factory and Gerhardt’s business was growing at a rapid pace. The sudden boom in business occurred about a week after his first few patients who needed new organs had fully recovered from the surgery and were experiencing none of their previous issues. Now that it was proven that his augmentations actually worked and worked extremely well at that, apparently hospitals had started recommending him to patients who were in dire need of new organs.

If they were well enough to be moved then they would often take the train to Ponyville and come to him. However if the patient’s condition was too bad for them to be moved then the hospitals would send him letters informing him which organ they needed and would request that he schedule a time to come to their hospital to conduct the surgery instead of having the patient come to him. Individuals who needed new limbs, wings, or horns had also started coming to him as did individuals who had deformities that they wanted or needed fixed. He offered a choice between biomancy and augmentations to the ones who simply had deformities.

So he was already making quite a bit of profit and had started paying the Princesses back for the loan. However his schedule was now pretty much constantly full. So much so that he actually had to have the factory build a golem to man the waiting room of the surgical portion of his lab to have his patients schedule appointments because he simply didn’t have enough time to deal with all of them himself. Unfortunately he rarely even had time to build machines in his lab anymore as he was now always either conducting surgeries or traveling across Equestria and even all the way to the Crystal Empire to various hospitals in order to conduct surgeries. His days were now constantly packed the only time he ever had time to do anything other than conducting surgery or traveling was at night. Even then he occasionally had a few patients that were apparently nocturnal in nature.

His name was already fairly well known throughout Equestria from the first book he had written and from the machines he had been selling to the hospitals. So his new factory and business just made him even more well known even faster. That was not necessarily a good thing apparently as wherever he went now there would be at least someone who recognized him and would come up and try to talk to him. Apparently his intentionally eerie appearance and movements were no longer having their intended effect as very few of the ponies seemed even remotely intimidated by him any more. Those that were either had never heard of him before or were children. It was infuriating.

He may as well either redesign his exterior like he had done for Pixel or redesign his exterior and give himself hair and self repairing synthetic skin. He had enough money to buy the materials to make the machines to create synthetic flesh and hair. Maybe it was time he added them to the factory and used them when building his next body. After all, what was even the point of looking like this if it was no longer having the intended effect? He might as well look like a normal human.

Perhaps he should offer Pixel the same opportunity and give her the chance to decide what she looks like for a change. He was the one who decided on her last two appearances. That wasn’t very fair to her. After all, why should he be the one to decide what she looked like? In the Human Kingdom everyone with augmentations were allowed to decide what they looked like as long as they resembled their original species. Pixel had no original species and this was not the Human Kingdom so while he would prefer if she looked like a Human or at least an Elf, Dwarf, or Merperson she could decide to look like a pony or even gods damned dragon from his world for all he cared. As long as she didn’t look like a Serpent from the Serpentine Republic, an Orc, Ogre, Troll, Ghoul, or any form of Undead then her actual appearance was largely irrelevant to him. She was still his daughter no matter what she looked like.

He still didn’t like the fact that he now had a daughter and he doubted he ever would like it. However with his current plans already in motion he was slowly starting to hate the idea a bit less as she would no longer be able to be exploited in order to get to him. She was still a distraction, but that fact was tolerable if a bit annoying so long as she was not a major weakness that could be used against him.

Eventually he decided to use his factory to create a functional surgical golem to conduct surgeries in his place, at least there in Ponyville. He still needed to have facilities constructed all across Equestria and have more golems built to staff them so he would no longer have to conduct any surgeries himself any more. Still that one golem freed up a lot of his time once again. As such he finally managed to spend a bit of time back in his lab to build a machine to grow perfect crystals. Finally he had managed to replace the green sapphire that he had been using as an eye up until that point with another perfect blue sapphire. It was a major relief for both of his eyes to have the same tint and image quality again. He had honestly grown to loath that gods forsaken green sapphire. It had served its purpose but gods above it had been so unbelievably frustrating.

Another week had passed and he was currently in the Crystal Empire. Pixel had recently learned of it and told him how much she really wanted to see it for herself. So he had agreed to bring her to visit it. Of course he was here for more than just sightseeing. Since they were already there he decided to take advantage of this opportunity to find another source from which he could purchase crystals. He was also planning to speak with a realestate agent to find a plot of land where he could have another factory/surgical facility built. He couldn’t afford to purchase the land at the moment given he was still in debt to Princess Celestia and Luna. However he wanted to know if any such land was even available in the first place so he could save up money in order to purchase it at a later date after he had paid off his debt which he was certain shouldn’t take too much time.

Pixel looked around at everything with a look of awe and child-like wonder on her face, eagerly taking in the sights. Gerhardt noticed that her gaze kept being drawn to the tower-like castle in the middle of the city. “Would you like to see the castle up close, little one?” He inquired as they continued to walk.

Pixel looked up at him with an excited look on her face. “Yes please! Can we?!” She asked eagerly.

“Indeed we can. We can’t go inside, of course, but there are streets that cross directly beneath it which civilians pass through every day. So we may get as close to it as we like.” Gerhardt explained. “Would you prefer to walk there or would you like for me to open a portal so we may get there in an instant?”

“Um… I would sort of like to fly there if that’s okay. I really want to see what the city looks like from above and I haven’t had a chance to use my wings ever since we got here.” Pixel requested with a pleading look on her face.

“Hm…I sincerely doubt anything will happen to you in the time it would take you to reach the castle from here, so I suppose that would be alright. Very well. I shall meet you there.” Gerhardt said before opening a portal to the path beneath the castle and stepping through it. Turning and looking in the direction where he had just left Pixel, he zoomed his vision in and saw her fly up into the air high above the crystalline buildings. He then watched as she began flying towards him and the castle. She was very clearly taking her time and enjoying the scenery as he knew full well that she could fly a lot faster than she currently was. He had specifically designed her wings to allow her to fly at maximum speeds easily exceeding mach 2. Not that he expected her to break the sound barrier in this case, but the point remained.

After exactly ten minutes and twenty eight seconds she finally landed in front of Gerhardt with a large smile on her face. “It all looks so beautiful from above! I wish you had wings so you could have seen it too, daddy.”

Gerhardt opened his mouth to respond but paused as his sensors detected a demigod approaching the two of them from above. He knew for a fact that it had to be Princess Cadance. Looking up at where his sensors detected the demigod, his suspicions were indeed proven correct. He assumed the reason she was coming down to meet them was because she had seen Pixel flying and was curious about her. Princess Cadance landed next to him and Pixel with a completely shocked look on her face. “Mr. Mechanica? Who’s this?” She inquired curiously.

“Ah, greetings princess. This is my new daughter, Pixel.” Gerhardt informed her.

“You have a daughter?! Since when?!” Cadance demanded. She then turned her head and looked at Pixel with a friendly smile on her face. “Also, hello Pixel! It’s very nice to meet you! I’m Princess Cadance, ruler of the Crystal Empire alongside my husband Shining Armor. Your father has done quite a bit to help my husband and I. I would love to get to know you better!” She then looked back at Gerhardt with a more serious expression. “Now I would appreciate an answer, Mr. Mechanica. Since when did you get a daughter and why exactly didn’t you inform my and Shining Armor? We would have loved to have met her sooner!”

“Hi, Princess Cadance! I’m glad to meet you too! Your city is really pretty!” Pixel chirped happily.

“She was first activated about two months ago, give or take. I never informed you because why in the world would I? As I told Princess Celestia and Princess Luna during the party Miss Sparkle and her friends held on the night she was first activated, I used to be a High Lord of the Human Kingdom but now I am merely a civilian. You and your husband, on the other hand, are the rulers of the Crystal Empire. So why would I bother you about the fact that I had built a daughter? You have far more relevant matters to attend to.”

Cadance gave Gerhardt an incredulous and slightly hurt look. “Celestia and Luna already know and you didn’t tell Shining Armor and I? Even worse Twilight and her friends held a party to celebrate her birth… or activation and didn’t invite us?”

“To be fair, I didn’t wish to bother you and I had thought that either Miss Sparkle or the Princesses had already informed you. I meant no offense by it. I merely assumed that neither of you would really care as I had no reason to believe that you would.” Gerhardt said in a placating tone. He honestly didn’t understand why she seemed so upset about this. It made no sense to him why the royalty of this world was so interested in his personal life. Excluding Queen Chrysalis. He knew exactly why Chrysalis was interested in his personal life, she wanted to use Pixel as leverage against him. The ponies, on the other hand, had no such reason as far as he was aware so their interest confused him.

“Mr. Mechanica… No. Gerhardt, you saved my and Shining Armor’s wedding. Your methods may have been a bit over the top but that’s besides the point. Not only that but you also helped quite a bit in saving the Crystal Empire from King Sombra not too long after that. I am well aware of your views on friendship but I thought it would have been pretty obvious that Shining Armor and I view you as a friend even if you don’t exactly feel the same. Of course we would be interested in the fact you have a new daughter!” Cadance exclaimed.

Gerhardt sighed. What was it with these damn ponies and their irritating obsession with friendship and harmony? Whatever, he supposed it didn’t really matter. “I see… Then I suppose you have my sincerest apologies, Princess. As I said, I did not intend to cause you or your husband any offense.”

“Hm… Well, since you and Pixel are already here in the Crystal Empire, I suppose you could make it up to us by having dinner with us this evening. I would love to have a chance to talk to your daughter and to catch up with you a bit.”  Cadance said.

Pixel gasped in excitement. “Does that mean we would get to go inside your castle?!” She inquired.

Cadance chuckled and said, “Of course it does. And just so you know, you’re both always welcome to visit the castle any time!”

Gerhardt sighed again. “Fine… I suppose we shall attend. What time shall this dinner be taking place? I have a few errands I must attend to in the meantime.”

“Dinner is at seven thirty. I’ll inform the staff and let them know you’re coming so they can lead you to the dining hall. I expect you both to be there.” Princess Cadance informed them.

“Very well, we shall be back here by seven thirty. Until then there are a few things I would like to attend to. Also, before we go, just so you are aware unlike me Pixel is actually fully capable of eating. So I’m sure she would appreciate it if you would set out a plate for her as well. Isn’t that right, little one?”

Pixel nodded eagerly. “Yes please! If that’s okay. I know I don’t really need food so it’s fine if you don’t give me any, but I would really appreciate it!”

Cadance smiled at Pixel and said, “Of course. I’ll definitely have the staff set out a plate for you. Now I should let you get to your errands. We’ll see you both at seven thirty!” With that she turned and launched up into the air before flying back into the castle through the balcony.

After that it took quite awhile but Gerhardt eventually found another supplier of crystals and discussed prices with them. He also eventually found a realtor and spent a few hours discussing plots of land that he could potentially purchase and build his next facility upon once he had the money to afford it. By the time he had finished it was already seven o’clock. Since it was still a bit too early, he and Pixel spent another twenty five minutes wandering around. When it finally turned seven twenty five Gerhardt then opened a portal back to the castle, then he and Pixel made their way inside. They were greeted by a servant almost as soon as they walked through the door. Said servant then led them to the dining room. By the time they had arrived it had just turned seven thirty.

Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor were already sitting there waiting for them. The table was currently still empty for the moment. Shining Armor looked absolutely astounded the moment he saw Pixel. Cadance smiled at the two of them and said, “You’re right on time! Go ahead and take a seat.”

Both Gerhardt and Pixel walked over to the table and sat down in two of the empty seats along the side of the long table. Before either of them could say anything Shining Armor said, “I can’t believe it… Mr. Mechanica, when Cadance told me you had a new daughter I honestly thought she was joking. I hope you don’t mind me asking but what made you decide to build yourself a daughter? It just seems so out of character for you.”

“I am fully aware. Well, to be perfectly honest originally I did not expect Pixel to have the mind of a child nor did I anticipate that she would view me as her father. Her creator, most certainly, but not her father. You see, I had originally intended for her to be my friend/lab assistant as a means of getting around one of Miss Sparkle’s “friendship lessons”. That being to make a friend by the end of that month. Thus the reason I gave her some initial programming to ensure that the philosophical concepts behind the “Elements of Harmony” would form the core of her personality. However upon her activation, it turned out she did have the mind of a child, did view me as a father, and apparently had a feminine personality. Thus I had to accept her as a daughter rather than merely a friend and lab assistant.” Gerhardt explained.

“Oooh… Yeah that makes a lot more sense.” Shining Armor stated in a tone of realization. “Well moving on. What brings you all the way out here to the Crystal Empire? I assume you and Pixel are here for a reason.”

“Pixel recently learned about the Crystal Empire and wanted to see it for herself. So I decided I may as well bring her here so she could take in the sights. I also planned to use this trip as an opportunity to try and find a new supplier of crystals for my business. I also went about finding a real estate agent and finding out if there are any available sections of land which I may be able to purchase in order to have another factory/surgical facility built here in the Crystal Empire so I may expand my business. It will have the added benefit of making it so that people from here do not need to travel all the way to Ponyville in order to receive augmentations if they are in need of any. I can’t afford it now as I am still in debt to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for the loan they were so generous as to provide me with in order to have my first factory/surgical facility built. Though I should be able to soon enough so it is good to know ahead of time. Those were the errands I had to attend to before coming here.” Gerhardt explained.

“Yup! This place is really pretty! I had a lot of fun exploring it with daddy!” Pixel exclaimed happily.

That was when servants came in carrying trays containing plates of food. They quickly set the plates down in front of Cadance, Shining Armor, and Pixel before exiting the room. As soon as they were gone Princess Cadance said, “Well I’m very glad you enjoyed it, Pixel! I hope you can come visit the Empire again some time soon! Anyways I’ve heard quite a bit about your business, Gerhardt. Apparently you’ve given some of the local ponies limb and/or organ augmentations. From what I’ve heard some traveled all the way to your facility in Ponyville for their operations while you actually came all the way here yourself for the others. It’s good to hear that you’re planning on expanding your business all the way out here in the Crystal Empire. Personally I would suggest setting up multiple facilities in different locations here in the Empire but having even one out here will make it much easier to access for a lot of ponies.”

“Indeed it should, and that’s actually a very good suggestion. I shall consider opening multiple facilities out here once I have the funding to do so.” Gerhardt said, glad that the Princess was so encouraging of him having multiple facilities open here in the Crystal Empire. After all the more factories he had, the more weapons and combat golems he could produce at a time. Then with a network of underground portal or perhaps even teleportation devices linking all of his factories together, including the hidden ones that no one but him would know about, he could deploy his forces anywhere across Equestria at any time. His production rate would become truly immense when he could finally send some ships full of mining golems into space to start mining asteroids and potentially other planets within the solar system for resources.

“Actually I’m also considering allowing individuals who don’t necessarily require augmentations to purchase them as well. In the Human Kingdom it was quite common for individuals to want mechanical upgrades over their weaker organic body parts. After I finish building the machines to make synthetic skin, hair, fur, and feathers the option of replacing one’s body parts should be more appealing to a wider variety of individuals as there will be no visual difference between the organic and artificial body parts. Except for the eyes, of course. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do to make the eyes look organic.” Gerhardt informed them.

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at that and asked, “Oh, is that so? Then do you have any intention of ever making yourself or Pixel look more organic? Sorry I don’t mean to be rude but while Pixel looks perfectly fine your current appearance is a bit… unsettling.”

“I take no offense. My appearance is intentionally designed to be unsettling in order to intimidate others into leaving me alone unless they have something important to discuss with me. Though, unfortunately ever since my business started and people started to learn of me beyond just my books they have started approaching me and trying to speak to me despite my appearance. So actually yes. I am planning on making myself look like my young organic self — minus all of the scars, malnourishment, and heavy bags under my eyes from self imposed sleep deprivation — since it appears that there is no longer any point in looking like this since it is no longer having its intended effect. And yes, I planned to offer to make Pixel look like an organic human too and allow her to choose her own appearance after I had finished building the machines to produce synthetic skin and hair. After all, why should I be the one who decides what she looks like?”

Pixel stopped eating the salad that was sitting in front of her and looked at Gerhardt excitedly. Quickly swallowing what food was already in her mouth she exclaimed, “Really?!”

Gerhardt gave her a small smile and said, “Of course, dear. You may choose whatever appearance you wish. Whether you would like to look like a Human, Elf, Dwarf, Pony, or even one of the Dragons from my world. The only appearances you are not allowed to choose are a Serpent from the Serpentine Republic, an Orc, Ogre, Troll, Ghoul, or any form of Undead. Spirits are also out of the question as I am limited in what I am actually able to do with physical materials so I can’t exactly give you any sort of conceptual form even if I wanted to.”

“Hm… It would be nice to look like all of my friends but you’re Human so I want to look Human just like you!” Pixel stated in a definitive tone with a large smile on her face. “And if I’m allowed to choose what I look like, I want to look like this!” She then cast an optical illusion spell. Floating above the table was the slowly rotating image of a girl wearing the same clothes as Pixel but with the hood of her robe lowered. She had ghostly pale sun-deprived skin just like the image Gerhardt had shown Pixel of what he used to look like, a relatively small nose, the same solid pink eyes that Pixel currently had, perfectly straight silver hair that reached just an inch or two past her shoulders and had an obviously metallic shine to it, and had pure white wings on her back.

Cadance and Shining Armor both examined the image curiously while Gerhardt merely recorded every little detail for future reference. “Understood. Would you like your hair to be made of actual metal or would you like it to be made of the same material synthetic hair is usually made of?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I would like it to be made of actual silver please!” Pixel requested.

“As you wish. I’ll have your new body built as soon as I finish the machines my factory requires to do so.” Gerhardt informed her.

“Well, other than that has anything else of note happened with either of you?” Princess Cadance inquired as the illusory image vanished.

“Hm… I have come into possession of something called the “Alicorn Amulet” which dramatically increases the power of the wearer at the cost of corrupting them the more they use it. An individual calling herself “the Great and Powerful Trixie” was using it to effectively take over Ponyville. I used a bit of mental illusion magic to show her some truly terrifying imagery and scared her into giving it to me as it was unable to be removed by anyone except the one wearing it. I am currently studying it to determine how it works and have discovered an entirely new form of magic I previously had no idea even existed. It shares some similarities with chaotic magic but is more than different enough to be classified as a completely separate form of magic entirely. The closest thing I can come to describing it is the exact opposite of you ponies' superstitions about “Harmony”. Thus not knowing what you ponies call it — since I assume you have to know about it to have been able to make the amulet in the first place — I have decided to call it “Discordant Magic”. I am currently researching this Discordant Magic in order to find a way to safely use it without risking being corrupted by it.”

Shining Armor and Cadance shared a worried glance before looking at Gerhardt again and Cadance said, “I see… Um… If that’s the case then please be as careful as you possibly can. To be perfectly honest, knowing what you’re capable of and are willing to do to other ponies, the idea of you being corrupted by this “Discordant Magic” is legitimately terrifying. It may very well be just as disastrous if not even more so than when Auntie Luna became Nightmare Moon.”

“Hmph. You seem to vastly overestimate my abilities. Hypothetically assuming I was corrupted by this magic and sought to conquer the world, what chance do you think I would have fighting three demigods? Even if I was using this Alicorn Amulet and it increased my power to match that of a demigod, it would still be three against one. Using the amulet I may be able to defeat you in a one on one fight but not all three of you at once.” Gerhardt stated, intentionally ignoring the fact that he was planning to build up his own personal army of combat golems. He actually agreed with her, the idea of him being corrupted was indeed truly terrifying. He could very well throw the world into a war on par with if not surpassing the First Necromantic War if he truly had any desire to, especially since he now had a factory capable of producing combat golems for him.

Neither Cadance nor Shining Armor looked convinced. Shining Armor shook his head and said, “Maybe that’s true but who says you would do it all on your own? What’s to stop you from making an army of beings like your daughter? She can use magic. So you could build several generals who could command your army alongside you and give them the ability to use magic. Then you could provide them with their own copies of the amulets. And if the amulet is as powerful as you say and can increase the wearer’s power to be on par with an alicorn like Cadance, Luna, or Celestia then you and your generals would be effectively unstoppable.”

That was something Gerhardt had already considered. He could effectively have his factory mass produce an army of mages for him if he really wanted to. He had already figured out why Pixel had the mind of a child so he knew exactly how to ensure the rest didn’t. He still didn’t understand why she considered him her father, however. So it was entirely possible that everyone in that army might consider him their father just like her, though that was not necessarily a bad thing. Ultimately them considering him their father would just make them all the more loyal to him than they otherwise would be all things considered.

So realistically the pros would outweigh the cons if one were to look at it from a purely logical standpoint. However, he really didn’t want to do that so he simply wasn’t going to. He would much rather have an army of mindless, soulless, combat golems than actual people. In fact he had spent centuries pushing for that very thing back in the Human Kingdom. After all, why send good men and women to their deaths when you could send an army of combat golems to battle instead? To do so would be just plain cruel. Sure combat golems would never replace mages, unfortunately, but they should definitely replace normal soldiers. At least in theory. Unfortunately it had been proven time and time again that normal soldiers could do things and make decisions that simple combat golems never could without giving the combat golem sapience which was illegal and completely defeated the purpose of phasing out normal soldiers in the first place.

He did not like sending people to their deaths. He never had and he never would. Unfortunately that was just the simple reality of war back in his world. Here in this world, however, while raising an army of sapient golems that were also all extremely powerful mages was the objectively superior option from a purely logical standpoint he still refused to do so. Specifically because they would all be intended as soldiers and would thus be expected to fight and die for him. There was also the fact that they would all technically be his children so he would be sending countless numbers of his own sons and daughters to fight and die for him which just made it all the worse.

“Prince… If I did that each and every last one of them would think of me as their father, which would technically be correct since I would be the one who made them. So I would be sending my own sons and daughters to fight and die for me. I do not enjoy sending average soldiers to fight and die for the Human Kingdom which is so much more important than I am. So the idea of sending my own children to do so merely for me appalls me even more. So even if I were corrupted I would never do such a thing. Perhaps I may build an army of mindless and soulless combat golems but that would be it. Granted, that would still be extremely bad but it would be nowhere near as bad as if I were to make an army of sapient golems like Pixel.”

“I know you don’t want me to but I would fight for you, daddy.” Pixel stated.

In response Gerhardt just sighed and said, “No.”

“Fine. The point is, this magic you’re working with sounds very dangerous and you yourself are a very dangerous individual. So you being corrupted by it would not be a good thing no matter how you look at it. So please try not to use it unless you’re absolutely certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will not corrupt you. I don’t care what sort of army you would raise, we simply can’t afford to have you trying to take over the world.” Shining Armor told him.

“Neither of you need to worry, I assure you. I am already well aware of the risks and have no intention of ever letting myself be corrupted by Discordant Magic. I will figure out a way to safely harness it long before I ever risk using it myself. Thus the reason I am conducting research upon it in the first place. I know what I am doing.”

“I’m sure you do.” Cadance said. “Anyways this seems like a bit too serious of a topic for a casual visit like this. So to change the topic, I’m sure you will be happy to know that we finally have our own guards to help defend the city!”

“Very good. I expected that you would by now but it is good to have confirmation on that. Are there any unicorns among them and if so have they started utilizing the exercises and training methods detailed within my book?” Gerhardt inquired.

Shining Armor smiled proudly and said, “Of course! I made sure of it! I want the Empire to have the strongest defenses it possibly can in the event of another disaster like King Sombra’s return. Speaking of which, at some point I would sort of like to talk to you about improving the weapons and armor of my soldiers as well as installing some defensive technology to protect the Empire if possible. Whenever you have the time, of course.”

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. “Interesting… That is not a request I had expected to ever get from any of you ponies given how pacifistic you tend to be. Very well, I would gladly schedule a meeting to discuss that with you. The soonest I will be available to meet with you after tonight will be in about five days. Does that sound like a good time?”

Shining Armor nodded. “That sounds perfect. I have nothing else really planned for that day. So let's meet in the throne room at noon.”

“Understood. Do you mind if I open a portal to get there?” Gerhardt inquired.

“No, not at all. In fact I was already expecting that you would be using a portal in the first place.” Shining Armor stated.

After that the four of them drifted into a bit more casual conversation. At that point Pixel took over for Gerhardt as she was far better at casual conversation than he was and she had far more to talk about than he did. This went on for about an hour before Cadance and Shining Armor had to go to bed. Thus they said their goodbyes and Gerhardt and Pixel returned to Ponyville via portal.
> Chapter 14 (Rewritten)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a little over a week since their visit to the Crystal Empire and Pixel still couldn’t stop replaying the memories in her head. By far her favorite memory was seeing the city from above as she flew over it towards the castle. The crystalline city was just so beautiful! She almost wished that they lived there instead of Ponyville. She loved Ponyville, of course. After all, it was her home! But it just didn’t look nearly as nice as the Crystal Empire.

Currently it looked the best that she had ever seen it! It was the beginning of fall so all of the leaves on the trees were starting to change to beautiful shades of red, yellow, and brown. It looked especially nice during the sunset! Though even then it didn’t compare to the sheer beauty of the Empire in her opinion. The fact that she was curious if the entire city could be enchanted like one massive crystal in a machine was completely besides the point!

Regardless today she was helping Miss Twilight build a pair of big portal devices. Apparently Miss Twilight had been doing a lot of experimenting with what technomancy she had learned from Pixel’s father. She already had a bunch of little golems rolling or floating around her library cleaning or sorting things for her. However this was by far the largest project either Pixel or Twilight had ever attempted at this point.

Twilight had originally wanted to build a teleportation device but Pixel didn’t understand how teleportation worked. Twilight had spent a few days trying to teach her teleportation but had ultimately failed. The ponies’ spells just made no sense to Pixel no matter how hard she tried to understand them. The odd system and poems that they used just seemed like pure nonsense to her. It was all just so vague and metaphorical. It wasn’t nearly obvious and purely mathematical like all the magic she knew. As such it seemed that she was completely incapable of learning any of the spells that the ponies used. Miss Twilight said this was likely a consequence of Pixel having learned everything she knew about magic from Gerhardt instead of learning the way ponies use magic.

Whatever the case may be because Pixel was incapable of understanding any of the ponies’ spells whatsoever, they had no choice but to use magic that she was familiar with. Thus the reason they had to use portals as she was very familiar with the science behind how portals worked and was fully capable of adapting that so as to incorporate it into machines she built. If they hadn’t compromised like this then Pixel simply would have been incapable of assisting in Twilight’s project in the first place and Twilight would have had to do it all entirely on her own.

Pixel was currently making the last few adjustments to one of the gold portal arches. Pixel had tried to convince Miss Twilight that it would be better to use silver instead of gold for the exterior since silver was a much better conductor of arcane energy, but Twilight had insisted on using gold for some reason. It wasn’t that gold was a bad conductor of arcane energy, in fact it was the third best conductor amongst natural metals, but it was just that copper was a better conductor than gold and silver was even better than copper. Either way it would only have a relatively minor impact on the overall performance and efficiency of the device.

As soon as Pixel finished making the final adjustments on the portal arch that she was working on, she bolted the final panel on and looked over at Twilight who was working on the other arch. “I finished this arch, Miss Twilight.” Pixel informed her.

“Oh alright. I’m just about finished too. Just one last adjustment and… there!” Twilight said before bolting the final panel onto the portal arch she was working on. “Alright, I think that’s good. Now let’s test them. Pixel, could you please activate your portal arch?”

“Okay!” Pixel said before turning and pressing the activation button. As she did, Twilight activated her arch as well. As soon as the arches were active, gray circles formed in the middle of them, otherwise nothing else happened.

Twilight groaned in frustration. “Darn it, not again! I really thought we had it figured out this time! I just don’t get it. How the buck did Gerhardt make a pair of linked portal machines that are smaller than this to send letters to and from Celestia when we can’t even make a pair that are as large as this?! Ugh… At least they didn’t explode this time…”

Pixel shrugged. “I dunno. Daddy’s just really smart and knows way more about technomancy than us. I mean, he teaches me more about it every day and I still don’t understand a few of the things I’ve seen him build. Maybe a portal machine is just a bit too advanced for either of us right now? We can always show daddy what we’re working on and ask him what we’re doing wrong. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind helping us if we asked.”

Twilight shook her head. “No. I would prefer if we figured it out on our own. I really don’t want to ask him for help if we can avoid it.” A purple aura enveloped her horn as she teleported the blueprints of the portal device to herself, along with some of her notes and calculations. Skimming through all of them she groaned in frustration. “I just don’t get it. Everything seems perfect on paper. Why won’t it work?!”

Pixel went over all the blueprints, notes, and calculations in her head having seen them all before and even having helped write them. “There has to be an issue in how they’re linked, everything else is perfect, but I can’t find anything wrong with the enchantments or devices that link them together… I know neither of us forgot to install any parts… Some sort of interference maybe?”

“Interference? I guess that’s a possibility… Hm… We’ve already triple checked all the calibrations so I know they’re both tuned properly… I can’t think of anything that would be causing interference like this.” Twilight stated.

Pixel frowned in thought. As she was thinking, she decided she may as well shut down the two portal devices since there was no point in keeping them on until they could figure out what the issue was. Pressing the power button on the side of her arch, the solid grey circle in the middle vanished. Microseconds later the grey circle was replaced with a full fledged portal, much to the surprise of both Twilight and Pixel.

Pixel took a few microseconds to process what just happened before coming to a realization. With an excited gasp she said, “I know what’s wrong! Miss Twilight, I know why it wasn’t working a moment ago! The two portal machines themselves were what was causing the interference! When they are both activated they are both trying to create portals to the other end of the system simultaneously and these portals interfere with each other meaning neither can work as long as both sides are active at the same time!”

Twilight blinked in surprise and looked at the two machines. “Huh… I really thought they would both have to be active at the same time… Oh well, this is still absolutely perfect! We did it, Pixel! We finally managed to figure it out! This is going to absolutely revolutionize transportation! Ooh, I can’t wait to show this off to Princess Celestia! She’s going to be so impressed!”

“Yay! I can’t wait for Daddy to see! He’s going to be so proud!” Pixel squealed in delight. She then gasped as she had what she thought was a brilliant idea. “Miss Twilight, we should make it a surprise and show them both at the same time along with all of your friends!”

“Agreed! I’ll work on planning and scheduling everything for the big reveal. In the meantime how about the two of us go celebrate our success with a few treats from Sugar Cube Corner?” Twilight offered.

“Alright! I have 150 bits on me since Daddy just gave me my weekly allowance today, so I’ll pay for everything!” Pixel stated happily.

Twilight looked at Pixel in surprise. “150 bits?! That’s your weekly allowance?!” She was genuinely shocked by this information. Most fillies only got between 10 and 20 bits as a weekly allowance yet Pixel got 150? Either Gerhardt was way worse with money than she had initially thought or his business in selling augmentations and authoring some of the most groundbreaking books since Starswirl the Bearded was even more lucrative than she had expected! Or maybe it was some mixture of the two?

Pixel gave Twilight a confused look. “Yes? Why? Is that strange?”

“Uh… Well… Let’s just say that is a huge allowance. It sort of caught me off guard. Anyways, regardless, you don’t need to do that. It’s on me.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Miss Twilight, other than what I’m trying to save up to have Miss Rarity make a new dress for me, I would just use my allowance to buy treats at Sugar Cube Corner anyways, so I insist on paying for everything! Generosity is a core part of my personality, as are all the Elements of Harmony. So please, it would make me really happy to be the one to pay! I have more than enough bits to spare.”

Twilight sighed. “Alright, if you insist… But I’m paying next time!”

“Deal!” Pixel said with a large smile on her face.

The two of them left and headed off for Sugar Cube Corner discussing what their next project should be along the way. Eventually they decided to build a quantum supercomputer as their next collaborative project.

Once they got to Sugar Cube Corner Twilight ordered a couple doughnuts while Pixel ordered a large slice of cake. Pixel paid for it all with a bit of her allowance and the two of them sat down at one of the tables and began eating their treats. They made a bit of casual conversation while they ate.

Finally they finished and left the store. “Well, that was fun, Miss Twilight! Be sure to let me know when we’re going to be showing the final product to everyone once you figure out the schedule!” Pixel said with a large smile on her face.

“Of course! I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as possible! It was fun hanging out with you, Pixel. I’ll see you la—” Twilight was about to say goodbye when she was cut off by a loud vicious roar that startled both of them.

Suddenly Pixel’s sensors detected a very strange magical energy signature approaching them at very high speeds. She was about to raise a shield to protect the two of them, however she reacted much too late. A large manticore whose eyes were emitting leaf green arcane energy pounced on her from atop the roof of Sugar Cube Corner and began trying to maul her. Its claws slashed through her robes and even made deep scratches into her exterior. If she were made of flesh and bone she would likely already be dead since the force required to put such deep scratches into her exterior would have completely shredded an organic being in an instant. She tried to ward off its attacks with her arms, however it bit her forearm and completely ripped it off with a violent jerk of its head before tossing it off to the side.

Pixel screamed as agony coursed through her from having one of her arms torn off. Her father had been putting her through combat training so she would know how to defend herself, however her mind was too engulfed by pain and terror for her to react as she should in this situation. She couldn’t even think to shut off her pain receptors forcing her to suffer through the agony of having her arm ripped off and the deep scratches in her exterior.

Twilight stared in horror as this happened before casting a spell that knocked the Manticore off of Pixel and temporarily stunned it. She then teleported herself and Pixel, along with Pixel’s now missing arm, away from the area.

Twilight knew she had to do something about the manticore but Pixel was hurt and she really needed help at the moment so she decided to get Pixel to someone who could help her before going back to deal with the manticore. Unfortunately Gerhardt was out of town at the moment and she had no way of contacting him. She would also need Fluttershy’s help in dealing with the manticore so she couldn’t bring her there to have Fluttershy take care of her otherwise the Manticore would be left to rampage through Ponyville while they did their best to tend to Pixel. As such she ended up teleporting them to Applejack’s farm.

Applejack was repairing their old wooden cart since it’s wheel had ended up breaking when Twilight and Pixel appeared. Pixel was still screaming in fear and agony when they appeared, so Applejack ended up being quite startled and accidentally chipped the new wheel. She didn’t break it and the chip was mostly superficial so the wheel was still usable but still. Whirling around, Applejack saw Pixel laying on the ground screaming with one of her arms missing, her robe in tatters, and very visible and very deep scratches in her exterior. She also saw Twilight standing next to her with a horrified look on her face.

Applejack’s eyes immediately widened at the sight before she rushed over to them. “Twilight?! What happened?!”

“Applejack! There’s a manticore rampaging through Ponyville and it attacked Pixel! I need you to take care of her while I go get Fluttershy and go try to deal with the manticore before it can hurt anyone else!” Twilight exclaimed.

“What?! Sweet Celestia! Then get goin’! I’ll try my best to take care of her!” Applejack exclaimed before sliding to a stop next to Pixel.

Twilight gave her a grateful smile and said, “Thanks Applejack!” She then immediately teleported away.

Applejack quickly looked over Pixel’s injuries and winced. They were awful. Applejack knew that if she were organic she would have needed to be rushed to the hospital immediately otherwise she would be bleeding to death. Fortunately she wasn’t organic so that really wasn’t an issue. Unfortunately since Pixel wasn’t organic Applejack had no idea what to do to help her. So she just sat down next to Pixel and wrapped her in a hug. “Shh… Shh… It’s alright… I know it hurts but that manticore isn’t here. You’re safe now…”

It took a few moments to calm Pixel down enough that she finally realized she could just shut down her pain receptors. At that point she shut them off and relief flooded through her as she was no longer in any pain. However she wrapped her one good arm around Applejack and started crying. This was partially from the distress of having lost her arm and partially from the fear and stress of having just been attacked by a very large and dangerous animal.

Around this point Big Macintosh came running from elsewhere in the farm. “Applejack?! What’s goin’ on?! I heard somepony screaming!”

Applejack turned her head to look at her brother and said, “A manticore’s rampagin’ through Ponyville and it attacked Pixel. She ended up getting hurt really bad so Twilight brought her here before goin’ off to get Fluttershy to help her deal with the Manticore.”

Big Mac noticed the severed arm laying on the ground next to them and winced. “I see… Then it’s a good thing neither Applebloom or Granny Smith went into town today… Anything I can do to help?”

Applejack shook her head. “Nope…Just go take care of Applebloom and make sure she doesn’t leave the orchard today. I don’t want to risk her goin’ into Ponyville and gettin’ herself hurt.”

Big Mac nodded before turning and walking away with an uneasy look on his face.

[Meanwhile Ponyville]

Obviously, the Manticore hadn’t just remained where Twilight had left it so she and Fluttershy had to search for it a bit. Fortunately it wasn’t very hard to find due to the roaring and the screaming. Once the two of them managed to find it again they were horrified to find several ponies having been ripped to pieces. It didn’t even seem like the manticore was trying to hunt for food since it just left the corpses behind without trying to eat them, it was just killing indiscriminately for no apparent reason. It also seemed to be heading south west for some reason, much to Twilight’s surprise.

Fluttershy was absolutely terrified by the horrific scene before her. It was far worse than the time Gerhardt had shot the limbs off those changelings back in Canterlot. They weren’t just missing limbs. Not at all. Their organs were spilling out, their bones were shattered and were sticking out of their flesh, limbs and heads were missing, and blood was absolutely everywhere. The smell of blood and death filled the air to the point it was almost suffocating. It was like a scene straight out of a nightmare. And the manticore itself looked like the monster from those nightmares. Its eyes were emitting leaf green arcane energy, its mouth, claws, and tail were all dripping with blood, and it was snarling as if it were completely rabid.

Before either Twilight or Fluttershy could do anything the manticore jumped and flapped its wings as it launched itself up on top of a nearby roof before continuing to bound off towards the  south west.

“T-twilight… I… I… I don’t think I can do this… T-t-there’s something very wrong with that manticore… I don’t think he would listen to me…” Fluttershy stuttered.

Twilight gave Fluttershy a sympathetic look and said, “Fluttershy, I know it’s scary but we can’t let it hurt anyone else… If it won’t listen to you can you at least try to use your stare on it?”

“I… I…” Fluttershy took a deep breath to try to calm down before saying, “I can try…” She then turned and flew off in the direction the Manticore went trying her best not to look at any of the corpses as she went.

Twilight ran after her, having to follow the road since she couldn’t fly. When she got around to the otherside of the buildings she saw Fluttershy confronting the manticore.

“H-how dare you?! How dare you hurt those po—” Fluttershy was cut off as the manticore roared at her and reared up to pounce on her. Fluttershy’s eyes widened in sheer terror.

Seeing what was about to happen to her friend, Twilight cast the same spell she used to knock the manticore off of Pixel the first time. A beam of purple energy slammed into the manticore before it could hurt Fluttershy, knocking it away from her. Twilight then teleported Fluttershy back over to her. “I-I’m so sorry, Fluttershy! Given your past experiences with large and dangerous animals I really didn’t think it would try to hurt you! If I had, I never would have gotten you involved in the first place.” Twilight apologized to Fluttershy.

“It… It’s alright Twilight… I don’t blame you… Th-thank you for… for saving me…” Fluttershy stuttered, still in shock from what just happened.

“Of course… You get somewhere safe, I’ll try to deal with this myself!” With that Twilight turned to look back at the manticore and was surprised to see it was already running off again. “Oh buck!” She cursed before trying her best to run after it. Unfortunately it proved to be significantly faster than her and the fact it was able to go over buildings instead of around them gave it a significant advantage and made it very difficult for her to keep up.

Eventually the two of them reached the edge of town and Twilight realized the manticore was heading straight for Applejack’s farm where she had left Pixel. Then she remembered how when it first appeared it had completely ignored her and instead went straight for Pixel. Was it targeting her? If so, how did it even know where she was?!

Whatever the case, she had to go warn Applejack and Pixel. As such she immediately teleported back to where she had left the two of them. Once she arrived she saw that Pixel was no longer screaming but she was crying. “Applejack, I’ve come back to warn you that the manticore is coming this way!”

“What?! Why would it be comin’ here?!” Applejack exclaimed.

“T-the monster is coming here?!” Pixel squealed in terror.

“It’s alright Pixel, I’m going to go back and cut it off before it gets here. I promise I won’t let it hurt you or anypony else! I just had to come here to warn you both just in case…” Twilight said a bit nervously. She wasn’t looking forward to having to fight this manticore since it already killed at least seven ponies, but she wasn’t just going to let it continue its rampage.

“Thanks for the warning, Twi. If you need help dealing with it, just let me know.” Applejack stated in a grim tone.

“Thank you, Applejack, but I would rather not let anypony get that close to it.” She walked over to Applejack and whispered in her ear. “I don’t want Pixel to hear this, but it’s already killed at least seven ponies in Ponyville… Remember that time Gerhardt shot the limbs off those changelings? It was worse than that. A lot worse. And it also tried to attack Fluttershy. Even her stare didn’t work on it.”

A shocked and horrified look crossed Applejack’s face. “Alright… Well, in that case, you had best stay safe. If it’s really that dangerous I don’t want you doin’ anything reckless and gettin’ yourself hurt.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll be back to let you know everything is safe again after I deal with it.” Twilight stated before teleporting to a point in the path to Applejack’s farm that she was certain was ahead of the manticore. Moments later she saw it charging towards her like a monster from one of the horror stories she had read in her library. Twilight stood her ground defiantly with a determined expression on her face and a purple aura enveloped her horn as she prepared to cast a spell.

[Ten Minutes Later]

Pixel was huddled inside Applejack’s barn, looking out through a small crack in the door. Applejack had seemed very confident that Twilight could deal with the manticore, however she let Pixel hide in the barn until Twilight returned just in an attempt to help her feel better. Applejack herself was standing just outside.

Eventually a loud roar echoed through the orchard and Pixel saw the manticore come into view and saw it covered in blood. She squeaked in a mixture of horror and terror. Then she noticed the patch of bloody purple fur stuck in its teeth and the bloody purple fur covered flesh stuck to its claws and she couldn’t help but fear the worst. The monster had killed Twilight!

Applejack’s jaw dropped in surprise as she also saw the flesh and fur that were stuck to the monstrous looking manticore. She had honestly been expecting Twilight to be able to deal with the manticore. Buck, she knew she shouldn’t have let Twilight go fight this thing on her own! She should have insisted on going with her! Regardless, that didn’t matter now. What’s done is done. All she could do about it now was to ensure it wouldn’t be able to hurt Pixel, Applebloom, Granny Smith, or Big Mac.

“Alright, yah big varmint! That’s it! I ain't going to let you hurt anypony else! Come on, bring it!” Applejack growled before picking up a nearby lasso with her mouth.

The manticore roared furiously and charged at her. Applejack charged it right back, spinning the lasso before throwing it at the manticore. The rope successfully landed around the manticore’s throat and Applejack yanked it taught. Unfortunately this failed to do much as the manticore immediately slashed the rope apart with its claws before continuing its charge. Cursing, Applejack dropped the rope and prepared to have to fight it up close and personal, which she had wanted to avoid.

Finally the two of them got within range of each other. As the manticore tried to pounce on her, she turned and bucked it hard in the chest. There was a sickening crunch as some of the manticore’s bones broke from the impact and it was sent flying backwards. As it hit the ground it rolled to a stop quite a ways away. Pushing itself up off the ground it coughed up some blood. Whether the blood belonged to it or one of the ponies it had mauled, it was impossible to tell. It gave Applejack a menacing glare and this time instead of charging straight for her it slowly circled around her in a more contemplative manner, clearly trying to think of how best to go about attacking her.

Applejack stood her ground and returned its glare. “Come on yah varmint! I ain't got all day! Yah got two choices here. Either run off to wherever in the Everfree you came from or get bucked again!”

The manticore growled at her before turning and running around her towards the barn where Pixel was currently located. Applejack’s eyes widened as she realized what it was trying to do. She assumed it must smell Pixel hiding in the barn. “Oh no you don’t!” She growled before running to cut it off. Once she was close enough to it she turned to buck it again, however apparently it had been anticipating this and stabbed Applejack in the back with its stinger. It then proceeded to lift her up off the ground with its stinger and threw her into a nearby tree.

As soon as she hit the ground Applejack tried her best to stand up but the manticore got to her before she could. It put a claw on her back and forced her back to the ground before raising its other claw in preparation to finish her off.

Pixel had been watching the entire fight in terror through the crack in the barn door. Seeing the Manticore on top of Applejack about to kill her, Pixel threw the barn door open, grabbed the manticore with a telekinetic spell, and yanked it off of Applejack. She was terrified… So, so terrified… However she couldn’t just sit back and watch as the manticore killed somepony. Still, she really didn’t want to hurt it either so she was trying her best to avoid having to use any of the combat spells that her father had taught her.

The manticore turned to look at her and roared in fury before rushing towards her. A silver aura enveloped Pixel’s hand as she created a bubble of arcane energy in an attempt to contain the manticore. However, much to her surprise, the same leaf green arcane energy being emitted from the manticore’s eyes enveloped its claws and it slashed at the shield shredding through it like wet tissue paper, causing the entire spell to collapse. It then immediately continued charging towards her once again.

Now both confused and terrified beyond belief Pixel stumbled backwards and nearly tripped on her own feet. However she managed to stay upright and tried casting a spell to bind it in place. Chains of silver arcane energy wrapped themselves around the manticore before embedding themselves in the ground trapping the manticore in place. Suddenly there was a leaf green flash of light and the chains were forced to dissipate. She tried grabbing it with telekinesis again and holding it up in the air, however the same thing as with the chains happened again and her telekinetic spell was forcibly broken.

At this point Pixel began to panic. What was going on?! Why weren’t any of her spells working on it?! What should she do?!

The manticore was only a few feet from her and pounced to attack her. However another rope joined the remnants of the first that was still around its neck. Then it was yanked off to the side.

Pixel looked and saw Big Macintosh with another lasso. Apparently he had heard the roars of the manticore and had come to help deal with it.

The manticore growled in frustration before shredding this lasso as well. It then turned back to Pixel and once again reared back to attack her again.

Reacting in a blind panic, Pixel screamed in terror, raised her hand towards the Manticore, and cast a random spell in an attempt to get it away from her. A beam of arcane energy fired from her hand and hit the manticore in the face and caused its head to explode in a shower of blood and gore. The manticore’s body was blown backwards and fell limply to the ground.

Pixel took a few seconds to process what just happened, which was a testament to how shocked she was as normally it only took her a few microseconds to process pretty much anything. Then she collapsed to her knees and began sobbing. She had just killed something… It had been in the defense of her own life but she had just killed something… She had never so much as hurt a fly before and she had just killed something… She had never wanted to hurt it, she had just been trying to get it away from her… Gods above, she felt horrible… She couldn’t believe she had just killed something…

Seeing what just happened, Applejack tried her best to force herself to stand up. She then stumbled her way over to Pixel and sat down next to her again. “Hey… It’s alright… I know this isn’t what you wanted, but I’m not sure it would have stopped if you hadn’t, uh… Done what you did… Somethin’ was definitely wrong with it and I ain’t sure there was anything we could have done to fix whatever it was… Shoot, I wish your father were here… I’m really not sure how to deal with this kinda thing since nopony here has ever ki—, er… I mean… been in this sort of situation before…”

“I… I didn’t mean to! I was just so scared and…” Pixel sobbed.

“I know, I know… Nopony is goin’ to blame you for this… I mean, even Fluttershy couldn’t get it to stop and that’s sayin’ somethin’! And Twilight… uh…” Applejack said before trailing off. She couldn’t believe this thing actually managed to kill Twilight… Tears began welling up in Applejack's eyes as she realized she had just lost one of her best friends to this monster.

Big Mac walked over to them and said, “Applejack, I’m goin’ to drag this thing out of here and back into the Everfree where it belongs. I don’t want Applebloom to see this…”

Applejack tried to hold back her tears and said, “A-alright, Big Mac…”

Big Mac looked at her and noticed the stab wound in her back from where the manticore stung her. “I see it got you with its stinger… You should get yourself to Ponyville Hospital and fast. Manticore venom is no joke.”

“Y-yeah, I’ll do that… Uh, Pixel… I know you’re upset but I’d appreciate it if you’d come with me. I’m sure there’s at least one or two doctors there that will be able to talk to you and help you go through this better than I can.” Applejack stated, standing back up.

Pixel said nothing but stood up and opened a portal to the local hospital, still sobbing. The two of them stepped through the portal and walked inside the hospital.

As they walked inside the two of them almost ran into Rainbow Dash who was walking out of the hospital. “Applejack? Pixel? What are you two doing here?” Rainbow Dash inquired. Then she noticed one of Pixel’s arms was missing and the fact that her exterior was covered in horrible scratches. Rainbow Dash winced at the sight. “Oh… Uh… That makes sense… But, uh… I don’t think the doctors here know how to fix machines… Anyway, I gotta tell you both something!”

“Hey, Rainbow Dash. Actually, I got stung by a manticore back on the farm a couple minutes ago. Pixel, uh… She ended up having to… Well… You remember that thing back in Canterlot with the changelings? She did something like that to its head… It was about to hurt her and she was really scared… Before that though, Twilight said she was goin’ to go try to fight it but… but… uh… Shoot… The manticore had patches of her fur stuck in its teeth and on its claws… We… We can’t say for certain but… um… We don’t think she made it…” Applejack explained, still trying to hold back tears. “A-anyway, what is it you wanna tell us?”

Rainbow Dash grimaced a bit. “Oh… Well, considering the circumstances I really don’t blame her. Anyways, Fluttershy told me about the manticore rampaging through Ponyville and told me Twilight ran off to fight it so I went to go help her. Then I found her laying on the path to your farm, she was really messed up, and I mean really messed up, but I saw her breathing so I grabbed her and rushed her here as fast as I could without risking hurting her any worse… The doctors gave her a 65% chance of surviving. They said it would have been lower had I gotten her here any later. But… h-hey at least she’s a-alive! Er… I was just about to go break the news to spike… Somepony has to… Sweet Celestia, this is going to be hard… Her family is going to be devastated…”

“Twilight’s alive?! Oh thank Celestia, I was so worried! Uh… Wait, did you just say 65%?” Applejack inquired her happiness from learning her friend had survived slowly draining away as Rainbow Dash’s words finally registered. Twilight only had a 65% chance of survival…

Rainbow Dash nodded with tears in her eyes. “Y-yeah… That’s what the doctors told me. Applejack, the state she was in… It was, uh… hard to look at… to say the least… If you’d seen it, you’d understand that her having even that high of a chance is a bucking miracle! I… When I first saw her lying there I… I actually thought she was dead… So much blood…” Rainbow Dash appeared nauseous for a second before regaining as much of her composure as she could. “If I hadn’t noticed she was breathing then… Then she may have…”

“It’s alright, Rainbow, I get the picture… You just go tell Spike what happened. Maybe go get Rarity and Pinkie Pie too. They’re gonna to need to know too and it might be best to have them there to help comfort Spike once you tell him what happened... The poor little fella is gonna be worried sick…” Applejack stated.

Rainbow Dash nodded and said, “Yeah, alright… That’s a good idea… I’ll go get them before heading to the library… I’ll talk to you later, Applejack.” Then she proceeded to walk past Applejack and Pixel and out the door.

[In the Everfree Forest]

“Ugh! I told you to be patient and wait until we fully broke your bindings before trying to attack them!” Silvanus growled at the nature spirit.

“The little metal one was alone! It was the perfect time to destroy it while the large metal one wasn’t there to help it!” The nature spirit retorted.

“That sort of impulsiveness is going to ruin our plans! If that bastard figures out that you were the one that did this, he’s going to start taking steps to combat you before you are even free to unleash your wrath upon him and the Equines! If we’re lucky, he will simply assume it was your universe’s version of changelings that did this, if we’re not then our plans are as good as doomed!” Silvanus shouted at her.

“Hmph… He’s just one mortal. Once I’m free, I could destroy him in an instant.” The spirit stated confidently.

“That’s only if you even got the chance to do so in the first place! If he learns that you are an active threat he will not give you that chance to begin with! You know that barrier he made to block your constructs from entering those farmers’ orchard? Think of that but five hundred feet tall at least and about a million times more powerful, with all that power concentrated on that one little town! Even you wouldn’t be able to get through that barrier without completely destroying your entire forest in the process! Do you want that?! Do you want to destroy that much nature just to kill one man?!”

“No…” The spirit muttered reluctantly.

“Then don’t do that again until you are actually free! I know you are regaining more and more of your power as the bindings weaken and you are eager to use it, but limit your use to your own forest and don’t do anything that would let him know you are gaining power or are a serious threat!”
> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was just starting to set when Gerhardt returned. Stepping through the portal and closing it behind him, his sensors immediately detected the presence of Pixel along with an Earth Pony in the recreational area of his lab. Curious, he made his way over to see who it was and why they were here. As soon as he reached the living room, his eyes immediately dimmed to the point they were emitting barely any light at all as he saw the state Pixel was in. Her robes were shredded, her exterior was covered in very deep scratches, and one of her arms was missing. It appeared as though it had been forcefully ripped off. Applejack was sitting on the bench next to her.

“Pixel?! What happened?! Who or what did this to you?!” He demanded immediately running over to her.

Pixel looked up with a miserable expression on her face before getting up off the bench and running over to him, and wrapping her one remaining arm around him in a tight embrace. “Daddy!” She cried. “I… I didn’t want to hurt it, daddy! I was just so scared and I cast a spell and… and…”

“You didn’t want to hurt what?! What did this to you?!” Gerhardt demanded, his concern only continuing to grow.

“I don’t think she’s in the right state of mind to explain right now, Mr. Mechanica… I’ll tell ya what happened for her.” Applejack stated.

Gerhardt immediately looked over at Applejack, waiting for the explanation. To say he was furious was an understatement. He was so unbelievably angry that the emergency cooling systems installed in his head were forced to activate just to prevent his E.P.U. from melting. When he found out who was responsible for this, he was going to make them suffer as they died! Perhaps he would even go so far as to install an augmentation into their head that would force them to experience agony beyond anything even remotely achievable by a fully organic brain. Then he would vaporize them so their corpse could never be found and nothing could be traced back to him so he couldn’t be arrested for committing torture or murder.

“Earlier today a manticore attacked Ponyville… At least seven ponies died in its rampage. Possibly more, I’m not entirely sure. It also ended up attacking Pixel. In fact, uh… I got nothin’ to prove this but, I think it may have been huntin’ her specifically. You see, when she was first attacked, Twilight saved her and brought her over to my farm so I could take care of her while she and Fluttershy dealt with the manticore. But somethin’ was wrong with it. It’s eyes were glowin’ green and later on It looked like it was usin’ magic, but I’ll get to that in a bit. So even Fluttershy couldn’t get through to it.” Applejack explained.

“After that it started runnin’ to my farm. Twilight teleported over again, told us it was comin’ and that she would deal with it. She failed. Then it got to the farm, I fought it for a bit, then it got the better of me and stabbed me in the back with its stinger before throwin’ me into a tree. Pixel came out of the barn, pulled it off of me before it could finish the job, and tried to use magic to stop it but nothin’ she tried worked because it seemed to be usin’ magic to counter everything she threw at it. So eventually she ended up blastin’ its head off with some spell, though, uh… I don’t think she meant to do that.”

Gerhardt frowned. “I see… I can think of a few things this could be. It sounds a lot like possession but I am unaware of any spirits that have any reason to attack my daughter like this and as far as I am aware no spectral undead exists in this world. Thus possession seems unlikely to me. So it must be something else, though I have no idea what that could possibly be… Gods damn it, if only I were here I would be able to know for certain! Regardless, Pixel, why didn’t you try to contact me?! You have a built in communication system for a reason!”

“I… I don’t know… I was so scared… I… I didn’t think of it… Please don’t be mad at me, daddy!” Pixel cried.

Gerhardt sighed. “Of course I’m not mad at you. However, you should have contacted me! I would have dealt with it myself and you wouldn’t have had to kill it. I would have done so for you… Oh well… It’s too late now. I’m just glad you’re still alive and are in good enough condition to continue functioning, scratches and missing arm aside… You know, now that I think about it, I suppose this may be a good thing in a way. You got your first kill out of the way. That is a very important lesson for you in and of itself. You didn’t enjoy killing the manticore, did you?”

Pixel’s embrace grew slightly tighter. “No…” She muttered, sadly.

Gerhardt kneeled down and put a hand on her one remaining shoulder. Looking her directly in the eyes he said, “Good. You shouldn’t. Killing should never be an enjoyable experience. If one ever starts to enjoy it, then that is a very good indicator that there is something very wrong with them. However, sometimes it is necessary, as it was in this situation. Think about it. If you hadn’t killed it, would you have been able to get it to stop any other way? Would you have been able to calm it down or negotiate with it?”

Pixel said nothing and just shook her head.

“Exactly. If you hadn’t killed it then I guarantee it would have killed you. Or at least it would have tried as it likely wouldn’t know how to kill you. No matter how painful it is to harm or kill another living being, if it‘s trying to kill you and there is nothing else you can do to stop it then defending yourself as you did today is perfectly acceptable. And while I know it may be hard for you now, I promise you after the first few times it starts to get much easier. Also, keep in mind that this was just a simple animal. It wasn’t even truly sapient. Killing an actual person is a hell of a lot harder than killing an animal. I should know. Back in the Human Kingdom I was in the military thus killing was an everyday occurrence for me.” Gerhardt told her.

“Alright daddy…” Pixel mumbled sadly.

Seeing her still sad Gerhardt sighed. He had no idea why she was so broken up about this. It made no sense to him. A threat was a threat, and threats needed to be eliminated one way or another. One need not feel anything over eliminating a hostile force.

Yes he himself had been quite upset after his first kill, but his first kill had been an actual person rather than an animal. And that had been a very long time before he even invented brain augmentations thus his memories of that time were foggy at best. He didn’t really even remember what it had been like, he only knew that he had felt quite upset and had nightmares for quite awhile afterwards. It was like having been told a story. It was as if he had never even experienced it in the first place and just knew what happened on an intellectual basis. For all the kills that he truly remembered he had felt absolutely nothing. So he honestly couldn’t empathize with what his daughter was going through at the moment.

Though even if he could empathize with her, he really didn’t understand the emotions of others and thus wouldn’t know how to comfort her to begin with. Such things had never been a part of his duties as a technomancer. He built machines, killed things, sabotaged enemy equipment, managed communications and supply lines, got civilians to safety, and that was it. He wasn’t part of the medical branch so empathy and understanding was not in his skillset. Ironically in that regard he supposed that made him less human and more of a machine than Pixel had or would ever be.

So he did the only thing he could really think of and wrapped her in a hug. He honestly had no idea what else to say or do then what he already had. He was never cut out to be a father and he knew it. The fact this was the only thing he could think to do for his daughter given what she was going through at the moment was evidence enough of that. After a moment he put an arm under her legs and picked her up, being sure to use both arms so she wouldn’t slip and fall since one of her arms was missing and she wasn’t able to hang on to him as well as she usually could.

“Thank you for trying your best to protect my daughter while I was gone. I owe you and Miss Twilight a favor for this, even if you weren't terribly successful. Speaking of which, you mentioned she failed to stop the manticore. So, am I to assume she is dead or just seriously injured? If she’s dead, I suppose the favor I owe her will simply have to go to her family instead.” Gerhardt inquired in a grim tone.

Applejack looked off towards the side. “Oh… Er… Yeah, she survived… Barely… She’s in Ponyville hospital right now… The doctors give her a 65% chance to live… Um… Apparently after Rainbow told Spike what happened and he finally calmed down enough he wrote a letter to Celestia tellin’ her what happened. Then Celestia apparently wrote letters to Shining Armor and Cadance and Twilight’s folks. So Spike and the rest of Twilight’s family are at the hospital right now. I think the Princesses may also be comin’ by soon to check up on her.”

“I see… Very well. I suppose I’ll leave them be then. I’m sure this is a very difficult time for them and I wouldn’t want to intrude. Perhaps if she does end up surviving I’ll visit her in the hospital to offer her my thanks when she is in a bit better condition. If she doesn’t I will have to offer my condolences to her family. Specifically Spike, Prince Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance as they are the only members of her family that I am truly familiar with. What of the rest of your friends? Were they also injured in the attack?”

Applejack shook her head. “Fortunately not. Apparently Fluttershy came pretty darn close but Twilight managed to save her before the manticore could get her. Though about seven other ponies died in the attack last I heard, but uh… There may have been more and I just don’t know about it yet.”

“Well, I suppose that’s good. It could have been a lot worse. Anyway, I assume that the barrier generator I built for you is still in good condition? You haven’t had any issues with it?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Oh that? We usually only turn it on at night since that’s usually when the timberwolves come out, but yeah it works just fine. We haven’t had a single issue with it yet. The drones work great too. We’re still considerin’ whether we want to buy a truck or not. Big Mac is okay with the idea but Granny Smith is worried it might be too dangerous. For my part, I honestly don’t care either way. It’s just a fancier cart that we don’t have to pull ourselves.” Applejack explained.

“That’s good. Well, if there is nothing else, I would like to attend to my daughter’s injuries.” Gerhardt stated, glancing at the severed metallic arm that was laying on the bench next to Applejack.

Applejack nodded and got up off the bench. “Fair enough. I’ll get outta your way. See ya later, Mr. Mechanica. You too Pixel.” With that she turned and left the lab.

When she was gone, Gerhardt looked at Pixel and sighed. Her clothes were ruined. He would have to commission Rarity to repair them and possibly make her a second set of clothes just in case something like this ever happens again. As for the damage to her body he could fix it but the machines he was making to produce artificial skin and hair were nearly complete. He only needed to do a couple more things and they would be done. He estimated he could probably get it done by the next morning. As such he decided that repairing her current body would be a waste of time and effort since it would be being replaced soon anyways. Still, he decided he should fix her arm at the very least so she would have one in the meantime.

“Alright, dear. It’s time I fixed your arm. I won’t do anything about the scratches in your exterior because I will be having my factory build you your new body tomorrow morning. But I can’t just leave you without an arm until your next body is ready.” Gerhardt stated.

“Alright… Daddy, can I keep my old arm?” Pixel requested.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. “Er… considering the damage it has suffered, it would be quite difficult to repair. It would be better if I just had the factory build you a new one.”

“No… That’s not what I meant… I just want to keep it… It doesn’t have to be attached to me.” Pixel stated.

“Oh. I suppose that would be fine.” Gerhardt said, still surprised by the request. He had no idea why she would want to keep it but he had no reason to say no.

“Thank you…” Pixel muttered.

It took about an hour for the factory to finish making the arm. Then it took another hour for Gerhardt to install it. However, almost as soon as he finished attaching it, his sensors detected the presence of a demigod outside his door. Then there was a knock. It was obviously one of the princesses but he had no idea what any of them could want from him at the moment.

He and Pixel walked over to the door. Opening it, he saw Celestia standing there and she looked quite distraught. Her eyes were a bit red like she had been crying. Gerhardt assumed this was because she was upset about what had happened to Twilight. “Greetings princess. What brings you here tonight?”

“A few things… May I come in?” Celestia requested, her voice sounding quite upset.

“As you wish.” Gerhardt stated before stepping off to the side to let her enter. As soon as she was inside he closed the door behind her and said, “I apologize for the lack of proper seating but I do not require furniture and I rarely have guests so I generally have no need for it. Had I known you were coming over I would have gone out and bought some. Regardless, try to make yourself as comfortable as possible.”

“Thank you, Gerhardt… First, I heard what happened to Pixel earlier today and I wanted to come check on her and see how she was doing…” Celestia explained. She glanced at Pixel and winced slightly. “I’m glad to see your father managed to give you a new arm. How are you feeling though?”

Pixel looked down at the ground and mumbled, “Bad… I… I didn’t mean to hurt it… I was just trying to get it away from me…”

Celestia gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s alright, Pixel. You did nothing wrong. Quite the opposite. You did a very good thing. It killed eleven ponies and severely injured Twilight… So, while I wish you hadn’t had to resort to killing it, it had to be stopped. It was extremely dangerous and given the situation you were in I believe you did the right thing.”

“Thank you…” Pixel muttered, not raising her head.

She gave Pixel a sad smile. This smile lasted for only a few seconds before she let it fall and said, “My sister and I visited Twilight in the hospital tonight… Her surgery was already over an hour or two before we got there…”

Gerhardt was completely unsurprised. “Yes, I expected you would do so. I assume her family was there as well. I can’t imagine that it was very easy for any of you to see her in such a condition.”

Celestia shook her head. “No… It wasn’t… I’ve known her since she was just a filly… Seeing her like that... Sweet harmony… Her wounds were horrible… And her parents… They were devastated… Shining Armor is taking it particularly hard…”

“Hm… I see. Well, for their sake I pray she will make a full recovery. No parent should have to outlive their child. You also have my deepest sympathies. I personally never formed any sort of emotional attachment to any of my old apprentices despite having known many of them since they were children. So while I have been in similar situations many times over the centuries I won’t pretend to know what you’re going through because I simply don’t. Even so if there is anything I can do to help, you need only ask.”

Celestia looked at him and said, “Gerhardt, do you remember what we talked about back in the Crystal Empire? About friends being there to listen to each other help each other through whatever it is that may be troubling them? Right now I just need a friend to talk to.”

Gerhardt knew he was the wrong person for this. Just like he couldn’t help Pixel with what she was going through, he knew he wouldn’t be able to help Celestia either. But it wasn’t like he could just say “No.” and turn her away. So he sighed and said, “Yes I remember. Very well. However, it is getting late so I would appreciate it if you would allow me to put my daughter to bed before we continue. She has had a rather stressful day and while sleep is unnecessary for her, I believe some rest would be good for her. It should only take a few minutes.”

“That’s fine, I understand. I can wait a few minutes.” Celestia stated.

“Thank you, princess.” Gerhardt said before taking Pixel by the hand and leading her back up to her room. After she took her boots off and climbed into the bed, Gerhardt said good night and began humming her his lullaby. It took about five minutes for Pixel to fall asleep. Though when she finally did, Gerhardt got up and walked back down stairs.

He and Celestia spoke for a little over an hour. Gerhardt tried his best to help her with what she was going through, but he strongly doubted he was of much assistance. Eventually she said goodbye before teleporting back to Canterlot.

Once she was gone, Gerhardt opened a portal to his factory and got back to work on the devices that would produce synthetic skin and hair. By the time he had finished it was already mid morning. He then had the factory begin building Pixel’s new body. It would take a couple hours but that was fine. In the meantime he went back to his lab, both to check on Pixel and to spend a bit of time experimenting with this world’s magic. He was getting closer and closer to developing a functioning arcane equation for teleportation.

It was a week day, but he told Pixel she could stay home that day rather than going to school. Partially because she had just been attacked by a manticore, partially because he needed her there so he could remove her brain and put it into her new body, and partially because her clothes were absolutely ruined. Instead he had her assist him in his experiments and took the time to give her an extra long lesson in technomancy.

Once her new body was finally finished, he had her go into low power mode as he removed her brain from her current body and placed it in her new one. He also had to take her clothes off of her old body and put them on her new one despite the state of disrepair they were in. By the end of it she looked just like a little human girl. The only things that really distinguished her from a human were the pure white wings on her back, her metallic silver hair, and her solid pink glowing eyes.

When that was done he was about to go to Rarity to commission her to make a new set of clothes for Pixel when he heard yet another knock on his door. This time his sensors detected the presences of both a demigod and a unicorn. Walking over to it and opening it up he saw Cadance and Shining Armor standing there. Shining armor looked like he hadn’t slept all night and his mane was a mess. Cadance was in a very similar state.

“Greetings.” Gerhardt said, waiting for them to explain what they wanted from him.

“Hey Gerhardt… I really wish our first visit to your house was under better circumstances but I assume you've heard about what happened to Twilight?” Princess Cadance inquired.

“I have.” Gerhardt confirmed. He then stepped to the side and said, “Please come in.”

They did so and he closed the door behind them. “Hello.” Pixel greeted them in a somber tone.

Princess Cadance frowned upon seeing the state of Pixel’s clothes. “Hey, Pixel. I see Gerhardt has finally made you your new body. It looks great! Though it’s a shame about your clothes…”

“Thank you. I really like looking human.” Pixel said with a somewhat forced smile on her face. “Everything feels so much different through skin. It’s just so much squishier than my old body.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet! Anyways… Gerhardt, Shiny has something he would like to ask you.” Princess Cadance stated.

“You have to help Twilight!” Shining Armor pleaded in an almost desperate tone.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting this. He supposed he probably should have, but he hadn’t. “Prince, while I am in the business of giving people augmentations I’m afraid that’s really all I can do. I am no medical mage. My biomancy is average at best which isn’t sufficient for something like this.”

“I know, but please! There has to be something you can do! Anything! I don’t care what it is as long as you can keep her from dying!” Shining Armor pleaded.

Gerhardt sighed. “Prince, there is much I can do but I am not a miracle worker. There are limits to my abilities… That being said, do you know what her injuries are specifically? I may not be able to guarantee her survival but I may be able to increase her chances a bit.” Well, technically he could give her a few brain augmentations, remove her brain from her current body, and put it into a completely new body altogether. However becoming fully artificial did come with a few downsides and to some it would be more of a curse than a blessing. So he would have to get her direct permission before conducting such a procedure. Plus he would much prefer to limit such extensive augmentations as much as possible as making too many people immortal would rapidly lead to even greater issues in the future. Besides which he wasn’t entirely sure Twilight would even want to be immortal in the first place. She really didn’t strike him as the type to want to live forever. So he kept that option to himself.

Shining Armor’s horn began to glow and a small stack of papers appeared next to him in a flash of pink light. He then levitated the papers over to Gerhardt. “Here, I asked for a list before coming here. This is what the hospital gave me. It should have everything you need to know on it.” Shining Armor explained.

Gerhardt took the papers and looked them over. After he finished reading through them he frowned slightly. Her wounds were worse than he expected. “Hm… I’ll be honest Prince, a 65% chance of survival seems like a very generous estimate to me. Though, as I said, I am a technomancer not a medical mage so I could very easily be mistaken. Regardless, I suppose there are a few things I could probably do such as replacing a few of her damaged organs and giving her a new horn. This will probably increase her chances of survival and let her continue on as usual after her recovery if she survives. However, as I said I’m afraid I can not guarantee anything.”

A pained look crossed Shining Armor’s face. “Even increasing her chances of survival is fine. Please just help my sister. Whatever the procedure costs I’ll gladly pay for it.”

“As you wish. I’ll try to do what I can. However, it will take between two to three hours to have my factory make the augmentations. After that I’ll need you to come with me to the hospital to inform the doctors I have your permission to operate on Miss Sparkle. Does that sound acceptable?”

Shining Armor nodded in confirmation. “Of course… Thank you so much, Gerhardt.”

So Gerhardt went back to his factory a second time that day and had it build the augmentations he would need. While those were being built, he and Pixel went to Rarity’s boutique to commission Pixel’s new clothes.

“Greetings, Miss Rarity.” He said as he and Pixel entered the building.

“Hi Miss Rarity.” Pixel greeted, though her voice lacked its usual energy and cheerful tone.

“Hello, what can I…” Rarity started before she noticed the state of Pixel’s clothes. “So… I suspect she will be needing a new set of clothes then? Oh, and your new body looks wonderful by the way, darling!”

Pixel gave Rarity a somewhat forced smile at the compliment. She was still very clearly upset by the events of the previous day.

“Indeed she will. Though, this time I will be letting her decide what she wants her new clothes to look like.” Gerhardt confirmed. He then opened a portal back to his lab and grabbed a blank sheet of paper before handing it to Pixel. Taking out her fountain pen and creating a shield in front of her, she began drawing what she wanted. A few moments later and she had drawn a very simple dress and a pair of shorts. She then levitated the paper over to Rarity.

Her eyes widened in delight for a moment as she realized Pixel wanted a new dress. Then She frowned in disappointment as she took in the details of the dress. “Er… Are you sure this is what you want? They’re rather bland.”

Pixel looked at the ground in embarrassment and muttered, “I don’t really know how to make things pretty.” This was correct. She understood fashion about as much as Gerhardt did which was to say not at all. She didn’t know the first thing about aesthetics in general. Gerhardt had only taught her how to make things functional, not good looking.

“I see… Well in that case would you mind if I improved on your design a bit? I’m sure I could make you something absolutely gorgeous!” Rarity inquired.

“Okay. Thank you, Miss Rarity.” Pixel said with a slightly more sincere smile on her face.

“You’re welcome, darling! I should have it ready in a few days. I’ll deliver it to your house when I come over to buy more material this week.” Rarity told them.

“Very well. Do you have an estimate on the cost?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Hm… I haven’t quite decided on a particular design yet so I’m afraid not. We can discuss the price when I come to deliver it later this week.” Rarity told them.

“Very well. Thank you. I suppose we will be taking our leave now. Good day, Miss Rarity.” Gerhardt said before he and Pixel turned to leave.

A few hours later and Twilight’s augmentations were complete. Thus he met Shining Armor at Twilight’s library and the two of them went to the local hospital. After Shining Armor told them Gerhardt had permission to operate on Twilight, he was led to Twilight’s room. Apparently she was already on a surgical bed since the doctors had needed to conduct surgery on her due to the severity of her wounds and they didn’t want to risk moving her any more than necessary. Entering inside he saw her covered in bandages and stitches with her horn broken in half. One of her eyes was missing and from what he read from the papers Shining Armor had given him, she was lucky to still have all four of her limbs. That manticore had made quite the mess of her.

Reaching through a portal to his factory he began grabbing all of the augmentations and laying them out on an empty surgical tray. Once that was done he picked up the sterilization ray and used it to sterilize himself, the augmentations, the tools he would be using, and the room as a whole. Then he set the sterilization ray down and got to work.

Unfortunately he had no choice but to remove some of her bandages and slice through some of her stitches so he could conduct the operation which meant he would have to replace them after he was finished. He started with the internal organs since those were the most important part of the entire thing in regards to increasing her odds of survival. After that he sewed her back up and replaced her bandages.

After that he moved on to both her broken horn and her missing eye since he was going to have to remove portions of her skull to replace both of them. This was quite possibly the most dangerous part of the entire operation since removing portions of her skull meant parts of her brain were going to be exposed and if he made a single mistake he could end up injuring her brain. So before doing that he re-sterilized himself and his tools just to eliminate any chance of bacteria or whatever else he got on his tools or hands from the surgery to replace some of her internal organs causing infection since infections in the brain tended to be quite lethal. The parts he used to replace the section of her skull that he had to remove were made of magically reinforced silver that had been enchanted to ensure it would never corrode. Her new horn was also made of magically reinforced silver and it was slightly sharper than her previous horn. Her new eye was a purple sapphire since that was the closest he could get to making it match her other eye without replacing both of them.

Finally he attached a layer of synthetic skin covered in synthetic lavender fur to hide the metal that would otherwise be exposed. It blended in perfectly with her actual skin and her fur hid any seam that may have otherwise been slightly visible. And with that, after making sure the synthetic skin was firmly attached, he was done. The procedure had taken five hours in total.

Casting a spell to remove the leftover blood from his hands and robe, he exited the room and walked back out to the lobby where Shining Armor, Cadance, and who he could only assume were Twilight’s parents were waiting.

“Well? How did it go?” Shining Armor inquired in a very worried tone.

“Well, she’s still alive so I would say it went well enough. With these augmentations in place I would raise her chances of survival from a very generous 65% to a much less generous 80%. It’s more likely than not that she will survive, but there’s still a chance something may go wrong and she might not make it. Still, I did everything I could. If she survives she will still need some time to recover but after that She should be able to continue on like nothing ever happened.” Gerhardt informed them.

“… And if she does survive you’re certain she will still be able to use magic?” Twilight’s mother inquired with tears in her eyes.

“I guarantee it. I have replaced several other unicorns horns already and they work quite well. Infact, since silver is a better conductor of arcane energy than the material your horns are made of, her magic should have somewhere around a 15% increase in efficiency.” Gerhardt confirmed.

“Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to us!” Twilight’s father exclaimed. “When… When we saw the state she was in… We were so worried.”

“Well you shouldn’t stop worrying just yet. As I said, there is still a chance something could go wrong and she might not make it. An 80% chance of survival is not a 100% chance. I apologize as I prefer to be brutally honest in situations like this rather than trying to make things look better than they are just to make people feel better. I feel that doing such a thing would be disingenuous.”

“It’s alright, we understand. Still, thank you. Even increasing her chances means a lot. Anyways, how much do I owe you for the procedure?” Shining armor inquired.

“Given the material cost, about 520 bits.” Gerhardt informed him.

Twilight’s parents seemed shocked by the price. Shining Armor and Cadance also appeared surprised but less so. “Wow. Your prices really are low. Alright, I’ll have the bits delivered to your house later today.” Shining Armor stated.

“Thank you. Well, if that’s all I suppose I will be taking my leave now. Good day.” Gerhardt said before turning and walking away.
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[On Earth]

“Gods damn it, Mechanica! How have you not made any progress in making a weapon capable of killing that bastard?!” Lucian exclaimed slamming a fist on the table.

Mechanica Mk. 2 glared at him. “I don’t know what you expect of me, Lucian. I may be a highly advanced golem but I’m only mortal and I have the mind of a human. Killing a god is not a simple matter. If it were so easy then you wouldn’t need the Research and Development branch for this in the first place. The fact of the matter is, we have no idea how to kill gods unless it's one god killing another. Lord Lanius has been trying but they are too evenly matched in power. So, we have to conduct research into figuring out how to kill Silvanus through more technological means. Research, by its very nature, takes a long time. Especially when it comes to matters as complex as this.”

“We don’t have a long time you stupid metal son of a bitch! Do you have any idea how many people are dying everyday in this fucking war?!” Lucian shouted.

“Yes, I am painfully aware of the numbers. My branch is the one who collects such data in the first place. I am doing everything within my power, so do not insult me! If you think it's so easy why don’t you go out and kill him yourself?!” Mechanica Mk. 2 growled, unable to conceal his rage.

“Both of you knock it off!” Isabelle ordered them in a strict tone. “Lucian, stop antagonizing him! Mechanica, you need to calm down! I know the situation is dire but all of us are doing our best. To expect anything more than that is unreasonable.”

“I agree with Isabelle. Now is not the time for any sort of conflict between the five of us. If we start fighting each other right now, Humanity is as good as dead. We need to work together now more than ever.” Alexander stated in a grim tone.

Lucian grumbled to himself and took a swig from his flask. “Whatever… We need to reinforce the eastern border of the kingdom. The Serpents are putting a lot of pressure on us over there. As things are, our eastern defenses will collapse unless they’re given immediate support. I suggest we divert some troops and Heavy Combat Golems from the southern border since we are experiencing very little pressure there at the moment.”

Morgan shook her head. “I disagree. Think about it, the south is a prime target for them. The fact they haven’t been attacking it means they’re probably trying to get us to divert resources from the south so it will be more vulnerable. Then they’ll probably lead a massive assault on our weakened bases there that will cause the south to fall. Our best option would be to recall soldiers and combat golems from our invasion forces. In my opinion we need to focus on defense more than offense right now.”

“That would be a wise decision, however you need those troops to cripple the Serpent’s supply lines and mass production ability to weaken them. You cannot remain on the defense forever otherwise you will be locked in a war of attrition that you will slowly start to lose.” Lanius advised. He was not a god of war or strategy so this was definitely not his strong suit, however he was still a god and was thus still highly intelligent. Thus the reason he was allowed to participate in the strategy meetings between the high lords.

Lucian opened his mouth to reply, however before he could say anything vines shot up from out of the ground and wrapped around his throat before squeezing tight enough to completely sever his head and a root shot up from out of the ground and stabbed Alexander through the chest. Then there was a flash of green light as Silvanus appeared in the middle of the room and smashed Morgan’s head in before vaporizing Mechanica Mk. 2 with a blast of leaf green energy. He then grabbed Isabelle by the throat and lifted her up off her seat and raised a barrier around them so Lanius couldn’t interfere, which he was trying very hard to do at that very instant. This entire process took a matter of nanoseconds. The part that took him the longest was grabbing Isabelle by the throat because he was trying to move slow enough so as to not kill her.

Looking at Isabelle who was struggling in his grip he said, “You know… Even though they’re fighting alongside the Humans, I honestly have nothing against the Elves. Your human half disgusts me, but your elven half is fine. Plus you annoy me the least out of all the High Lords. After all, you only control the Medical branch. So, you know what? Since you're a half elf I suppose I’ll show you a bit of mercy. I won’t kill you like I did the rest, but since your half Human I can not stand your presence. So, I’ll be getting rid of you the same way I did that metal bastard. So when you meet Gerhardt again, please give him my worst regards and let him know that humanity is doomed and it's all his fault.” With that he opened a portal to the world Gerhardt had ended up in and threw her through it.

He knew the gods of that universe and the Greater Gods wouldn’t care that he opened a simple portal and tossed a mortal through it since he wasn’t really doing anything that would offend them. If they would get offended by this then they would have been offended when Gerhardt had ended up there in the first place. The fact they didn’t meant that this would be fine. After all, it was only a mortal. It wasn’t like he had sent a spirit or anything of any true significance. Mortals were like ants. Sending a whole hive to another country where they were not indegenous would be a problem as they would then be an invasive species. But sending one or two to another country would be irrelevant. No god would care about such a thing.

“SILVANUS!” Lanius shouted loud enough to be heard throughout the entire city as he attacked the barrier, trying to break it.

Silvanus turned and smirked at him. “Lanius.” He chuckled to himself. “Don’t you worry, we’ll have a chance to fight again. However, right now I just had to dispose of some trash. I’m sure the humans will handle the news of the loss of their pathetic leaders well. Good bye.” With a laugh he teleported away. His laughter continued to echo through the room for a few moments even after he was gone.

Lanius cursed furiously. He should have seen this coming! Damn him!

Suddenly another portal opened into the room and Mechanica Mk. 2 stepped through. He had been remotely controlling another body to attend the meeting as he had been working on developing a weapon to kill Silvanus and didn’t have time to stop. He sent a remotely controlled body to do this as he needed his main body in the lab since he couldn’t channel magic through any bodies he was controlling remotely. Now he came in his main body.

Looking around at the corpses his eyes flared up and he growled in rage. “Lord Lanius, do you have any allies amongst the other gods?”

“Indeed I do, golem. Why?” Lanius inquired.

“With the deaths of the other high lords, the human kingdom will be thrown into chaos once again. At least until four new high lords are chosen. This could lead to disaster. So forgive my impudence, but I would like to request that you seek their aid. Without assistance, we are going to lose this war and Humanity will be destroyed. If you are acquainted with them I would recommend going to the Gods worshipped by the Elves and the Dwarves. The Elves and Dwarves are our greatest allies and are already fighting alongside us. So it is my hope that it will not be too difficult for you to convince their gods to lend us aid in our war against Silvanus.” Mechanica Mk. 2 explained.

“You know, if I do this then Silvanus will surely do the same. It will end up making this war even more devastating than it currently is. When gods go to war with each other, mortals always suffer.” Lanius said in a very grim tone.

“I realize. However our situation is at the point where I no longer care. If we don’t gain assistance, we are going to die. Suffering is a small price to pay compared to the complete and utter extinction of mankind. As long as it is within my power I will pay any price to guarantee the safety of Humanity, personal or otherwise.” Gerhardt stated firmly.

Lanius sighed and looked at his sword. “Very well, machine. I will do as you request. Pray to the Greater Gods that you have not made a grave mistake by asking this of me, lest this world fall to ruin.”

[Equestria]

It had been a week since the manticore attack and all of Ponyville was in mourning. A memorial service had been held in honor of those who lost their lives during the attack. Almost all of Ponyville had attended as many were either related to or knew and were close with the victims of the attack. Thus the atmosphere of the usually bright and cheerful town was very downcast and depressive. The streets were quieter than they usually were, the ponies were far more glum than usual, and Pinkie Pie was trying her best to cheer everyone up but she wasn’t having much success.

Worse still while Twilight’s condition seemed fine for a couple of days it had started deteriorating and the doctors were trying their best but they weren’t certain they could save her. The augmentations Gerhardt had installed in her were helping to an extent but not enough to stop her condition from deteriorating. They were only slowing the process down and that was only because of the work the doctors were putting in. Without one or the other her condition would be deteriorating much faster. 

Gerhardt had officially made himself his new body and now looked completely human again, minus his eyes which still looked like solid blue glowing orbs. He had even reprogrammed his motor cortex to make his movements look perfectly natural and had made it so he used body language again, just like a normal human. It was honestly a surreal experience for him. He had spent so long looking like he did that looking human again felt strange to him, to say the least. Plus having skin again made everything feel different from the perspective of touch since it had a lot more give to it than solid metal. Everyone seemed to be having a positive reaction to his new appearance. At the very least he didn’t scare small children nearly as much as he used to, though he was still debating whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Pixel was still very upset that she had killed the manticore and she was sad about the condition Twilight was in. So, just like the rest of Ponyville, she was significantly quieter and less cheerful than usual. Even after Rarity had delivered her new dress, Pixel now rarely left the house to go hang out with her friends anymore. Gerhardt had no issues with this as it meant he had more time to teach her. However, he did not like the change in her personality. Unfortunately he still had no idea how to help her. He was actually starting to consider going to Twilight’s library and reading everything she had on psychology in hopes that he may learn how to help her.

Then one day, a portal opened above Ponyville and a figure came flying out of it. Catching herself with telekinesis a few dozen feet from the portal, Isabelle looked just in time to see the portal close behind her trapping her wherever the hell Silvanus had just sent her. Lowering herself to the ground she found herself in the middle of some strange town surrounded by what appeared to be horrifically mutated equines. Some had horns like unicorns, others had wings like pegasi, and some lacked either. Many of them were staring at her.

She would have said she came in peace and asked where she was, but she had a very strong feeling that these creatures would not be able to speak any language she knew. She also didn’t have a universal translator on her since she hadn’t needed one during the strategy meeting since all of the other high lords and Lanius the Executioner all spoke the human language. So she just gave an awkward smile and waved, hoping none of them would attack her or flee in terror. Fortunately, none of them did. In fact, they seemed more curious about her than anything.

Relieved, she turned and was about to start walking away but paused as she noticed one of the ponies now standing in front of her. It was one of the ones without a horn or wings. It had pink fur, a pink mane and tail, and what appeared to be a tattoo of sorts depicting balloons on her flanks. It also appeared to be very excited to see her. It began making a bunch of noises that sounded like the noises horses made, just arranged in a significantly more complex manner. Apparently it was trying to talk to her.

“Er… I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you're saying and I can only assume you don’t understand what I’m saying either.” Isabelle said, trying to get the small mutant horse to understand the fact they spoke separate languages.

The horse appeared confused for a moment then it seemed to begin thinking to itself. After a couple moments it seemed to have an idea. Biting the sleeve of Isabelle’s robe the mutant horse began trying to pull her somewhere.

Isabelle decided to just follow along. She had no idea where it was bringing her but she was curious and the horse didn’t appear to be hostile towards her, quite the opposite in fact. So she doubted that it was trying to lead her somewhere dangerous. Besides she may have been a medical mage but she was still a trained soldier and her intricate knowledge of biology meant she knew exactly where to hit, cut, stab, or shoot something in order to kill it. Plus she had long since mastered biomancy and could alter a creature’s heart, lungs, brains, or other internal organs in such a way as to kill them. Biomancy was the alteration of biology via magic. That meant it could be used for a lot more than just healing. She found it was also quite useful in battle and while interrogating captured enemy soldiers.

The pink horse ended up leading her to what appeared to be a two story house. Releasing her sleeve it said something to her before trotting up to the front door and knocking. Isabelle decided to just stay where she was for the moment.

After a few moments the door opened and Isabelle saw what appeared to be a tall human man with short black hair, a short black beard, ghostly pale skin, and solid blue glowing eyes. He also appeared to be wearing a pitch black robe that the technomancers in the R&D branch would wear. The man looked down at the small pink horse and opened his mouth to say something before he noticed her.

He stood there staring at her in shock for a few moments with his jaw hanging open. After a couple moments he shook his head and said, “Isabelle?! What in the names of all the gods are you doing here?! No, more importantly how did you get here?!” Pushing past the small pink horse he immediately began walking over to her.

Isabelle jerked, startled by the man’s voice. She recognized that voice anywhere. In fact, she had heard it only minutes ago back in the meeting room. “G-Gerhardt?! Is that you?!”

Gerhardt nodded. “Indeed it is. Apologies, I realize that my current appearance is unfamiliar to you. This is what I used to look like in my younger years back when I was organic. I only altered my appearance to this a few days ago. Anyways, that’s not important. How did you get here?! What is the current status of the kingdom?!”

Isabelle looked at the ground and said, “Gerhardt… Things have not been going well in your absence. May I come inside? It will take awhile to fill you in on everything and I would prefer to sit down for this conversation.”

Gerhardt winced. “Yes, of course you may. Though, um… Unfortunately the only thing I have for you to sit on is a bench which I made for any of the ponies that came over. I’m afraid I don’t have any proper chairs. I would go out and buy you one, but I’m afraid any sold in town are designed for ponies. I would have to build you a chair myself.”

Isabelle chuckled and shook her head. “Gods above… Even trapped here in an alien world, you never change, do you Gerhardt? It’s fine. This bench may be a bit small for me but I’ve sat on worse things. Though before we talk I have to ask, who’s your friend?” She motioned to the pony that was standing there listening to them talk with a massive smile on its face despite clearly not understanding a word they were saying.

Gerhardt sighed and rested his face in one of his palms. “Please… Don’t mention friendship around the ponies… They are obsessed with the concept for some reason… She is not my friend. Regardless, I’ll activate my universal translator and introduce you to her. Miss Pie, this is my colleague Isabelle Sano. She is the high lord of the medical branch of the Human Kingdom. Isabelle, this is Pinkie Pie. She’s a baker. My universal translator is active so you may speak to each other now.”

“Hiya, Isabelle! It’s super duper great to meet you! Well, technically I met you earlier but we couldn’t understand each other but now we can for some reason and I am super happy to be able to talk to you! Uh… I’m really, really sorry but you were part of the medical branch sooo that means you’re a doctor… right?” Pinkie Pie’s face changed from happy to concerned as she asked if Isabelle was a doctor.

“Hello, Pinkie Pie. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Yes, I’m a doctor. Why do you ask?” Isabelle inquired curiously.

“Well… One of my bestest friends in the world is really hurt… Gears tried his best to help by giving her augmentations but the doctors say her condition is getting worse… We’re… We’re all really worried that she might not make it… You’re from his world, right? So you’ve gotta know some sort of super advanced healing magic or something, r-right…? Please, you’ve gotta help Twilight!” Pinkie Pie requested, her usual cheerful demeanor melting away as she thought about the condition Twilight was in.

“Hmph… You know, you are quite possibly the most skilled biomancer I’ve ever known in all my centuries, Isabelle. If anyone could save her it would be you. Regardless, we can discuss that particular matter later after you update me on everything that’s happening back on Earth. Miss Pie, I thank you for bringing Isabelle to me however I’m afraid I don’t think you will have much to contribute to our conversation.” Gerhardt said, crossing his arms behind his back.

“Oh, alright! I guess I’ll see you both later then! It was nice meeting you, Isabelle!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed before walking away.

Gerhardt led Isabelle inside the lab. She was shorter than him by quite a bit, especially given the fact that she was a half elf, so the low roof didn’t force her to hunch over like it did to Gerhardt. However her head did just barely brush the roof. She awkwardly sat down on the too-small bench and said, “You know, Gerhardt, your sense of decoration is god awful. And by that I mean it’s completely non-existent. This place is more bland and boring than a gods damned prison cell.”

“Aesthetics are meaningless. This place serves its purpose and that’s all it needs to do. Anything else is irrelevant. Now, on to more important matters. What’s happening on Earth?” Gerhardt inquired.

Isabelle sighed and shook her head. “Nothing good.” She muttered. She then began explaining everything that’s been happening while he’s been gone.

As she talked Gerhardt’s eyes slowly started to dim more and more the more he heard. Eventually he sat down on the opposite side of the room with his back against the wall, completely overwhelmed by everything Isabelle was telling him. It was just as bad as he had expected if not worse. He couldn’t help but blame himself for all of this. He remembered what Celestia had told him back in the Crystal Empire but those words meant nothing to him right now. He was hearing exactly what was happening on Earth and all the chaos and devastation being unleashed upon the Human Kingdom.

Resting his face in his hands he would have probably started crying but even with his new body he had not given himself the ability to do so. Gods above he wished he had died centuries ago so none of this would have ever happened. Why? Why couldn’t he have ever just laid down and died when he should have? Now the entire world was paying for his stubborn selfish refusal to die during his allotted time. He hated himself. He desperately wanted to die but he knew it was already too late and his death here would not stop the apocalypse that Silvanus had already started. Plus he knew that if he died Pixel would be devastated and he would be leaving her all alone.

Isabelle noticed the state he was in and asked, “Gerhardt? Are you alright?”

“No…” He told her, his voice having lost a lot of quality. “No, Isabelle, I’m not… But my mental and emotional state is irrelevant… Thank you for telling me all of this… So… I assume you were sent here by Silvanus… What of the others and my mind clone?”

Isabelle frowned at him. “It is relevant to your mental health, but I suppose I’ll let this go for the moment. As for the others… Well… They aren’t here. Silvanus killed them all… Apparently the only reason he spared me is the fact I’m a half elf and since as the High Lord of the Medical branch I annoyed him the least. That’s what he told me anyway.”

“I see… Then I pray that Lord Lanius shall be able to lead and protect the Human Kingdom in our stead… Gods this is a disaster…” Gerhardt muttered.

Then Gerhardt’s sensors detected Pixel approaching the house. Moments later the door opened and she walked inside. “Daddy, I’m home from school… Who’s this? She looks so much like us!” Pixel inquired excitedly. Her reaction was a bit less than what it would have been prior to the manticore attack but seeing someone that looked like them was surprising enough to elicit excitement from her.

Isabelle looked over at Pixel in shock. “Gerhardt? What is this?” She asked.

Gerhardt sighed and stood up. “Pixel, this is my colleague Isabelle Sano. She is or… was the High Lord of the Medical branch. She just recently arrived in this world in much the same manner as I did. Isabelle, this is my daughter Pixel. She is a sapient golem. Before you say anything, yes I realize creating sapient golems is illegal in the Human Kingdom. However we are not in the Human Kingdom and likely have no way to return. Plus you and the others already violated that law by creating a mindclone to replace me. Granted our reasons for creating sapient golems are very different but still.”

“I see…” Isabelle muttered. Looking at Pixel she smiled and said, “Hello, Pixel. It’s a pleasure to meet you! I have known your father ever since I first became a High Lord nearly a century ago. Anyways, Gerhardt, it has been over eight hundred years and never once in all of history have you ever shown even the slightest interest in starting a family or raising a child. The apprentices you taught don’t really count since everyone in the kingdom knows you never grew attached to any of them. What changed? Is it the fact that you no longer have the responsibilities of a High Lord or a soldier of the Human Kingdom?”

Gerhardt shook his head. “No. Of course not. I originally intended for her to be a friend/lab assistant as a way of getting out of some ridiculous task the ponies required of me. Though it turned out she had the mind of a child and thought of me as her father, so I had no choice but to accept her as my daughter. Even so, I love her all the same. Unfortunately even here in this world there are individuals targeting her in order to get to me. Just last week while I was away on business she was attacked by a chimeric creature known as a manticore which is essentially a lion with the tail of a scorpion and the wings of a bat. I have significant reason to suspect someone was controlling it and was using it to try and kill her. So she ended up having to kill it in defense of her own life.”

Isabelle sighed and rested her face in one of her palms. “You’re already making enemies, I see… Gods damn it, Gerhardt… Pixel, I’m sure that must have been a very traumatic experience for you. As the High Lord of the Medical branch I am an expert in all fields of healthcare from biological to psychological. So just know if you ever need someone to talk to about what you went through I am always available. Especially now that I’m stuck here in this world and my schedule is now effectively non-existent.”

Pixel gave her a small smile and said, “Thank you… Um… Since you can’t go home are you going to be staying here with me and daddy?”

“That is entirely up to your father.” Isabelle stated.

“Of course you may stay here. I can’t just leave you to sleep on the streets. We’ll have to either go and buy you a bed or I will have to make you one myself, plus we don’t exactly have anything to store food. So I’ll have to build a refrigeration device. This building does have a stove, however. I have been using it as a burner to heat chemicals for alchemy but after wiping it down it should be safe for you to use to prepare food. Though I will have to either purchase or build cooking utensils, silverware, and dishes for you to use.” Gerhardt told her.

“Thank you very much, Gerhardt. I apologize that you have to waste so much of your budget on me. I’ll try my best to repay the favor.” Isabelle said in a grateful tone.

Before Gerhardt could say anything else in response his sensors detected a unicorn and a demigod approaching his door. After a moment there was a knock. Since Pixel was the closest one to the door she turned and opened it. She greeted Shining Armor and Cadance before letting them come in.

Both Shining Armor and Cadance looked at Isabelle. Gerhardt immediately activated his universal translator again before Shining Armor started talking. “I’m sorry if we’re interrupting but you’re the doctor Pinkie Pie told us about, right? The one from Gerhardt’s world?” Shining Armor inquired. He looked absolutely terrible. He obviously hadn’t been getting much sleep this past week especially after Twilight’s condition had started to deteriorate. Princess Cadance was not in much better condition.

Isabelle nodded. “I am. I assume this is about this “Twilight” individual she happened to mention?”

Cadance nodded. “Yes it does. Though before that I think introductions are in order. I’m Princess Cadance and this is my husband Shining Armor. Twilight Sparkle is Shining Armor’s younger sister. She was seriously injured in the manticore attack. Gerhardt gave her some augmentations to try to help her but her condition has still been deteriorating. The doctors give her somewhere between a few days and until the end of the month to live.”

“Hm… I might be able to help but I would have to see her condition for myself first.” Isabelle told them.

“Since you don’t have an Equestrian medical license you will need an official permit from Princess Celestia first if you want to operate on anyone. She issued one to me a few days after I first arrived so I could legally give people augmentations, but it’s under my name so I can’t just let you borrow it or I would. You’ll need her to issue you one of your own.” Gerhardt interjected. “Give me a few moments. I’ll go send her a letter. I assume we should be getting a response in a few minutes.”

With that Gerhardt left to go get a piece of paper and write Celestia a letter. After writing the letter and sending it through the small portal device he had made so he and Celestia could send letters back and forth to each other without the need for going through an intermediary like Spike, he stood there and waited for a response. As he had assumed he got a response within a matter of minutes. Apparently she and Luna would both be coming over to meet Isabelle later that night when both of their schedules were free. They would be expediting the paperwork required for Celestia to issue someone a medical permit so it would be ready by the time they arrived so they could deliver it in person.

Gerhardt wasn’t even remotely surprised by this. Of course they would want to meet Isabelle in person. Not only was she another former high lord from his world, but she could potentially save Twilight where he failed to do so. He had not lied earlier. She was indeed quite possibly the most skilled medical mage or biomancer that he had ever known. Her biomancy and medical knowledge completely outclassed his in every capacity.

Heading back to the living room he saw Isabelle, Shining Armor, and Cadance having a conversation. Pixel seemed to just be sitting on the sidelines listening. Waiting for a gap in the conversation Gerhardt said, “The princesses will be coming by later tonight, Isabelle. It seems they wish to meet you in person. They are expediting the paperwork required to issue you a medical permit so they will be delivering it to you in person when they arrive.”

Isabelle sighed. “Am I to assume that this is a formal meeting or is it more casual? If it’s the former I’m afraid that Silvanus didn’t exactly give me time to grab my formal uniform.”

“I assume it will be casual. Besides, you needn’t worry. Not wearing your formal uniform will not offend them in the slightest. Such is the benefit of dealing with a nudist species, I suppose.” Gerhardt stated. “Now, if you would excuse me, I am going to go out to purchase the cooking implements and dishes you will require. I will also try to find a bed large enough to fit you, however I am unsure if any will be sold here in Ponyville. I may either have to go to a large city to purchase one or I will have to build you one myself. I shouldn’t be gone too terribly long, but I would appreciate it if you would look after Pixel until I get back.”

“Of course. Thank you, Gerhardt.” Isabelle gave him an appreciative smile.

With that Gerhardt turned and exited the building.
> Chapter 17 (Updated)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Greetings. I am Isabelle Sano, former High Lord of the Medical Branch of the Human Kingdom. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Isabelle said, giving Celestia and Luna a polite bow.

“No, no, the pleasure is ours! We didn’t expect anyone else from Gerhardt’s world to be arriving here, let alone another high lord of his kingdom.” Celestia said. “Though before we continue I have to ask, are you absolutely certain you can save Twilight?” 

Isabelle nodded and said, “Prince Shining Armor was kind enough to provide me with Miss Sparkle’s most recent medical files, which Pixel was kind enough to read for me since I am as of yet unfamiliar with your language. So knowing what’s wrong with her I can say with absolute certainty that I have saved patients that were in much worse condition and were in much more immediate danger. So yes, I believe I can save her. That being said, I can see why Gerhardt wasn’t able to do so on his own given the nature of the issues she is experiencing and considering the fact he’s a technomancer rather than a biomancer like me.”

Gerhardt, who was just standing off to the side while the three of them talked nodded his head slightly in agreement. He knew he was only really good for matters relating to technology so he had no reason to contradict her.

“Thank harmony…” Luna muttered. Then a blue aura surrounded her horn for a moment before a piece of paper appeared next to her in a flash of blue light. She then levitated the paper over to Isabelle who grabbed it out of the air and examined it despite the fact she couldn’t read a word of what was written on it. “Then here is your medical permit. You will have to show it to the doctors at the hospital before they will allow you to operate on Twilight.”

“Thank you very much. I shall do that. Though I must ask, will this allow me to find employment at any of the hospitals here in Equestria? I would rather not have to rely on Gerhardt’s hospitality forever so I really must find my own source of income.” Isabelle inquired.

Celestia nodded. “It should. In fact, after you heal Twilight I’m sure the local hospital would be more than willing to hire you. Doctors tend to have rather high salaries here in Equestria, especially when they are particularly skilled and become well known. So once you do find employment it shouldn’t take long before you make enough money to buy your own house and move out. Also, we will be compensating you for your services in healing Twilight.”

Isabelle nodded before folding up the paper and putting it away. “Alright then. Thank you again for the document. I assume you both came here to meet me in person for more than just to give me this piece of paper, so I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have for me.” She said with a friendly smile.

Celestia returned the smile and said, “I’m glad. You already seem much easier to get along with than Gerhardt. Er… No offense, Gerhardt.”

Gerhardt rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn’t react to the statement.

Isabelle chuckled. “Yeah, having worked with him for almost a century I know he’s not the friendliest person ever but he means well.”

Luna nodded. “Indeed. May I inquire as to why your robes are red while his are black? Is there some meaning behind it?”

“Yes there is. My robes are red because I was in the medical branch. His robes are black because he was in the research and development branch. Every branch has a different color uniform. Other than our two branches there is the army branch whose uniforms are a drab green, the navy branch whose uniforms are navy blue, and the aviation branch whose uniforms are white. Also, there is a more practical reason behind the colors of the robes of the medical and R&D branches. Our uniforms are red so any blood we get on them from working with injured soldiers and civilians isn’t as visible. Similarly the R&D branch’s uniforms are black so any oil they get on them from working with machinery isn’t as visible.” Isabelle explained. “Now I believe it’s my turn to ask a question. Gerhardt has told me the two of you and Princess Cadance are all demigods. Is that true?”

Both Celestia and Luna now looked highly uncomfortable. “Er… Until he arrived we would have said no. However, now all evidence seems to suggest that indeed we are. Given how powerful we are becoming and how fast we are growing in strength after using the magical exercises that Gerhardt wrote us a whole book about, it’s very clear to us that we aren’t like the common pony. Most of the unicorns in the royal guard have started using his exercises and training methods and they aren’t growing in power nearly as much or as rapidly as the three of us. It’s… It’s actually quite stressful, to be honest. None of us want to be worshipped or to be seen as superior to anypony else, and the power that comes with this is quite frightening. I truly wish we were not demigods and were simply mortal like everypony else. So please do not tell anypony that we are demigods. We would prefer to keep that fact a secret.” Luna explained.

Isabelle nodded. “I understand. I will respect your wishes and will not tell anyone. Though I do find it odd that you wouldn’t know that you are demigods if it weren’t for Gerhardt. Back in our world the gods will very frequently interact with us mortals. Mainly the lesser gods but even the average gods will occasionally visit our world. So it is highly uncommon for a demigod to not be at least somewhat familiar with the divine half of their family.”

“We know our parents. They were both mortal. We only became alicorns later in life, we were not born this way. The same could be said for Cadance.” Celestia stated.

This immediately drew Gerhardt’s attention. “You were born mortal but were somehow turned into demigods? How?! If this is true and I can somehow find the mechanism behind this process I could potentially replicate it and turn any mortal being in this world into a demigod! Wait… By the gods… If a mortal can become a demigod then what is to say that a demigod can’t become a lesser god, or a lesser god can’t become a God, or a God can’t become a Greater God?! If this were possible… Gods above, the implications of this are absolutely amazing and could solve everything!”

His mind was absolutely racing with the possibilities and it showed plainly on his face. He might be able to become a God. Not just a demigod or a lesser god, but an actual God! The idea of becoming a Greater God was likely still quite a stretch but if he could become even just a Lesser God then he would be able to return to his own universe to fight and possibly even kill Silvanus! The Human Kingdom would no longer be in any danger! The second War of Survival would be ended in a matter of moments! Everything that Isabelle told him was going on back on Earth would be stopped dead in its tracks and humanity would be safe again! He needed to find out how this process worked as soon as possible!

The Princesses and Isabelle all looked at him in concern. “Gerhardt, while this information is quite amazing, you need to calm down.” Isabelle stated. “Just stop and think for a moment. Even if that was true and it was possible, do you honestly think it would be a good idea to give everyone in the world that kind of power? No. That would be a terrible idea. How many do you think would abuse that power?”

“Fine! Then all I would need to do is restrict the technology! Not everyone needs to have it! But just think about it, Isabelle! Think of the possibilities! If we could actually become Gods then we could go back to Earth! We could kill Silvanus! We wouldn’t have to be trapped here forever!” Gerhardt exclaimed, his eyes glowing brightly. This was by far the most excited about anything he had been in centuries.

Isabelle's eyes widened in realization. "Gods above... You're right... Gerhardt, we need to figure this out!"

“Mr. Mechanica, while my sister and I appreciate everything you’ve done for Equestria and we are sympathetic to the plight of your people, we refuse to be used as lab rats.” Luna stated firmly.

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed and he looked at her. “But—”

He was cut off as Celestia said, “I’m sorry Gerhardt but I have to agree with my sister. I would rather not be used as a lab rat or a test subject. Besides which, even if you could find the mechanism behind how we became demigods there is no guarantee that you would be able to do anything more. I’m truly sorry but I highly doubt that it is even remotely possible for a mortal or even a demigod to become an actual god under any circumstances. In fact I would even go so far as to say it is truly impossible and your attempts to do so would be nothing but an effort in futility. Furthermore you seem far too excited about this. Coveting that sort of power this much is not a good thing. Because of how you’re acting I’m actually legitimately worried that in the extremely unlikely event that you actually managed to succeed, all that power may go to your head. So no. We will not be assisting you in this endeavor, and I would strongly encourage you not to pursue this matter on your own either.”

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed significantly and he slumped in disappointment. “But… But…” He sighed and said, “Very well… I understand. I won’t bother you two or Princess Cadance about this matter again… I sincerely apologize if I made you uncomfortable at all. Such was not my intention.” He fully planned to research this matter on his own with or without the Princesses’ help. It was far too important for him to just give up on it now that he knew it may actually be possible. Even here in Equestria all that mattered to him, other than his daughter, was his work and the safety of mankind. And since even a remote possibility to save humanity from Silvanus had just presented itself to him, he was not about to just let it slip through his fingers just because the Princesses asked him to. Though since they refused to aid him they most certainly didn’t need to know that.

Celestia smiled at him and said, “Good. I’m glad you’re willing to see reason. Now… Darn… I had a question but this completely derailed my train of thought…” She then sighed. “You go ahead and ask another question while I try to remember what I wanted to ask you, Isabelle.”

“Alright. Thank you, Princess. Every pony I have seen so far have different symbols on their flanks. Is there any significance to them or are they just decorative?”

“Yes, they do have significance. They’re called cutie marks and they symbolize every individual’s special talent. They usually appear during foalhood after the individual in question discovers their special talent.” Celestia explained. “I got mine for my ability to raise and lower the sun and Luna got hers for her ability to raise and lower the moon.”

Isabelle nodded in understanding until Celestia explained how she and Luna had gotten their cutie marks. At that point she gave the two of them a skeptical look. “Raising and lowering the sun and moon? Gerhardt, what on earth does she mean by that?”

“The princesses appear to be under the illusion they have the ability to control the rotation of the planet and the moon’s orbit. Princess Luna also claims to control the stars. I can say for certainty that I have noticed about half of the stars moving changing position and appearing and disappearing at night in ways that should not be possible based on what stars even are to begin with while the other half always stay completely stationary. I suspect there is a self perpetuating mass illusion in the sky that allows them to simulate this, however I have not had a chance to conduct any proper research to confirm one way or the other. Though according to what Pixel has told me, Princess Luna does in fact have control over the dreams of others.” Gerhardt stated in a matter of fact tone. Both of the princesses shot him annoyed glares, which he ignored.

Isabelle nodded to herself in thought. “Hm… Interesting… Well, I believe it’s your turn to ask a question, princesses.”

Celestia sighed, still irritated by Gerhardt’s insistence that she and Luna couldn’t actually control the sun and moon. “Alright. What are the other three high lords like? We’ve met you and Gerhardt but we know little to nothing about the others.”

Isabelle grimaced. “Er… They’re all dead. Silvanus killed them when he sent me here. He only spared me because I’m a half elf and was the one he found the least annoying.” 

Celestia’s expression immediately turned to one of regret. “I’m so sorry… If that’s the case just forget I asked. I won’t try to force you to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Isabelle shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’m used to watching my friends die by now so it’s no trouble. Lucian, the high lord of the army, was a very skilled and very powerful war mage. He wasn’t the most pleasant individual ever and he was a bit of an alcoholic but he was absolutely dedicated to the defense of the Human Kingdom and would always do everything within his power to protect it and all of its people. He would often put his life on the line to defend any civilians he could that were in dangerous situations and would always try to save everyone he could. He never once abandoned a civilian that was in danger no matter how difficult it would be for him to save them or how futile the effort seemed. Because of this everything below his chest had to be replaced with augmentations due to the wounds he had accumulated.”

“Morgan, the high lord of the navy, was always the most jovial of us. Up until recently she would always crack jokes and try to keep our spirits up. She also loved the ocean, thus the reason she was in the navy I assume. She wasn’t a mage like me, Gerhardt, or Lucian but she was still one hell of a soldier. Other than Gerhardt she was also the most heavily augmented out of all of us and could have lived forever had Silvanus not killed her. I sort of wish she had died on a ship. I know she would have preferred to die in the ocean rather than on land. Though unlike what Gerhardt was like up until now, she actually chose to look human.”

“Finally there was Alexander, the high lord of aviation. He was the youngest of us and like Morgan he wasn’t a mage but his skills and wisdom more than made up for it. Just like how Morgan always preferred to be out at sea rather than on land, he always preferred to be in a plane flying high in the sky rather than being on the ground. He is actually one of the only individuals in the aviation branch I am aware of that knew his vehicles so well that he could actually assist the R&D branch in repairing and maintaining them. He was even skilled enough of a pilot and had good enough aim to actually hit Silvanus directly in the face with an antimatter bomb not just once but twice in a row. He had been bragging about that quite a bit ever since he did it.”

Isabelle sighed remorsefully and gave the princesses a bitter smile. “I’m going to miss them all quite a bit. I don’t know what the afterlife is like but I certainly hope it’s peaceful. They deserve a rest after everything they’ve done in the defense of humanity… Anyways, enough of that depressing topic. How did you two meet Gerhardt, if I may ask? You seem quite familiar with him and I honestly would have expected him to go into hiding to conduct his research in isolation if given the chance.”

“She’s right. Under most other circumstances I probably would have.” Gerhardt admitted with a shrug.

Celestia gave Gerhardt a disapproving frown before looking back at Isabelle and proceeding to explain the events of Gerhardt’s arrival in Canterlot. Isabelle asked a few questions, mainly for clarification, and both Celestia and Luna did their best to answer those questions. Eventually the conversation shifted away from Gerhardt’s exploits in Canterlot when he first arrived. At that point Isabelle and the Princesses were essentially just chatting rather than asking each other anything of any true significance. This went on for about half an hour.

Finally Celestia said, “Well it has been very nice getting to know you, Isabelle! However, I believe we have kept Twilight waiting long enough. I’m sorry to rush you into healing her so soon after you were sent here, I’m just really concerned for her wellbeing.”

“It’s fine, I understand. Fortunately I only had a few patients to take care of earlier today so I have more than enough energy left over to deal with her. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour. Gerhardt, if you could please lead the way.” She would have just gone on her own but she had no idea where the hospital was, and she didn’t have a universal translator at the moment which would make it impossible for her to communicate with the ponies on her own.

Gerhardt opened a portal to the hospital and said, “It’s a bit dark out at the moment so I’ll show you the way there tomorrow so you can see the path better.”

Isabelle shrugged. “Fair enough.” She then proceeded through the portal. Both Gerhardt and the Princesses followed after her. Pushing the hospital doors open she immediately proceeded to walk up to the receptionist’s desk and said, “Hello, my name is Isabelle Sano. Prince Shining Armor requested that I heal a patient located here in this hospital by the name of Twilight Sparkle. Here is my medical permit.” She took out the document, unfolded it, and handed it to the receptionist.

The receptionist looked surprised when Isabelle walked in but quickly recovered. Taking the permit she quickly looked it over before levitating it back over to Isabelle and saying, “Alright. I’ll have one of the nurses lead you to her room.” She then called one of the Nurses over and had them do just that.

Once they arrived Isabelle cast a sterilization spell on herself, just to be safe, before walking inside. Seeing Twilight Isabelle immediately walked over to the injured unicorn and got to work. As soon as she did she was somewhat surprised to find some strange nerve-like structures running through Twilight’s body which had arcane energy running through them and connected to her horn. She had no idea what these structures did but she assumed they were important, so she was just going to avoid messing with them to the best of her abilities as she went about healing her. As she estimated this took about thirty minutes.

When she was finished the pony groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She then made a few groggy noises that sounded like they were supposed to be words but were completely and utterly incomprehensible to Isabelle. After a moment she regained her barings enough to look around the room and a look of realization crossed her face. Finally she noticed Isabelle and jerked in surprise.

Isabelle gave her a friendly smile. Unfortunately she couldn’t say anything to the pony since Gerhardt wasn’t present and she didn’t have a universal translator, so instead she just waved before turning and leaving the room. She then walked back to the lobby where Gerhardt, all three Princesses, and Prince Shining Armor were waiting. Standing with them was a unicorn in a white coat, presumably one of this hospital’s doctors. Walking over to them she said, “I’ve healed Miss Sparkle. She’s already awake and should be ready to go home any time. She will be a bit tired and hungry but that will be about it. After having a large dinner and getting a good night’s sleep she should be back in perfect health.”

Shining Armor’s exhausted eyes lit up immediately upon hearing that. “R-really?!” He then looked at the doctor and asked, “Would it be alright if I went to see her?!”

The doctor nodded. “Well, assuming what Miss Sano says is true then I suppose there would be no harm in it. However we would like to keep her here for another day or two just to be sure.”

“Thank you so much! And thank you especially, Isabelle!” Shining Armor exclaimed before rushing down the hall to Twilight’s room.

Cadance chuckled and said, “I’d better go with him but thank you so much, Isabelle!” With that she disappeared in a flash of light as she teleported after her husband.

“So, Mr. Mechanica and the Princesses have informed me that you’re searching for employment.” The doctor stated looking at Isabelle.

“Oh, yes. Indeed I am. I was a high ranking medical mage back in the Human Kingdom, which Gerhardt can attest to, meaning I was one of the best doctors in my country. So would you be willing to allow me to work here in this hospital?” Isabelle inquired.

“Well, assuming you really did just save Miss Sparkle in a matter of thirty minutes despite the condition she was in when nopony currently employed here could do so despite our best efforts, I would say that’s pretty much guaranteed. Plus you have received recommendations from both the Princesses and Mr. Mechanica who is already well known in the medical field in his own right for his augmentations. So yes. We would be more than happy to employ you. When can you start working here?” The doctor inquired.

Isabelle looked at Gerhardt. “Gerhardt, when can you have a universal translator ready for me?”

“In about four hours. But considering how late it is I would have to give it to you tomorrow morning since you require sleep. So by tomorrow morning. I’ll also have a flash drive that will teach you the Equestrian language, both written and spoken, along with all the other general information you will need to know ready for you by that time. Though your vocal cords are incapable of speaking the Equestrian language so you will still need the universal translator so the ponies can understand you.” Gerhardt informed her.

After his invention of brain augmentations it had become a standard requirement for everyone in the human military to receive a brain augmentation that allowed information to be downloaded directly into their brain via a port in the back of their skull. The port only allowed information to be put into their brains, it could not be extracted that way. It was designed this way so that if a human soldier was ever captured their enemies couldn’t just steal all the information the soldier knew that way. That port was the only augmentation that Isabelle truly had. So that flash drive would make it much easier for her to learn everything she needed to know. She wouldn’t have to spend years trying to learn an entirely new language just so she could be literate, or spend weeks trying to memorize an entirely new set of laws, or anything else to that effect. 

“Good, then I can start working tomorrow morning.” Isabelle said with a smile.

The doctor looked somewhat surprised but said, “Alright. Then I suppose I will see you in the morning. Your shift will start at around seven o’clock. Though since you’re new tomorrow you’ll mainly be learning how everything works here.”

Isabelle nodded. “Alright, that sounds reasonable. I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that the doctor turned and walked away, leaving her with Gerhardt and the princesses.

“Isabelle, I can never thank you enough for saving Twilight.” Celestia stated.

Isabelle shook her head, “There’s really no need to begin with. It’s my job to heal people.”

“That may be, but your efforts are still very much appreciated.” Said Luna.

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Indeed… Earlier you said you don’t want to have to rely on Gerhardt’s hospitality forever, right? Well, in that case I believe there is another vacant house here in Ponyville. It will take about a week to finish the paperwork but we would be more than happy to give it to you as your reward for saving Twilight.”

“Really? Then, thank you very much, Princesses! I had assumed that I would need to buy a house on my own after I earned enough of a budget.”

“Of course, it’s the least we could do.” Celestia said with a friendly smile. “Now, please excuse us. We should also go check on Twilight” She and Luna then proceeded to head down the hall after Shining Armor and Cadance.

Saying nothing Gerhardt opened a portal back to his lab and stepped through it. Isabelle followed after him. Once she was through, he closed the portal behind her. “Well, I should get to work on the universal translator and flash drive. Your room is upstairs. It’s the first door on the right. The restroom and shower is in the room directly next to it. There is some food in a small box next to the stove, along with some dishes and cooking implements. Unfortunately the ponies are herbivores so all of it is plant based since they don’t sell any meat anywhere in Equestria. I’ll have to build a device to clone some for you. I’ve already had Pixel wipe down the stove to get rid of any leftover chemicals from my alchemy projects so it should be perfectly safe for you to use it to cook your dinner.”

“Alright. Thank you Gerhardt.” Isabelle stated. "Oh and before you go and get back to work, you're not actually planning to just let this go just because the princesses asked you to, right? Please tell me you're actually planning on researching how to become a demigod and potentially even a lesser god even without their help. Gerhardt, humanity is dying. We need you to do this! I almost feel like we should have pushed them a bit harder to help us. Well, it's too late now. Regardless, I will do whatever I can to assist you even if they won't."

"Of course I'm going to research it. I would be a gods damned fool not to! As you said, this is far too important for us to just let this opportunity slip through our fingers, the princesses be damned. Also if we tried to push the matter it could have potentially backfired and ended very poorly for us. I need to figure out how the process works. Studying the end product could have made it easier to find out how the process works by giving me clues as to how the process functions and thus at least pointing me in the right direction, but it isn't strictly necessary. So ultimately it just wasn't worth it to press the issue any further, otherwise I most definitely would have. Anyways, I appreciate that you are willing to assist me however I'm not entirely sure what you could really do to help. However, if I think of something I will be sure to let you know."

With that he opened a portal to the underground level of his lab and stepped through it. As he got to work building the universal translator and flash drive for Isabelle, millions of thoughts raced through his mind all at once as he considered how to go about researching how to become a God. As he told Isabelle, it would be a lot harder without the princesses helping him but hopefully it wouldn’t be completely impossible.

[The next morning]

After Isabelle woke up, took a shower, changed back into her uniform since those were the only clothes she had, and ate breakfast Gerhardt gave her both her universal translator in the form of a bracelet and the flash drive containing all the information she would need while living here in Equestria. So she put on the universal translator bracelet and activated it and inserted the flash drive into the port in the back of her head. It only took about five minutes for all the information to be transferred into her brain. Finally Gerhardt showed her the way to the hospital.

Almost as soon as she walked inside she was greeted by one of the nurses. “Hello, Dr. Sano. Before I start teaching you how this hospital operates Miss Twilight Sparkle has requested to speak to you.”

“Oh, alright. Then I suppose I’ll go see her.” Isabelle said before heading back to Twilight’s room with the nurse following close behind.

Walking inside she saw Twilight already awake and waiting for her. Giving the pony a friendly smile she said, “Hello, Miss Sparkle. The nurse tells me you want to speak with me?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I do. You’re the one who saved me, right? I just wanted to thank you. Princess Luna was keeping me updated on my condition in my dreams and I was really scared that I wasn’t going to make it.”

“Of course! I am a medical mage after all, so it’s my job to heal people whenever they’re injured or sick.”

“A mage… So that means you’re from Gerhardt’s kingdom, right? You’re a human?” Twilight inquired.

Isabelle nodded. “Indeed I am. I was actually the high lord of the medical branch. Though, I’m not a full blooded human. I’m actually a half elf. My father was human while my mother was an elf. Thus the reason I am a bit shorter than average and why my ears are slightly pointed rather than being round like a human’s.” She explained.

“Fascinating… Then I assume you ended up here the same way that Gerhardt did?”

Isabelle shrugged. “Presumably, yes.”

“I see… Well, Princess Celestia told me you’ve been employed here at the hospital so I guess I should stop taking up your time and let you get back to work. Though once they finally clear me to go home I would love to get to know you a bit better some time!”

“Very well. The princesses are doing the paperwork to give me my own house but in the meantime I am currently staying with Gerhardt. So you can find me at his house whenever I am off duty. I’ll talk to you later, Miss Sparkle.” With that Isabelle left the room with the nurse who proceeded to teach her how the hospital worked.

[That evening]

When Isabelle finally got off work she ended up running into Pixel on the way back to Gerhardt’s lab. “Hi, Miss Isabelle!” Pixel greeted upon seeing her.

“Hello, Pixel. How are you?” Isabelle greeted back.

“I’m alright I guess. How was your day at the hospital?”

“It was interesting, I suppose. Hospitals here work a bit differently than they do back in the Human Kingdom. At least in the military. I have no idea how civilian hospitals work. And the concept of earning a salary is very new to me. Back in the Human Kingdom mages were never allowed to leave the military or retire so we were never actually paid. We just received a flat budget every month and any money left over that we didn’t spend didn’t accumulate. So it will be fascinating to experience how civilians live for once.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. What’s it like being a doctor?” Pixel inquired looking up at Isabelle curiously.

Isabelle sighed. “Hard. I am used to seeing patients in critical condition if not outright dying on a daily basis despite my best efforts to save them. I have lost hundreds of patients in my decades as a medical mage, especially earlier on in my career when I wasn’t as skilled or experienced. It’s rarer for me now but it still happens occasionally. Sometimes their injuries or illnesses are just too severe and not even my biomancy can save them. Miss Sparkle was fortunate. Had Gerhardt not given her those augmentations and had the doctors not done their best to treat her and keep her alive, then her condition may have deteriorated to the point where not even I could have helped her. Not without removing her brain and putting it into an entirely new artificial body at least. Though for that I would need her direct consent so with her unconscious and unable to give that consent there would have been nothing I could do and she would have died.”

“That being said, while it is hard I do feel that it is worth it. While I can’t always save everyone, I can still heal many who are sick or injured and that, to me, makes it worth it. I enjoy being able to help people like this, thus the reason I joined the medical branch in the first place. Helping people is the only reason I was ever able to stomach being a soldier in the first place. I’ve always hated killing since it is the antithesis of what I’ve always wanted to do, however by fighting humanity’s enemies I was able to protect innocent civilians who may have otherwise been killed or worse. And in the medical branch I was able to heal both injured soldiers and injured civilians. So there is no other profession I would rather have.”

Pixel nodded in understanding. “Okay… Would you be willing to teach me how to heal people?”

Isabelle was actually quite surprised by this request. “Of course I would. Though I have to ask, what brought this about? I honestly expected that you would want to be a technomancer like your father.”

Pixel looked at the ground and said, “I do want to be a technomancer like daddy, but I also want to heal people… After killing that manticore I just… I…” Pixel sighed and looked Isabelle directly in the eyes. “I hate hurting things… I want to do the opposite and the opposite of hurting is healing so…”

Isabelle kneeled down and looked at Pixel. “I see… So this is your way of coping with the fact you killed that manticore. I understand. You’ve never killed anything before that, have you?”

Pixel shook her head but otherwise said nothing.

Isabelle took a deep breath and exhaled. She then put a hand on Pixel’s shoulder and said, “Alright. I’ll teach you how to be a medical mage. However we’re going to have to have a talk about what happened with that manticore. I want to help you with what you’re going through at the moment. I almost wish I had been here on the day it had happened, then I could have helped you through it then since I’m sure Gerhardt was pretty much useless in that regard. He’s not the most emotional or empathetic person ever and he knows absolutely fuck all about helping people cope with traumatic events. Otherwise I’m almost positive that we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place. So does that sound fair to you?”

Pixel nodded.

Isabelle smiled at her. “Good. If you’re not busy then we could get started on your lessons once we get back to Gerhardt’s lab. Or we could have that talk. Your choice.”

“Okay. School is over for today so I’m not busy… I think I would like to talk first, if that’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay. I completely understand. Now, I would appreciate it if you could lead me back. I think I know the path since Gerhardt showed it to me this morning but I’m not entirely sure. This is my first time here after all and I’m not exactly familiar with this town just yet.”

Pixel smiled and said, “Alright, just follow me!”

[On Earth]

Silvanus scowled to himself. The war was no longer going the way he wanted, thus the reason he had to get rid of the other high lords. But not only that but apparently there was a chance that Gerhardt would find a method with which to become a demigod if not a fully fledged lesser god or even a God due to the universe he had ended up in. 'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is nothing going the way I planned anymore?! Why?!' He thought to himself. He then growled to himself and began pacing back and forth.

'What should I do? I can't allow that son of a bitch to become a god or everything I've done will be ruined! Hm... I need to free that nature spirit sooner rather than later, but I can't rush things or my actions are going to be discovered! Grrrr... This would be so much quicker and easier if I didn't have to hide what I was doing from the Greater Gods or the Gods of the universe he's in. Son of a bitch!' He ranted and raved to himself mentally.

Then he stopped and took a deep breath. 'I need to calm down and think about this rationally. His research will likely take decades if not centuries so I still have plenty of time. I don't need to rush anything. I just have to take my time and slowly help the spirit undo her bindings. Once she's free, she'll take care of the rest and I'll never have to worry about that bastard again. He will never be able to complete his research so there is absolutely no chance that he will ever become a god. Though I find it unlikely he would even be able to do so in the first place. Maybe he could become a demigod but what Greater God in their right mind would ever allow a mortal to ascend to full on god-hood? The concept is absolutely ridiculous. Still the fact that mortals can become demigods in that universe is extremely worrying in its own right. Unfortunately I can't do anything about that since that is entirely up to the Greater Gods that preside over that universe. I have no say in the matter.

He shook his head. 'Whatever. As long as it doesn't affect me, I don't care. Regardless, I'm going to have to update the nature spirit in this development just in case he succeeds in figuring out a method to become a demigod before she is freed. That would make it much more difficult for her to deal with him. Not impossible since Greater Spirits have power equivalent to us Lesser Gods, but not nearly as easy as dealing with a simple mortal. If he could also make Isabelle and that bucket of bolts he calls a daughter into demigods as well then the spirit would have to deal with not just one but  six different demigods. The ones Gerhardt would have made and those three worthless equine bitches. Then there would be a chance she may actually lose to them. We have to make plans to combat that advantage in the unlikely event that it does happen. Though even if it doesn't, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

'More importantly, that bastard Lanius has started gathering allies amongst the other gods, I'm absolutely sure of it. Once Erebus learns of it, he's going to start doing the same thing. So That means I'm going to need to gather allies of my own. It seems this is going to become an all out war between the Lesser Gods. That's bad. a war between us will surely attract the attention of the Gods and Greater Gods. Then I'm probably going to be blamed for starting it and the Greater Gods will add new rules like they did when Deimos first tried to destroy the Humans. I don't want to be banned from ever interacting with the mortal world ever again, so I need to find some way to put an end to this war as soon as physically possible before it gets too out of hand and the Greater Gods decide to intervene. Ugh... Why did that son of a bitch have to involve himself in matters that don't concern him?! Oh wait I "violated the spirit of the law by exploiting a loophole" or whatever self righteous bullshit that arrogant bastard spouts. Bah! Who fucking cares?! The letter of the law is all that matters, the intent behind it is completely irrelevant! I didn't break any rules directly so he shouldn't have involved himself to begin with! His intervention is completely ruining my plans!
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Canterlot]

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had just returned from visiting Twilight in the hospital after Isabelle had healed her. Normally this would be a happy time since Twilight was healed. However they were both more concerned than anything else.

“Sister, we need to talk about Mr. Mechanica’s behaviour after learning we used to be mortal. I found how eager he was to gain god-like power to be highly concerning.” Luna stated in a serious tone.

Celestia sighed and nodded in agreement. “I know. Based on the way he reacted I fear he is in danger of ending up going mad with power should he actually succeed. And we both know there’s no way he’s just going to give up on it just because we asked him to. Unfortunately we can’t really do anything to stop him. However we can’t just let him go unchecked either. Discord, Tirek, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis during her invasion, and even you during your time as Nightmare Moon never went so far as to actually kill anypony. At least, not intentionally. He, however, has no qualms about such a thing, as he has proved on multiple different occasions. So if he succeeds in his research and ends up becoming a megalomaniac like them as a result then he would be by far the most dangerous threat we have ever faced. We can not allow it to get to that point under any circumstances. We have to act preemptively to prevent such a thing from ever occurring. However, what can we really do? It’s not like we can just arrest him and throw him in Tartarus. He’s done nothing to deserve such a thing and it just wouldn’t be right after everything he’s done for Equestria.”

Luna frowned. “You’re right. We can’t do that. However, we have to do something! At the very least we have to keep an eye on him somehow so we can regulate his actions and intervene if we ever think he’s going too far.”

“I suppose, but the only way we could really keep an eye on him is if we were actually directly involved in his research in the first place.” Celestia said. She then huffed in frustration. “Harmony, I wish we could just trust him so this wouldn’t be an issue to begin with. And it’s not like I don’t empathize with him or don’t understand his point of view. His entire species is in danger and this is the only glimmer of hope of saving them he’s had in all the time he’s been here. Sweet harmony, if I were in his place I would wish to do the same! It’s just that such power can be corruptive. After all, the old saying goes, “ultimate power corrupts ultimately.””

“I agree. It is quite frustrating. Regardless we are the diarchs of Equestria above all else so we have to set aside any personal frustrations or grievances and look out for the best interests of our little ponies. So, we will have to be directly involved in order to keep an eye on him? I suppose that means we have no choice but to assist him. However if we are going to do that we will have to make it very clear that we refuse to be treated as lab rats. We will only participate in tests or experiments that we agree to after he explains them to us. Also we still have our normal responsibilities to attend to so we will only occasionally be able to participate in his research. It obviously can’t be an everyday occurrence, or every night in my case.”

“Right. In that case, tomorrow I’ll send him a letter apologizing for our refusal earlier tonight, and offering our assistance in his research. Hopefully he won’t find our shift in attitude too suspicious. For now though I need sleep. Good night, Luna.” Celestia stated.

“Good night sister.” Luna replied as Celestia turned and headed back to her room.

[Ponyville the next evening]

Gerhardt was working on researching the mechanism behind which the princesses became demigods in the underground portion of his lab. Having nothing to work with he had gone to Twilight’’s library, which was currently being maintained by Spike, and had read every last book they had on alicorns. Some of the books were obviously fictional, highly exaggerated, or were steeped in superstition. So he was going off of information that seemed consistent between all or at the very least most of the books. Especially the ones that seemed the most scientific in nature as he trusted those a bit more than the rest.

Currently he was trying to figure out tests or experiments he could run to figure this out, which was no easy task considering he had absolutely no idea what the fuck he was doing. So he was running some tests on the alicorn amulet while he thought. This was for more than one reason. Not only was he still trying to figure out how it functioned but he was actually considering using it in his research into the mechanism behind becoming a demigod. Specifically because it would grant any mage who used it power equivalent to that of a demigod. That was assuming they were in magically fit condition since the power it granted scaled with the power of the user, at least as far as he could tell. Other than the amulet itself he was also considering using discordant magic in his research considering it was what the amulet was enchanted with.

It was his hope that if he could unlock the secrets of the amulet and discordant magic then they would prove to be the key behind the mechanism required to become a demigod. Then he hoped he could alter and improve that mechanism to make himself a god so he could return to his universe and kill Silvanus. Even knowing that discordant magic and the alicorn amulet could corrupt whoever used them, he honestly didn’t care. He was determined to find a way around that as well. And if he couldn’t? Too bad. Ensuring the safety of the Human Kingdom was far too important. If being corrupted was the price he had to pay then he would gladly pay it. After figuring this out he could just write a program to terminate himself after Silvanus was dead and he could write it in such a way that he would be incapable of altering or deleting it. So even if he was corrupted, who cares? He would be dead immediately after he defeated Silvanus anyways so it wasn’t as though he would even have a chance to do any significant damage.

However, late into the afternoon he received a letter from Celestia. He took a moment to read it. Apparently she and Luna had talked about it after they returned to the castle the previous night and decided that perhaps they had been a bit too harsh in their judgement. Thus they had decided that they would indeed help Gerhardt with his research into becoming a demigod. However they would only participate in tests or experiments that Gerhardt explained to them beforehand and they agreed to. She also apologized for not coming to tell him this in person but she claimed to be very busy today and thus didn’t have the time. Gerhardt couldn’t care less about the fact she hadn’t come to tell him this in person.

Upon reading the letter he was immediately suspicious. He remembered everything the princesses said about the matter the previous night, so he found it highly suspect that they would change their stance so suddenly. He took a few moments to think about what their goals may be and determined that they likely didn’t trust him and were only agreeing so they could keep an eye on him. It was the only thing that made any sense. It was the exact same thing that he would do in their situation if he couldn’t just throw the potential threat in prison or execute them on the spot. 

He frowned to himself and sighed. He found this entire situation highly annoying. Still he wasn’t about to refuse. Their assistance should help him in the long run, to an extent, plus he doubted he would need their assistance for very long. All he needed to do was gather a bit of information to gain some potential clues into how the process works. After that he wouldn’t need them for anything any more thus he wouldn’t need to run anymore tests and they could no longer keep an eye on him. Not that he really cared if they were watching him or not since he had nothing to hide. Well that wasn’t technically true but what little he did have to hide was relatively simple for him to hide so they would never learn of it. He mainly just found it annoying.

Regardless he already had a few ideas for experiments that did not involve the princesses. Apparently the alicorns had the biological magics of all three breeds of pony. Perhaps that had something to do with their ascension? Or was it merely a byproduct of it? Or was it somehow both? He didn’t know but he decided that it was worth experimenting with to find out. Pixel already had the wings of a pegasus so he could just give her a couple upgrades so she would have all three. Of course he wouldn’t give them to her all at once. He would only give her one upgrade at a time and would observe her for a few weeks to see if there were any conflicts or if anything went wrong so he could fix it immediately. If she had all three augmentations all at once then it would be more difficult for him to find, isolate, and either fix the issue or remove the new augmentation all together. He doubted there would be any such issues since her pegasi augmentations didn’t seem to conflict with her natural abilities at all, but better to be safe than sorry. Which to start with though?

He only really had two options since he didn’t plan on giving Pixel anything even remotely related to the changelings, so the choice should be easy. Unicorns or Earth Ponies? He thought about it for a bit and ultimately decided to leave it up to chance since he honestly didn’t care either way since the choice really wasn’t all that important. Opening up a random number generator inside his head he ran the program. The random number generator ended up deciding on Earth Pony augmentations. He accepted this result without issue and thus got to work building the parts he would need.

This took much longer than it normally would have as Gerhardt was intentionally taking his time to make them to the highest quality he possibly could. He was intentionally putting an inordinate amount of effort into the crafting of these augmentations because he wanted to ensure the highest possible chance of success in his experiment. Thus he had absolutely zero tolerance for even the smallest and most insignificant margin of error. If he could have made them completely perfect down to a quantum level he very much would have. Unfortunately he hadn’t had the chance to build tools that would allow him to do that just yet, though he planned to in the future. Was he being overly perfectionistic? Most definitely, and he knew it, but so what? This was all to save his species.

When he was finished he checked his internal chronometer and saw that it was a few hours past when Pixel should have returned home from school. Thus he opened a portal back to the upper levels of his lab and stepped through it. His sensors immediately informed him that Pixel was home and presumably so was Isabelle. It was difficult to tell as the magical energy signatures of mages and unicorns were pretty much identical, however he didn’t think anyone else had any reason to be here at the moment so he could only assume it was her. Pixel was a bit different as not only did he have a tracking device hidden inside her so he could always find her but she had the energy signatures of both mages and pegasi, so he would always know it was her no matter what.

Walking into the living room he saw the two of them sitting on the bench. Isabelle’s hand had a cut in it and was bleeding and Pixel had her hands raised towards Isabelle and seemed to be casting a spell of some sort. As they appeared to be in the middle of something, Gerhardt decided to just stand off to the side and watch.

After a few moments Pixel frowned and lowered her hands with a frustrated sigh. “I’m sorry, Miss Isabelle… I can’t seem to heal it no matter how hard I try…”

Isabelle smiled at her and said, “That’s perfectly fine. I didn’t expect you to get it on your first try. In fact you did surprisingly well! You actually managed to stop the bleeding which is an excellent achievement for someone who just started learning biomancy. Most recruits struggle to do that for at least the first month or two. Some of the most talented ones are able to get that far as fast as you did but that is quite uncommon. Granted, while they may have some augmentations their brains aren’t fully artificial so you have somewhat of an advantage over them in that regard, but the point remains. So with some practice and dedication I’m sure you will become an excellent medical mage!”

Pixel smiled back at her and said, “Thank you. I’ll try my best.”

“So, I see you’re teaching Pixel biomancy. What brought this about, if you don’t mind me asking?” Gerhardt inquired.

Isabelle and Pixel turned their heads to look at him. “Apparently she’s still coping with what happened with the manticore that attacked her so she asked me to teach her biomancy. I saw no reason to refuse so here we are. We just finished talking about what happened to her and the fact that she had been forced to kill the manticore in self defense, so I decided we may as well have our first lesson.” Isabelle explained. Then a red aura surrounded her hand as she proceeded to heal the cut in the middle of her palm. She then cast a spell to get rid of the leftover blood.

Pixel nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry, daddy… I still want to learn technomancy but I really want to learn how to heal people too…” She said in a guilty tone.

Gerhardt shook his head. “There is absolutely no need to apologize, dear. I understand. Well, to an extent at least. I am well aware that you are far kinder and more empathetic than I am or will ever be. Thus I am not the least bit surprised nor upset that you wish to learn biomancy as well as technomancy. In fact, if that is what you desire then I encourage it. I will still be teaching you technomancy, of course, but that shall in no way conflict with your desire to learn to be a medical mage as well. In fact, you can actually use what you learn of biomancy and incorporate it into technomancy as almost any form of magic can be utilized in technomancy.”

This cheered Pixel up immediately, and her guilty expression was immediately replaced with a large smile.

“Anyways, I actually have somewhat of a surprise for you. Well, to be honest it’s a mixture of a gift and an experiment. You know how you have augmentations based on the biological magic of pegasi? Well I have made you augmentations based on the biological magic of earth ponies. That is, if you want them. I won’t force you to accept them if you don’t want them, of course.” Gerhardt offered. 

Pixel seemed surprised by this but not really opposed to the idea at all. “Oh! Hm… I’ve never thought about asking for earth pony augmentations before… I guess it would be interesting. Sure! Why not? Thank you, daddy!”

Gerhardt nodded. He was still getting used to using body language again after spending centuries without using it at all. “Of course. They are ready now, so would you like for me to install them now or later?”

“Now would be okay. Unless there’s more you want to teach me, Miss Isabelle?” Pixel looked at Isabelle inquisitively.

Isabelle shrugged. “While I do think you should practice a bit more, I believe that’s an okay place to stop for the day. Go ahead. It’s around the time I should start making my dinner anyways. We can continue where we left off tomorrow after I finish my shift at the hospital.”

“Alright, thank you Miss Isabelle!” Pixel said before getting up and rushing over to Gerhardt.

Gerhardt opened a portal back to the underground portion of his lab and led Pixel into it. After helping her up onto an empty table he asked her to set herself to low power mode and began the installation of the earth pony augmentations. The process took about an hour. When it was over he set her back upright and brought her back out of low power mode.

As she blinked awake she almost immediately began to examine herself to see any differences. However, unlike the pegasus augmentations the earth pony augmentations were purely internal. As such there was no change in her outward appearance.

Gerhardt gave her a concerned look and asked, “How do you feel? Is there anything painful or particularly strange?” He needed to know if there were any critical issues as soon as possible so he could put her back into low power mode and remove the augmentations again. After a moment Gerhardt received a quick burst of data that let him know everything Pixel was feeling along with a quick diagnostics of her systems. He was relieved to find nothing out of the ordinary.

After sending him that burst of data Pixel looked up at him with a smile and said, “I feel fine.”

“Good, good… One moment.” Gerhardt said as he grabbed an adjustable gravitic weight he made to help him stress test some of his devices. It was relatively small, about a foot in diameter, so its maximum weight was only twenty tons, but that was well beyond the capabilities of the strongest military grade augmentations which could typically only lift ten tons max. And those augmentations were typically limited to individuals who were expected to do some very heavy lifting due to how much bigger and slower they were than standard combat augmentations. So if she could lift this weight then that would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the augmentations were functioning as intended.

He then helped her down from the table and handed the weight to her. “Here, hold on to this for a moment. We’re going to test to see if the augmentations function properly. We’ll start slowly to ensure you are not injured by mistake but brace yourself, this device is about to get extremely heavy.”

Pixel nodded in understanding as she held the gravitic weight in one hand. “Okay.”

Gerhardt wirelessly connected to the gravitic weight and began gradually increasing the weight. Once he reached the maximum acceptable threshold of standard military grade augmentations, five tons, he slowed down the weight increase a bit. “If you start to strain to hold it or if you feel like your arm is about to start bending under the weight, tell me immediately.” He said in a very serious tone.

Pixel shrugged casually. “It’s fine so far. How heavy is it? I honestly can’t tell.”

Gerhardt frowned upon hearing that. “That’s odd… It’s also really bad. I’m going to have to recalibrate your weight and pressure sensors so you don’t hurt someone by mistake. Anyways, I’m just now bringing it up to six tons but if it's really that easy for you to lift, let's bring it up to ten.” He increased the weight all the way to ten tons, the maximum acceptable threshold for the strongest military/construction grade augmentations.

Pixel’s arm barely budged a millimeter or so. “It’s still pretty light.” Pixel said moving it up and down with ease.

Gerhardt nodded in satisfaction. “Good, then let's bring it up to its maximum weight.” As the gravitic weight started reaching its maximum weight, the granite floor began to crack beneath Pixel’s feet. It appeared the floor of Gerhardt’s lab gave out before Pixel’s augmentations did. Thus as soon as the floor cracked he immediately stopped a few tons short of having the device reach its maximum weight and returned it to its default weight, which was only a single pound. 

Taking the weight from Pixel and setting it back on the rack it belonged on he said, “Alright, well I suppose that is confirmation enough that your new augmentations function properly. Though now that I know they work I must give you a few warnings. First, while I have no idea what’s wrong with your pressure and weight sensors and am going to recalibrate them to compensate for your augmentations you are still going to have to be extra careful. Previously you could casually rip a man in half without exerting too much effort, now you are many times stronger than that so you can imagine how dangerous you can be if you really wanted to hurt someone. Other than that you are never to use the earth ponies abilities to control plants. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. For example, I could stick my hand inside a plasma furnace or a vat of molten tungsten but obviously I shouldn’t. Same premise here. I don’t want you to anger any nature spirits otherwise they might attack you and you could get hurt. Do you understand?”

Pixel looked at her hands and nodded. “Yes, daddy… I promise I’ll be extra careful not to hurt anyone and I’ll try not to mess with any plants. Though, um… I’m not sure how to use earth pony magic to affect plants in the first place.”

Gerhardt raised a hand to his chin in thought. “No, I imagine you wouldn’t. Just because you have the ability now doesn’t mean you know how to use it. Though in the same vein, if you don’t know how to use it then you may use it by accident without really knowing… Unfortunately I can’t really help you in that regard since I have no idea how you would use it either. From what I understand based purely on how it functions it should be very similar to how pegasi can touch clouds and control the weather or can choose to go through said clouds at will. Does that make sense? I don’t have such augmentations myself so I genuinely have no idea.”

Pixel nodded. “Mhm. Ever since you gave me wings, I’ve gotten lots of practice touching clouds and I think I’m starting to figure out how pegasi control the weather. Just the other day I managed to get a cloud to spark with electricity. I haven’t managed to make a cloud rain or shoot lightning yet but I think I’m getting closer. If controlling plants is like that, I think I could avoid it pretty easily.”

Hearing that Gerhardt grimaced. “I suppose as long as you limit it to a single cloud at a time and the cloud isn’t very large it might be alright but I would very much prefer it if you didn’t try to control the weather either. Also, as you know lightning is extremely dangerous. If you’re going to cause any, be sure to do it somewhere you know it won’t burn someone’s house down or start a wildfire.”

“I know. I always mess with clouds really high up, way beyond the point where pegasi can breathe, just to make sure if I do ever make lightning it won’t hurt anyone. Unfortunately clouds don’t form all the way up there naturally since there isn’t a whole lot of moisture that high up so I always have to bring one with me every single time. It also takes a really long time to get up there and to get back down afterwards. Still, it's really safe and that’s the point!”

Gerhardt blinked at her in surprise. “You actually spend time in the stratosphere? Huh. When I gave you those wings I never thought you would fly so far up. Well, I suppose I myself have flown that high up in vehicles before. In fact I’ve flown to other planets and moons in the solar system on a handful of occasions in order to protect human colonies or conduct a bit of research. So I suppose it isn’t too surprising that you would do so in order to conduct experiments of your own. Just be very careful not to drop anything from that high up.”

Pixel’s eyes grew brighter in excitement. “You’ve been in space before?! What was it like?! What did the other planets look like?!”

Gerhardt shrugged. “It was work so except for the times I had to protect colonies it wasn’t particularly different from being on Earth. I mean the lack of gravity the first couple of times I went into space back before we invented gravitic generators was a bit difficult to get used to. Otherwise I suppose it was interesting enough. I personally had very little interest in the planets or locations themselves so to me it wasn’t much different than what I normally do, except for the fact I had a much smaller and more limited space to work since the ships were very small and cramped. I also had to go in a body with a gold exterior due to the radiation whenever I went outside of the ship to repair something or another.”

Pixel frowned at him, clearly disappointed with his explanation. “Mmm… I want to go to space someday.”

Gerhardt gave her a dubious look. “I mean, I could bring you to space after building a ship for it. However I must warn you that it will be a very long and boring trip. If you think it will be fun or exciting then you severely underestimate just how far a distance away even the closest planet is from this one. It would take days if not weeks depending on how far we were going. There wouldn’t be much for either of us to do the entire time. Most of it would be spent inside a ship in the mostly empty void between planets with very limited tools and resources.”

“I don’t care. Even if the trip itself is boring I think it would be really fun to see other planets!” Pixel stated.

Gerhardt shrugged. “Alright, if you say so… Regardless, that won’t be happening for quite some time, though I will keep it in mind for future reference. Anyways, I’ve just finished recalibrating your weight and pressure sensors.” He picked up the gravitic weight again, set it to exactly 25.28731 kilograms, and handed it to Pixel. “So can you tell me how heavy this is in kilograms?”

Pixel held the weight for a moment before looking back up at him and saying, “About 25.3 kilograms, if you round up.”

“Alright, that’s good but please be a bit more specific.” Gerhardt requested.

“Uh… 25.28425 kilograms?” Pixel said a bit uncertainly.

Gerhardt frowned slightly. “0.00306 kilograms off… Hm… One moment.” He reconnected to her systems and once again began recalibrating her sensors. When he was finished he changed the setting on the gravitic weight. “Alright, what about now?”

“15.002153 kilograms?” Pixel inquired.

Gerhardt nodded. “Perfect. Well, with that out of the way you’re free to go. I still have a few things I need to finish before tomorrow morning. If you experience any errors or conflicts between your augmentations be sure to inform me as soon as possible.”

“I will!”

With that Pixel opened a portal back up to the surface and stepped through leaving Gerhardt alone.

He looked at the crack in the ground and sighed. “Well, I’m going to have to fix that now… Oh well, it was worth it. Maybe I should make the floor layer a bit thicker so this doesn’t happen again…”

A few days later he received a knock on his front door. As he was underground he didn’t hear the knock, but the sensors he had installed informed him someone was at the door. Going up to see who it was he saw Twilight standing there. “Ah, Miss Sparkle. I see you are finally out of the hospital. How are your augmentations? Have there been any issues with them?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. They’ve been perfect! Thank you for that, by the way… If my horn had stayed broken and I lost the ability to use magic… I… I just don’t know what I would have done…”

“Of course. It is my job after all. Now, what brings you here today?”

“Well, before that whole thing with the manticore Pixel and I had just finished a project we had spent a while working on together. I’ve been talking with the princesses about when a good time to unveil it would be and we decided on today in a few hours. I just wanted to ask if you had time or would be willing to attend?”

Gerhardt gave her a curious look. “I was unaware that you two had been working on something together. Very well. For Pixel I suppose I can reschedule a few things, especially if this is truly important enough to warrant getting the Princesses involved. Where will this unveiling be taking place?”

“At the train station around noon.”

“Understood. Does it matter if I am in my work uniform or should I wear my formal attire?”

“It’s up to you. This should be a fairly revolutionary piece of technology, at least by this world’s standards, but it's not really a super formal event or anything like that. And it should only take a few minutes.”

“Revolutionary? In what way?” Gerhardt inquired, tilting his head curiously.

Twilight smiled at him. “You’ll see! All I’ll say is that you’re going to be impressed with our work!”

“Hm… We shall see. Well I had best finish what I was doing and get ready. I will see you in two hours.”

“Alright, thank you. See you later, Gerhardt!”

Gerhardt closed the door and immediately stepped through a portal back into the underground portion of his lab.

Walking over to a couple of cloned rats he had in a cage, he examined them for a moment. One was running on a little wheel he had made for them to entertain themselves while the other was eating some of the food pellets that had just been produced by their food dispenser. Perfectly normal behavior for rats.

“Project divinity. Experiment log. Entry number four. Lab rats 0007 and 0008 have finally finished maturing just earlier this morning.” He spoke aloud, recording his own voice. Raising a hand he cast a quick biomancy spell to search for any signs of cancerous growths. “No signs of physical abnormality or degradation caused by the rapid aging process. They are completely free of any cancerous tumors. There are no issues that should have any impact upon the experiment whatsoever. I shall proceed as planned.”

He quickly set up the device he had been using to experiment with discordant magic without actually having to use it himself and risking being corrupted by it, connecting it to the top of the rat cage. A small silver spike based on the biological magic of unicorns was inserted through a specially designed hole in the top and was thus protruding down about halfway into the cage. When that was done he stepped into a small observation box made of the same black crystals King Sombra had used to incapacitate his limbs back in the Crystal Empire. As the crystals the box was made from blocked all magic he was completely safe from any discordant magic that might leak from the cage while the device was active. It was difficult to see out of the semi-translucent observation window since it was also made of the same black crystals, but it was worth it for the sake of ensuring his own safety.

“The device is set. Activating it now.” He sent a wireless command to the device to activate the device. As this wireless command operated on radio frequencies rather than magic, the black crystal observation room did not block the signal.

A bloody red aura surrounded the spike and engulfed the two rats. The two of them then looked at eachother squeaked furiously and bolted towards each other before attempting to maul one another. Crimson arcane energy surrounded them and they began casting extremely crude and animalistic combat spells. The barrier generators installed in the cage flared to life immediately, preventing their spells from escaping and destroying anything else in his lab. Moments later they were both reduced to little more than red splatters and smears all across the cage.

Gerhardt sent another signal to deactivate the device. Once it had shut down completely and he was confident any traces of residual energy from the machine had dissipated, he stepped out of the black crystal observation box and examined the now ruined interior of the rat cage.

“Results: Partial success. The rats did indeed kill each other as all previous groups had. However they are the first to display signs of being able to use magic. This suggests that the discordant magic did indeed alter either their biology or souls somehow allowing them to perform feats of arcane might that were previously beyond their means. Further experiments will be required to determine exactly how the magic affected them, and to hopefully help me determine how to best reduce the corrupting effects of discordant magic.”

“Note: Install a self cleaning mechanism into the rat cage for when future lab rats inevitably obliterate each other as these two did. This is a fucking mess and I would rather not have to clean up such things myself in the future. Also install a significantly stronger barrier generator, maybe multiple, and make another cage out of King Sombra’s cursed crystals. If my experiments succeed and the lab rats do end up becoming demigods, then I don’t need two insane rat demigods escaping and ruining my lab, and likely causing mass destruction all across Equestria. Also, the cage being made from the crystals would partially reduce the need for me to be in the observation box during future testing. End of recording.”

Having finished, Gerhardt proceeded to spend a few minutes cleaning up after the experiment. When that was done he activated the device that would clone the next pair of lab rats for him. They wouldn’t be ready for experimentation for another two days.

After that he moved on to the next device he had built. This one appeared to be something akin to a remote control with a singular button on it. It would change his dimensional Z axis to the W axis. He had already made a device that pulled a three meter by two meter by two meter cube of dirt out of that axis — which was replaced by a bubble of air so the cavity wouldn’t instantly collapse on itself — so he wouldn’t immediately be killed by pressing this button. He then promptly disposed of the same way he disposed of the rest of the dirt he had dug out to make his underground lab,

He then stepped into the area he had dug the dirt out of and pressed the button on the device. Suddenly he found himself in a very small, very dark cubical cavity that was, presumably, deep underground. He hadn’t tried using the dimensional axis shifting device above ground for fear of dying if there were either a tree, boulder, hill, mountain, or anything else that existed in that location on the W axis that did not exist on the Z axis. So he honestly had no idea how deep underground he was on this particular axis.

To rectify this lack of information he attempted to open a portal several thousand feet straight above him. Looking through it, he didn’t see a mountain on top of him, which was fortunate, but he did see a fairly large forest a few thousand feet below the other end of the portal.

“Ah, good. That means I can build an actual lab right where my house would be on the Z axis. Though, I have to wonder if any sapient species evolved on this axis. I will have to look for any at some point later on. For now though, I suppose I can start by making a small clearing for my lab.”

He closed the portal and opened another one just below the treeline where his house would have been. After that he spent the next hour and forty five minutes cutting down trees and ripping their stumps out with magic, making a clearing that was approximately one hundred feet by one hundred feet and piling up the logs in one area for future use after stripping the branches off of them. He wasn’t worried about angering any nature spirits by doing this as he was only making a small clearing. He wasn’t conducting mass deforestation or anything like that. Unfortunately, he did not finish making a clearing that large in such a short amount of time, but he did make some very decent progress.

Finally he walked over to a spot he knew was empty and pressed the button on the remote--like device again. He found himself standing in his backyard. Going back inside he changed into his more formal attire, since his work uniform was a mess from trying to make a clearing in the middle of that forest.

Once he was ready he opened a portal to the train station and saw Pixel standing next to a single very large object covered by a large tarp, presumably so no one could see what it was just yet.

“Daddy, you came!” Pixel exclaimed happily upon seeing him. She rushed over and gave him a big hug.

Gerhardt gave her a small smile and patted her on the head. “Of course I did. I am curious as to what the two of you have built. What I was doing can wait for the moment… May I inquire as to the whereabouts of Miss Sparkle?”

“Oh, she’s in Canterlot.”

Gerhardt gave Pixel a confused look. “Why? Since you two worked on this together, I assumed the two of you would have wished to unveil it together.”

“We’re going to! Just trust me. In exactly ten minutes and thirty seven seconds it will all make sense, I promise.”

“Very well…” Muttered Gerhardt, still a bit confused but starting to piece things together in his mind based on context clues. The fact that they were at the train station instead of town hall, the shape of the object underneath the tarp, and Pixel’s words all suggested this object was likely a portal generator linked to another that was likely in Canterlot at the moment.

Slowly a crowd started to form around to see the object. Eventually the crowd grew surprisingly large and Pixel finally stepped up in front of the object, turned to face the crowd, and said, “Hello everyone! I’m really glad all of you could make it today. Miss Twilight and I have something really exciting we want to show all of you. Let me present to you all the newest and most revolutionary advancement in travel!” Pixel then pulled the tarp off of the device and revealed it for everyone to see.

It was a large golden arch, exactly like Gerhardt had expected. Well, he had actually expected it to be made of silver or at least copper since they were both more conductive, but for purely aesthetic purposes he supposed gold worked too.

“Now, I’m sure all of you are wondering what this arch even is or how it is in any way supposed to revolutionize travel. Well, allow me to demonstrate.” Pixel then pressed the activation button. Suddenly the golden arch flared to life and a portal to Canterlot opened up in the middle of it. On the other side they could see Twilight standing in front of another even larger crowd, at the head of which were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“Are there any volunteers who would like to be the first to go through?” Pixel inquired. On the other side of the portal Twilight asked a very similar question.

Gerhardt walked forwards immediately. “Good work, dear. I am very proud of you.” He muttered as walked past her, causing her to smile happily.

Gerhardt walked past the princesses, who had also apparently volunteered to go through the portal and crossed over to the other side.

“Well, Miss Sparkle, when you said you two had been working on something, I was definitely not expecting something like this.”

“So, are you impressed?” She inquired with a smile on her face.

“To be perfectly honest? No, I’m not. I was already aware that this was well within the capabilities of you and Pixel. Who do you think taught you two technomancy in the first place? I am aware of everything you both know about the subject and much of what can be done with that limited information. That is not to diminish your accomplishments, however. You have both done excellent work. I personally would have made the arches out of silver to make it as energy efficient as possible, but that is a minor complaint all things considered.”

Twilight frowned at him but sighed and nodded. “Alright… I guess I should have expected that. Well, we can talk about all of this later.” She looked back towards the crowd and offered to answer any questions anyone in the crowd may have. On the other side of the portal Pixel did the same.

The two of them then spent the next hour answering questions. The most prominent of which was what would happen to the train if they could just step through a portal and go wherever they wanted to. The two of them eased the ponies' concerns. The portals couldn’t just go anywhere as the arches were directly linked to each other and Ponyville and Canterlot were the only two places in Equestria that had portal arches like this, so the train station wouldn’t be going out of business any time soon.

As this was going on, the princesses both approached Gerhardt. “So, this was quite unexpected. Though if we can get a few of these portal arches in every major city in Equestria it will trivialize travel which would be quite beneficial, wouldn’t you agree?” Luna inquired.

“Yes and no. Yes in that it will make travel and transporting cargo from one place to another quite fast and efficient. No in that you can only have so many portals unless you wish to waste a large amount of resources and build a fairly large building that will be very crowded. So having only a handful of portals in each city that connect to other portals in other cities at different times for a set amount of time on a set schedule, sort of like the train, would be better. However that would result in slower travel as individuals would have to wait several hours before the portals open again. This problem only gets worse if you try to have a portal not just in every city but every population center in general from the largest city to the smallest town. So ultimately I do not believe it will be all that beneficial or revolutionary in the long run. My world most certainly had automated portal systems like this, but we still relied quite a bit on traditional methods of travel and cargo transportation due to how impractical portal systems can truly be. And it gets even worse and more complicated if you start building cities along other dimensional axis, which we have done.”

“Hm… Those are actually some very good points. I suppose the idea of portal hubs are better in theory than they are in practice then… Wait, you have cities in other dimensions?!” Celestia exclaimed, surprised by this information.

“In? Dimensions are not places, they are directions. And yes, we do. Or we did. I’m not sure of their status at the moment, considering what’s happening on Earth… Well, that’s besides the point.”

“That’s amazing! So do you think you can create such technology here?” Celestia asked.

“Hm… I’m not sure… The laws of magic are somewhat different here than they are in my world so I will have to conduct significantly more experiments to find out. Don’t expect any results any time soon. I have no idea when I will have time to conduct such experiments or how long they will take” Gerhardt lied. 

He wasn’t ready to give up such a huge advantage at the moment. If things went really badly and he knew Pixel was in active danger then he could bring her to another dimensional axis where no one in this dimensional axis could harm her, save for beings like gods, spirits, demigods, or fae. He couldn’t keep her there forever as he knew she had friends along this dimensional axis and was a very social individual and thus extended periods of such extreme isolation would be bad for her mental health, but still. It was his last option if hostilities broke out between him and the Changelings and he was having difficulty protecting her. Plus he could have dozens if not hundreds of hidden labs and factories in every possible combination of three dimensional axis.

The only real issue he could face would be if he somehow seriously angered the princesses, got into a war with Equestria, and they figured out how to use their natural ability to shift their dimensional axis. Fortunately the chances of any of that happening were very slim. Though given how they reacted a few days ago when he brought up the possibility of reverse engineering how they became demigods, those chances were no longer zero.

“Well, please look into it. Such technology would be extremely useful!” Celestia requested.

Gerhardt nodded respectfully. “Of course.”

“Well, Mr. Mechanica, since we’re already here I suppose we should get the first of your tests or experiments on us out of the way.” Luna stated.

“Oh? Very well. This should only take a few minutes. Please follow me.” He opened a portal to the underground portion of his lab and stepped through it. The princesses followed close behind him.

“Well, this is certainly an upgrade over using your kitchen as a makeshift lab.” Celestia said, taking a look around.

“Indeed.” Gerhardt agreed as he walked over and picked up two empty syringes off one of the tables.

“What is that?” Princess Luna inquired, motioning towards the black crystal observation box.

“That? That is how I experiment with discordant magic, the magic the Alicorn Amulet uses, without being corrupted by it. You see, King Sombra’s cursed crystals block 100% of all arcane energy so while I’m inside no magic being used outside of it can affect me. So I can remotely activate this device which utilizes such corrupting magic with zero repercussions on myself. Thus there is zero risk in experimenting with it. Normally I would have had to make a much larger, more complex, and more resource intensive machine to stay in to protect myself, but these crystals have made it significantly cheaper and easier. In fact it cost me absolutely nothing to make, save for a bit of arcane energy.”

“I see. Well in that case I am very glad to see you are twisting his evil and using it for something good instead, and that you are taking necessary precautions to protect yourself from such vile magic.” Luna nodded in approval.

Gerhardt walked over to the princesses and set one of the syringes down on a nearby table, holding one at the ready. “Thank you. Now first and foremost I would like to take a blood and tissue sample from both of you. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt a bit. I know a few spells that can numb pain and after I’m done I can heal you immediately. This will only be a one time procedure, I assure you. So which of you would prefer to go first?”

“I will. Luna has always been afraid of needles.” Celestia said with a smile on her face.

Luna shot her a murderous glare. “I am not afraid of needles!” She hissed.

“Suuuure… Whatever you say dearest sister.” 

Gerhardt approached Celestia and inserted the needle into one of the veins in her right foreleg. He then drew the plunger back until the needle was full. When it was he set it down on a table and picked up a monomolecular scalpel and a set of forceps. Casting a spell to numb any pain he removed a one inch by one inch section of flesh from Celestia’s shoulder. When he was done he healed up the wound, set down the scalpel, levitated a small plastic container over to himself, and set the section of flesh inside the container.

Setting the container down next to the full syringe, he took out his fountain pen and levitated two adhesive labels he had made over to himself. Writing “Celestia” on both of the labels he removed the plastic from them and put them on the plastic container and syringe. Finally he placed the flesh and blood samples into a cold storage/chrono stasis unit so they wouldn’t rot or go bad no matter how long he kept them.

He then repeated the process with princess Luna. The only difference being Luna kept her eyes shut and her head turned away from the process the entire time.

“Alright, I only have one last thing to do and you two are free to go. And no, I won’t be taking any more samples.”

Levitating his scanning device over to himself he pointed it at Celestia and activated it. A blue light shot from the scanner and enveloped Celestia’s body for a few moments. When the scan was finished he did the same to Luna, just in case there was any sort of variation between the two of them. It turned out there actually was, but that variation was very miniscule.

“Alright, I have all I need from the two of you. That’s all for today. If I have need of either of you in any further tests or experiments in the future, I will let you know.”

“That was it? That was barely anything…” Luna stated, confused.

“Well, what did you expect? Did you think I would put you in some sort of machine that would subject you to various horrific arcane forces to see what would happen or strap you to a table and dissect you to see how you tick? No. Of course not! I’m a technomancer not some barbaric butcher trying to play god… Well, admittedly I am trying to become a god so I can save my species from Silvanus but that’s completely besides the point. Besides I believe this should be all I need from you two to try to reverse engineer the process behind how you became demigods. Hopefully these samples and the scans I’ve taken will speed up my research at least somewhat. Though even if they do not, thank you very much for your cooperation. I appreciate your assistance in this matter.”

Celestia nodded, though she had a somewhat frustrated and nervous expression on her face. “Alright… Yes… I suppose you’re right… I don’t know what we were expecting… Well if that’s all, we shall speak to you later Gerhardt. Good day.” With that the two of them disappeared in a flash of golden light.
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

About three weeks had passed since the Manticore attack. Isabelle already had her own house and had moved in, with some assistance from Gerhardt and Pixel. More ponies were going to and from Canterlot thanks to the portal arches that Twilight and Pixel had built, meaning Ponyville was getting a significant influx of ponies visiting. This was definitely a good thing for Ponyville’s economy as it meant there were more individuals spending money at local businesses. This very much included Gerhardt’s business as individuals who would otherwise have not come to Ponyville were now that travel to and from was quicker and easier.

However, he had noticed that he was starting to receive fewer requests from hospitals on average. He found this somewhat worrying as he could only assume the hospitals were slowly starting to run out of patients in need of new body parts. He supposed it was only a matter of time before something like this started happening.

As such, to combat his slow decrease in income he had expanded his business slightly and was now selling fountain pens, basic computers and illusory monitors, radios, small cleaning golems, and had started working on building a few cell phone towers and cell phones. Granted the range of these cellphone towers would be fairly limited when they were built as there were no satellites in orbit for them to connect to. Still, anyone in Equestria could call pretty much anyone anywhere else in Equestria assuming they bought a phone from Gerhardt once he finished building the primary cellphone towers. They just couldn’t call anyone outside of Equestria, like the citizens of the Crystal Empire.

Of course his phones would be like the ones from his world, just designed for Ponies rather than humanoid species. As such they attached to an individual’s ear and with a single thought would project an illusory screen in front of them which they could then scroll through by thought to do various things from calling other ponies, to calculating advanced mathematical equations from every system of mathematics Gerhardt knew, to learning about coding, and even to writing their own programs since Gerhardt ran out of ideas as to any other functionality to add to the phones. They couldn’t upload any programs they wrote anywhere as no form of internet existed in this world just yet, but Gerhardt planned to fix that eventually. Still they could share any programs they wrote directly with other individuals they knew. His computers were in a very similar situation.

All of these products were currently being made in his factory whenever it wasn’t in the middle of making augmentations. And instead of using his living room as a storefront like he had originally planned, he instead had an extension of his factory built and was selling them there. Of course a golem was the one in the store selling the objects since he didn’t want to waste his time doing it himself, and there were security systems installed to prevent any of the devices from being stolen.

Unfortunately all of these products were extremely new and had yet to get very much advertising so there weren’t very many individuals purchasing any of them just yet, but like he had done when he had first opened his business Gerhardt had started an advertising campaign that would inform the ponies of his new products. It would take time before more ponies started coming to buy from him but he was nothing if not patient.

Having had his factory produce two construction golems for him, mainly to build the extension to his factory, his lab in the W,X,Y dimensional axis was well under way to completion. Infact, parts of it were already usable and he had officially moved all of his equipment out of his kitchen and into the parts of the lab that were ready for use. Though the granite room that was underneath his house on the X,Y, Z axis was where he spent the majority of his time whenever he wasn’t busy at the factory or traveling to other cities on business.

At the moment, however, he was in his factory watching as it produced the first of his combat golems for him. He would have had it make heavy combat golems for him but the factory wasn’t large enough for that, so he had to settle for average combat golems.

These had particle rifles similar to one of the barrels of his personal combat rifle for their right arm, which would shred almost any physical defenses. The left arms were something akin to a flamethrower except it spewed super heated plasma using the atmosphere itself for fuel rather than normal fire. They would melt through almost anything in seconds but were short ranged, having only a twenty foot range and had a very wide spread. However that made them excellent weapons for if any enemies ever got too close to the golems. Both arms were also equipped with extendable monomolecular bayonetts in case any enemies managed to survive long enough to get past the plasmathrowers, not that he expected such a thing to occur but better safe than sorry. They also had bombs inside their chests that were the equivalent of 2.5 tons of TNT so if they ever suffered too much damage they could rush the enemy and explode.

Once they were made he activated them and went over a short series of tests to see if they were all functioning properly. There were ten of them in total and all of them were in perfect working order.

“Excellent. Now all I need is about nine thousand nine hundred and ninety more. The question is, should they all be the same variant or not?”

Isabelle sighed and shook her head. “I honestly don’t think it matters. One or two variants should suffice. It's not like you’re going to war with the Serpents, Ghouls, or the Orcs.”

“True. Well this model will suffice for now. If need be I will start making different models in the future. Though I must ask, do you have any suggestions in the event the Changelings do get tired of waiting and decide to attack? I am open to ideas.”

“Hm… How about making a powerful barrier generator to protect Ponyville? If war does break out between you and the Changelings I would rather not let the ponies get caught in the crossfire. So a barrier generator would minimize any risk the ponies in this city would be in at the very least.”

“Hm… Not a bad idea, I suppose. It would help if there was an invasion or if I had to carpet bomb the area or something to that effect for whatever reason. Plus it would be a bit of extra defense for my main lab. I’ll have to be secretive about it though… Damn, that means I will have to build one or two dozen mining golems, have them dig out a large area underneath the factory and near the factory, make a mechanism to open up a large hole in the ground and a mechanism to lift the tower. Then I’ll have to build the barrier generator itself and have construction golems build the tower it will be mounted on… I fear this will be a very expensive and somewhat long term endeavor… I may also need to find another location to dump all of the excess dirt… Perhaps somewhere along another dimensional axis?”

“Well the Changelings seem content to wait for now so there’s no rush. Just be sure to make that a goal. I am enjoying not having mountains of work on my hands as I did back in the Kingdom, and I would very much appreciate it staying that way.”

“Fair enough… Well, regardless, what do you think about my other plan I told you about?”

“The one about building three other sapient golems to serve as stand ins for the other high lords? I don’t like it. I realize how long you have been here and how much you miss the Kingdom but that is ridiculous. Not only do you not have any actual soldiers for them to command but you definitely do not need the full might of the Human Kingdom for any of this. Those Changelings are not that large of a threat. Gerhardt, there is such a thing as overkill. Now if you wanted more children that’s absolutely fine I’m sure Pixel would love to have younger siblings. But if you just want co-generals in charge of your combat golems and drones then no, absolutely not.”

Gerhardt grimaced at the thought of having to raise more children. Pixel was already one child too much, in his opinion, especially since there were already individuals who were targeting her to get to him. Shaking his head he said, “Very well. I actually agree with you for the most part. I just needed a second opinion before I decided whether to go through with it or not. So unless something changes drastically I suppose I will not be doing that. Nor will I be building Pixel any younger siblings. One child is already one too much. I wouldn’t even have to be preparing for war with the Changelings like this if I had never built her to begin with…” He said in a somewhat irritated tone.

Isabelle gave him a disapproving frown. “Pixel isn’t the one to blame for this, Gerhardt. To be perfectly honest, I find the fact that you think of her like that highly disturbing. While she may not be flesh and blood she is still your child, Gerhardt.”

“And that is exactly the problem, Isabelle. I never wanted a family. Do I love Pixel? Yes because I quite literally changed the function of my E.P.U. to force myself to love her otherwise no I wouldn’t. Do I regret ever building her to begin with? Yes, absolutely. If I could go back in time I would tell myself not to build her so I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this. I would have much rather gone along with Twilight’s ridiculous lessons than have to raise a child. This is especially true since my fears about family have officially been proven correct by the fact Chrysalis and who or whatever was controlling that manticore is targeting her to get to me. Building her is the second or possibly third largest mistake I have ever made in my entire life, and it’s one that I can do absolutely nothing to fix. I just have to deal with the consequences and try to mitigate them as much as possible as they come.”

Isabelle stared at him, shocked by what she was hearing.

Gerhardt ignored her shocked expression. He knew she was judging him but he didn’t care. She may have been a colleague back in the Human Kingdom but that was all. Just like the ponies, he didn’t care about her opinion of him. He never had and he never would. Just because he had spent months trapped in this world had not changed the fact in the slightest.

“I am not a good father, Isabelle. I am a technomancer, a soldier, a leader, and sometimes a teacher but that’s it. That is the extent of who and what I am, and I am perfectly content with that fact. I am not perfect, no one is but especially not me. Hell, I’m probably less human and more of a machine than Pixel at this point since I’ve officially cut out my frontal lobe and replaced it with an augmentation. The only places I belong are either in a lab or on the battlefield. I am a weapon, a shield, a commander of armies, and above all else a tool for mankind. I am a high lord. However, while you also used to be a high lord you seem to be adjusting to this new way of life fairly well. That just goes to show that I am not like you. Unlike you, I’m barely even a person and I am perfectly aware of that fact and am just fine with it. That’s just my lot in life. The standard life of a civilian: having a job, a house, friends, a family, and whatever the hell else civilians do, I honestly have no fucking clue. Regardless, none of that is for me. Period.”

“Gerhardt, that sort of mindset is not healthy… Gods above, is this how you’ve thought of yourself for the past nine centuries?! No… No this is not okay. I’m scheduling you a therapy session for next week.” Isabelle stated, still trying to process everything Gerhardt just told her. This was by far the most in depth look into his psyche that she had ever gotten and as a medical practitioner what she learned absolutely horrified her. His mind was an absolute mess, he didn’t even consider himself a person! Was this what over eight hundred years of constant war did to someone?

“Why? That seems like a massive waste of time. I don’t need therapy, I’m perfectly fine.”

“No, Gerhardt, you are not “fine.” As the former high lord of the Medical Branch, trust me when I say, you would not think of yourself that way if you were okay. I’ll come by your house tomorrow to discuss a proper time and date but for now I’ve got to go process all of this…” With that she turned and began walking away.

“I trust you will not tell Pixel or anyone else anything we discussed here today?” Gerhardt called after her.

Pausing she looked over her shoulder at him, “No, Gerhardt, of course I won’t. I’m not so cruel as to tell a little girl that her father doesn’t truly love her and legitimately regrets ever making her.” She then looked forwards once again and continued on her way.

Gerhardt watched her leave. Once she exited the factory he turned to the eight combat golems and proceeded to double check them before packing each of them into large wooden crates and bringing them back to his lab. He put all of them in his storage shed for the moment, but planned to bring them to his lab along the W,X,Y axis later that day for longer term storage.

After that he received a letter requesting he head to Los Pegasus to give someone a heart transplant, apparently it was an emergency. Thus he went to his factory and had it fabricate an artificial heart, then he opened a portal to Los Pegasus and went to do his job.

[Meanwhile]

Pixel sighed as she examined the wreckage of the two small one seat telekinetically propelled aircrafts she built for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The Cutiemark Crusaders had wanted to see if they could get their cutie marks in flying and had asked for her help, knowing her father would refuse to assist them. So since Scootaloo already had functional wings and could fly on her own, Pixel just built personal aircraft for the two non-pegasi.

The two planes only took a few days for her to build and they both worked perfectly. Or at least they used to before Scootaloo convinced Applebloom to do some reckless stunts with her plane that resulted in her crashing into Sweetie Belle, sending them both crashing to the ground. Fortunately, knowing what the Crusaders were like and having foreseen something like this happening, Pixel had limited the speed the planes could go and had installed several dozen safety features for numerous different possible outcomes. In fact she had spent longer working on the safety features than she spent on building the plane itself. So neither of them actually ended up getting hurt, but the planes themselves were severely damaged and were inoperable.

“We’re so sorry, Pixel! I really didn’t think Sweetie Belle was that close to me when I tried doin’ that reverse loop de loop!” Applebloom apologized.

Pixel looked at her and smiled. “It’s fine. All I care about is that neither of you got hurt. Anyways, I see none of you got your cutiemarks. That’s a shame… Did you have fun at least?”

Sweetie Belle nodded happily. “Mhm! Up until the crash it was a lot of fun! Now I’m sort of jealous that you and Scootaloo get to fly whenever you want. I wish I had wings…”

“Same. I would love it if you and Applebloom could come fly with me all the time.” Scootaloo agreed.

Pixel continued to smile at them. “Well, while I can’t give you wings like daddy can, I think I can fix up these planes for you! They’re pretty banged up though, so I’ll need a couple days. All I really want in return is for you two to promise to be more careful in the future, okay? While these things have a ton of safety features built in, that’s not an excuse to be reckless and risk getting yourselves hurt in case the safety features all fail at once for whatever reason.”

“Really?! Thank you, Pixel! I promise to be as safe as I can!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly.

Applebloom nodded in agreement. “Yeah, thanks! I promise, too!”

“I’m glad. Well, I’ll get them fixed up as soon as I can.” Pixel opened a portal to the backyard of her house and levitated the two wrecked planes through it for her to deal with later.

“So, do ya have any plans for later today?” Applebloom inquired.

“Me?” Pixel inquired.

“Yup!” Applebloom nodded.

Pixel shook her head. “No, not really. I guess I was thinking about heading over to Sugarcube Corner or using the new portal arch and heading to a restaurant in Canterlot or something, but that’s about it. Why?”

“It’s the Runnin’ of the Leaves today and the three of us plan to try participatin’ this year. And since your Pa gave ya Earth Pony augmentations I thought I’d ask you if ya wanna participate too! After all, those leaves aren’t gonna get off them branches on their own!” Applebloom explained with a large smile on her face.

Pixel grimaced. “Oh… Uh… I would but Daddy said I wasn’t allowed to use my new Earthpony magic to affect plants…”

All three Cutiemark Crusaders stared at her in confusion. “Wha…? Now that just makes no darn sense! Why’d he give ya them fancy augmentations in the first place if he don’t want ya usin’ ‘em?”

“Well, I am allowed to use the enhanced strength and speed, I’m just not allowed to control plants. I can also use my pegasus augmentations for whatever I want as long as I don’t mess with any clouds that are too large or try to manipulate the weather. He’s worried I might anger the nature spirits that live in the Everfree if I do.”

“Pffft… Us ponies have been doing both of those things for thousands of years and no nature spirits have ever gotten angry at us.” Scootaloo scoffed. “It’ll be fine.”

“But Daddy said I’m not allowed…” Pixel muttered uncertainly. She was feeling extremely conflicted at the moment. On the one hand she really didn’t want to disappoint her friends, on the other hand she didn’t want to disobey her father. She had never broken any rules before and found the prospect of doing so quite intimidating.

“Come on, Pixel, it’s a Ponyville tradition. You gotta come!” Sweetie Belle pleaded.

“Mmm… I… mmm… Okay… Just don’t tell Daddy…” Pixel finally relented.

The Crusaders cheered happily. “Don’t you worry one bit, Pix, our lips are sealed. Yer Pa won’t know a thing.” Applebloom promised.

[Later]

Natura watched the yearly “Running of the Leaves” as those vermin called it in complete and utter hatred and loathing. She yearned to rip them all to shreds and impale them with vines and roots, to strike them all down with lightning, to send her now significantly empowered constructs or a few possessed beasts to rend them limb from limb. But she didn’t… Not yet, at least. It was still much too early. The bindings placed on her by that damned draconequus fifty thousand years ago were loosening more and more with every passing day. Soon the day would come where Discord’s bindings would be gone and she would be free to shred the significantly weaker bindings placed upon her by that upstart Spirit of Harmony with impunity. But that day was not today, much to her fury.

As she watched the loathsome equines twist and manipulate her for their own ends, completely helpless to stop it, she spotted something she hadn’t expected. The little metal ape masquerading as an organic being with its false skin, Pixel, was participating in the damnable event. Even more surprising she could feel it emanating the same accursed magic as the gods forsaken equines, forcing her to drop the leaves of her trees against her will.

She found this turn of events genuinely shocking. The large metal ape, Gerhardt, had made it very clear when he visited her forest that he had no intention of manipulating her like the Equines. In fact when her newest and dearest friend Zecora had informed him of what the Equines were doing to her, he had seemed downright horrified. ‘As he should.’ She couldn’t help but add mentally. He even helped Zecora befriend her, for which she was genuinely grateful.

So her targeting him and his child was by no means about her wishing them any harm. Far from it. She held absolutely no ill will towards them. It was just business. Her only reason for attacking them was that her saviour, Silvanus, hated them for some reason and had asked her to help him get revenge on them. And since she owed Silvanus immensely for aiding her, attacking them was the least she could do in return for her freedom. In fact, due to her being grateful for the large metal ape’s assistance in Zecora befriending her, she actually planned on letting him and his child escape with their lives after mauling them a bit.

She knew they were significantly more durable than normal animals and could survive having most of their bodies destroyed. However, Silvanus didn’t know that she knew that. So she had planned on wrecking their bodies to a point that would kill an organic being then letting them escape and lying to Silvanus about having thought they were dead. In fact her recent attack on the little metal ape was an attempt to scare the two of them into moving as far away as possible so she wouldn’t have to hurt them any more than that once she did finally get free. That attempt had clearly failed, but the point remained.

So upon seeing the little metal ape participating in this abhorrent event and controlling her just like those damnable equines, she felt hurt. Almost betrayed even.

She had known the large metal ape had altered his child to have the traits of the winged equines and the wing and hornless equines, but up until this point the little metal ape had been completely respectful and responsible with her abilities. She hadn’t tried controlling Natura like the Equines did. Sure she would move a little cloud up to the stratosphere to play with it every now and then, which Natura did find a bit annoying but was willing to overlook, but those clouds were never very large and she never tried to manipulate the weather or anything to that effect. Natura had also sensed the magic of the wing and hornless equines within the little metal ape, but until now she had only ever used the part of that magic that enhanced her physical capabilities. 

Granted this was the only time the little metal ape had ever used its magic to manipulate Natura’s plants, so in almost any other circumstances Natura would have let her off with a warning so long as it wasn’t on a significant scale. However, not only was she manipulating the natural processes of plants she was actively participating in an event the accursed Equines held every year where they forced Natura to bend to their will. And it was on a scale that was far too large for Natura to be willing to accept.

So as she watched the little metal ape run her feelings of hurt and betrayal slowly turned to feelings of rage and hatred. The exact same rage and hatred she felt for the equines who had enslaved her for millennia. She wanted to eviscerate the little brat.

‘How dare she? How dare she?! HOW DARE SHE DO THIS TO ME?! I WILL DESTROY HER!’ Natura raged mentally.

Gerhardt, the large metal ape, and Isabelle, the large fleshy ape, had yet to betray her like this so she would still spare them once she got free. At least until they betrayed her as well. Pixel, the little metal ape, on the other hand was going to die a horrific death alongside the Equines just like the little bitch deserved.

Silvanus also watched as Pixel participated in this event, and honestly? He couldn’t be happier with this turn of events. He could sense Natura’s hurt and betrayal and eventually her rage and hatred. He was now absolutely certain that Natura planned to kill the stupid tin can. So even if she didn’t kill Gerhardt he would be content in knowing Gerhardt would be devastated when he was forced to watch his daughter die right before his very eyes.

It was almost enough to put him in a good mood… Almost… Unfortunately the way the war was going on Earth was preventing any good mood he may have been able to have. Other gods on all three sides had officially gotten involved and it had turned into a massive clusterfuck of unprecedented proportions.

The Mid Gods incharge of this galaxy had already started taking notice of what was going on. And if they had started to take notice then the Greater Gods had definitely noticed and would likely intervene sooner or later. So at this point Silvanus had accepted that he was screwed, but that just made him all the more determined to kill as many humans as he possibly could and destroy as much of their society and culture as possible before he was inevitably banished from the mortal realm forever
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do not point that gods forsaken rifle at your allies you fucking half-wit! Are you insane?!” Gerhardt roared at one of the soldiers he was training to use the new weapons and armor Prince Shining Armor had commissioned him to produce for them. He had erected a barrier between the two soldiers the moment he saw one of them pointing their weapon at the other so no one would get killed in the event of an accidental discharge. He was now shouting at the soldier who pointed their weapon at the other like he used to shout at fresh recruits who had just fucked up majorly during training exercises.

“These are not fucking toys you idiot! They are lethal weapons! One shot is enough to kill someone! If that weapon had undergone an accidental discharge before I created that barrier, the soldier next to you would be dead! Do you want that?! Do you want to kill your fellow soldiers?!” Gerhardt berated the pony furiously.

“N-no…” The pony muttered in response, cowering slightly.

“What was that?! Speak up! You are a soldier, damn it! Start acting like one!”

“No sir!” The soldier shouted back, tears welling up in his eyes.

“I didn’t think so! So you are going to repeat back to me the rules of gun safety, now!”

“Yes sir! Treat every gun as if it’s loaded! Always point your gun in a safe direction! Never point your gun at something you don’t intend to shoot! Be sure of your target and what’s beyond!” The soldier recited back to him the rules Gerhardt had just taught all of them.

“Good, now tell me exactly why you thought it was a good idea to point your weapon at another soldier! Did you think that was a safe direction or did you intend to shoot him?!”

“Neither, sir! The safety was on so—”

“The safety was on? The safety was on?! THAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?! I DON’T GIVE A DAMN IF THE SAFETY IS ON OR NOT! YOU ARE TO NEVER POINT THAT GODS DAMNED WEAPON AT SOMEONE UNLESS THEY ARE AN ENEMY AND YOU INTEND TO KILL THEM! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!”

“Y-yes, sir!” The soldier responded, now visibly trembling with tears streaming down his face.

Prince Shining Armor nodded, satisfied by the response. “Good. I’m glad that’s cleared up. You’ll be polishing all the weapons and dress armor in our arsenal for the next two months for this little stunt. Never let me hear about you doing something so stupid ever again or next time I won’t be so lenient. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir!” The soldier responded.

“Good. Return to your training exercises.”

The soldier turned and immediately returned to practicing field stripping his weapon.

“Sweet Harmony, this is embarrassing… Sorry about that, Gerhardt. I thought they were all trained better than this…” Shining Armor said as the two of them walked a short distance away from the soldiers.

“It’s fine, Prince. There’s no accounting for stupidity. Honestly, I’m more worried about how he reacted when I was yelling at him. He seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. How can he be expected to maintain his composure in combat if he starts crying just from something so simple as me yelling at him?”

“I agree with you, that’s very worrying. I might have him sent back to basic or dismiss him from the military all together if we can’t get that sorted out. Well, other than that, what do you think of my soldiers so far?”

Gerhardt let his gaze scan across the two separate groups of soldiers. One of the groups was practicing removing their weapons from their armor for maintenance then proceeded to take them apart and put them back together again, repeating that process over and over again. The other group was practicing by shooting at targets Gerhardt had set up for them. After a moment his gaze returned to the Prince and he said, “In my Kingdom they would all still be recruits. They do try, I will give them that, but none of them are prepared for any real combat. Well, at least not at the level of combat that my world usually operates on. By this world’s standards they should be fine since I don’t expect you to wage any massive bloody wars any time soon. So for things like defending your city from beings such as the Changelings or King Sombra, they will suffice.”

“Hm… I’m not sure whether to be glad or disappointed… Well, hopefully we’re never going to be fighting anything from your world so I suppose that’s fine. This is all more of a precaution anyways. Hopefully nothing else happens and they never have to use any of these weapons in the first place. Speaking of, do you have an ETA on those defense turrets, artillery platforms, mobile barrier generators, and tanks we discussed?”

“About four to six months. These things are all quite large so I have to have my factory produce more construction golems to build them since I don’t have a skilled workforce who knows how these things work or how to put them together and they’re all too large for my factory to produce. I certainly don’t have the time to build them all by hand and even if I did it would take far longer for me to build them myself rather than having dedicated construction golems do it for me. Especially since unicorn augmentations have allowed me to create construction golems capable of casting spells and enchanting objects like a fully fledged technomancer.”

“And how long do you think it will take you to train my soldiers to use them once they’re all complete?” Shining Armor asked, watching his soldiers train.

“About a day for the mobile barrier generator, the main thing is that they’ll need quite a bit of practice driving them even after they know how to use them. Two days to teach them how to control the defense turrets. I’ll have to make virtual reality training simulations for the tank crews since it will take around five months to fully train them and I don’t have the time to do so myself. Same for the artillery platforms. Though they should get some practice with the real thing after they pass the simulations with scores of 98% or better. Anything below 98% and they’ll need to repeat the parts of the training simulations they failed until they can pass with 98% or better.”

“Understood. So, on a more casual note, I heard you were starting to sell things other than just augmentations and medical equipment, is that correct?”

“Ah, indeed it is. I noticed that the requests I was receiving for augmentations were starting to slow down so I decided I needed a more sustainable source of income. So, while I’m not exactly certain what companies sold to civilians back in the Human Kingdom, I am selling things I believe might be useful. Radios, cellphones, computers, and fountain pens. I’m sure things like radios already exist here and I’ve already seen and read about primitive computers, however I believe my radios are more than sufficient to compete with those already being sold, they most certainly have higher sound quality. Furthermore my computers are significantly more advanced and are several hundred decillion times more powerful than the most powerful supercomputer ever produced by you ponies. Granted, they are quantum computers and are thousands of years more advanced so that isn’t saying much but I was prioritizing size and affordability over raw computing power when designing them.”

“Oh that’s nice…? Uh… Sorry, I don’t know the first thing about computers or what they’re used for so I can’t really comment on that. Er… What’s a cellphone?”

“It’s a multi-purpose long distance communication device. Mine have advanced calculators that can calculate equations in all mathematical systems I know, they can teach an individual how to write programs, and they can also be used to write programs after the individual in question learns how to write them. Mainly because I have no idea what other functionality to add to them so giving people the ability to write their own programs for their phones, as well as their computers, just seemed wise. So just think of them as computers that allow you to call others and have conversations even when you’re both on opposite ends of the world from each other. Right now the range will be limited since I don’t have any satellites in orbit so only people in Equestria will be able to call each other for now, but I’ll be working on that soon enough. I hope to put a satellite or two into orbit by the end of the year.”

“That actually sounds pretty useful. I’d like to be able to talk to Twilight and my parents a bit more often.” Shining Armor nodded.

“Indeed. Well, if there’s nothing else I suppose you should be able to oversee their practice from here so I should probably be going now.”

“Wait, before you go I just remembered. What about those other simulators we discussed? You know, the ones that will simulate active combat in your world?”

Gerhardt grimaced. “I have made exactly one for your personal use… Prince, I still don’t believe this is a good idea. I mean, if it was a normal simulation I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but you requested I make it as realistic as I possibly can. That means I have had to design it to utilize mental illusion magic to force the user to believe that the simulation is 100% real… I don’t believe that you or your soldiers are mentally prepared for this in the least…”

“Come on, Gerhardt. I’m willing to try it out first before any of my troops. If I can handle it then I’m sure they’ll be able to as well. I know you doubt our capabilities since our world isn’t as violent as yours, but give us a chance. We’re tougher than you think.”

“… Very well…” He muttered reluctantly. “I’ll go retrieve your simulation device from my lab. I’ll meet you in your castle in about two hours, when I assume your soldiers' practice with their new armor and armaments should be over for the day. Oh, and I would strongly recommend getting as much practice with them yourself as you possibly can in that time. You’re going to need every last bit of it for the simulation… Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that Gerhardt disappeared in a flash of copper light, having finally figured out a functional Arcane Equation for teleportation that wouldn’t result in catastrophic teleportation failure. Back in his lab he continued to conduct research and experiments into figuring out the mechanism behind how the princesses became demigods until it was time to return to the Crystal Empire.

Grabbing the VR combat simulation device with telekinesis, Gerhardt teleported back to the Crystal Empire with it in tow and met Shining Armor back in his castle as he said he would.

“Alright Prince, where should I put this?” Gerhardt inquired, motioning to the machine behind him.

“Just follow me. I know a room that isn’t used for much. There shouldn’t be any real interruptions there.” Shining armor then led him to a storage room. There were a few objects and such inside, but nothing major.

Gerhardt set the machine down in the middle of the room. “Alright. Let’s get this over with, lay down on the device. We’ll begin the simulation immediately.”

Shining Armor nodded and climbed up on the machine before laying down on it.

“Good. Now I am going to place this helmet on your head. There are cursed crystals in the part that will cover your horn to prevent you from using magic. Now don’t worry, you’ll still be able to cast whatever spells you want inside the simulation, the only difference being you will be as powerful as an average mage from my world. These crystals are just a safety precaution to ensure you don’t accidentally destroy anything while you’re inside. You’ll also be paralyzed so you don’t accidentally hurt yourself trying to thrash about. Now, just so you're aware none of what you’re going to see will take place in my world. Rather, you have a choice between the simulation taking place in Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, or Ponyville. I will be watching the entire thing through an illusory monitor, so I will see and hear everything you see and hear. The machine will also be monitoring your vital signs. If your heart starts beating too fast or if you get killed in the simulation, the machine will shut down and you’ll immediately be freed from the illusion. Now, before we begin, do you have any questions or concerns?”

“Nope. Put me in. I know Canterlot far better than the Crystal Empire or Ponyville so let’s start there.”

“Very well. The enemies you face in the simulation will be randomly selected from a list of beings from my world. Included on this list are: the Serpents, the Orcs, the Ogres, the Trolls, the Ghouls, certain types of spirits, certain types of Fae, rogue mages, and rogue sapient golems. Creatures that are not included for your own mental wellbeing and the fact you lack the knowledge or equipment to deal with them include: demons, undead, spirits of undeath, a select few types of Fae, and several other particularly harsh or grotesque variants of spirits.” Gerhardt explained as he picked up the helmet which was permanently wired into the machine and placed it on Shining Armor’s head.

“You aren’t going to remember any of this conversation until after the simulation is over but… Just try to be prepared for anything. Much of what you are going to see in this simulation is going to be quite horrific, as is the nature of war, and you are going to believe all of it is 100% real.” With that warning out of the way Gerhardt switched on the device and the simulation began.

[Shining Armor]

Shining Armor suddenly found himself in the streets of Canterlot wearing the new weapons and armor Gerhardt had made for him and his soldiers. Ponies were screaming in terror and fleeing for their lives all around him as artillery shells fell from the sky and bombarded the city. Lanky, pale, bipedal, clearly carnivorous monsters in black and red armor were rampaging through the city killing civilians and soldiers alike.

Shining Armor looked around in horror for a moment before steeling his nerves and retaliating against the invaders. The aiming reticle in his visor responded to his mental commands and pointed the gun mounted on his back at the nearest monster he could see. With a thought the weapon fired, shooting a 7.62 mm armor penetrating round at mach 8. The bullet hit the soldier and ripped straight through its armor, blasting a massive hole through its head spraying a mixture of blood, bone, and brain matter everywhere. 

The sight shocked him for a moment. He knew these weapons were supposed to be lethal but he had no idea that the results would be so horrific. Gritting his teeth he forced himself to look away and not think about it. Canterlot was in danger, he didn’t have time to worry about this! Besides… They were doing the exact same thing to innocent stallions, mares, and foals all across Canterlot.

He created a magic barrier around himself to block any bullets that the enemy may shoot at him leaving only the weapon on his back exposed, and continued firing as he advanced on the enemies.

“This is Captain Shining Armor to anypony available to respond! I need a status report! Who the buck are these guys and where the buck are those artillery shells coming from?!” He demanded through the radio built into his new armor’s helmet. He wasn’t used to this freedom of communication on the battlefield at all but he barely remembered that he had it and decided to make as much use of it as he could.

It took a moment but eventually someone responded. “Captain, we have no idea who or what these creatures are! They have artillery cannons stationed all around the mountain and are bombarding us from all directions!”

“Buck!” Shining Armor cursed. Activating his radio he ordered, “All available pegasus units, get down there and take out those artillery platforms! I don’t care how you do it, just do it!”

As he continued to fight, eventually his shields were blasted apart by a powerful blast of arcane energy. Looking around he spotted one of the monsters in particularly ornate armor whose hands were surrounded by a blue aura. 

Pointing at Shining Armor the monster cast another spell and unleashed a lethal beam of magic at him. Shining Armor jumped to the side to avoid it, and it exploded on the ground where he had been standing only moments before sending fragments of the stones that made up the streets flying like shrapnel. A few shards of stone slammed into his armor and bounced off, but one found purchase in a gap between the armor plates and stabbed into his leg, embedding itself into the bone. However, his adrenaline was so high he didn’t even feel it.

He fired his weapon at the enemy magic user only for the rounds to be blocked by a pitch black barrier that was impossible to see through. Several beams then arced out from behind the barrier towards him. In response he raised his own barrier to block the beams, however they all hit the barrier at once and caused it to collapse immediately.

The pitch black barrier fell and the enemy mage appeared taken aback that Shining Armor was still alive. It recovered quickly and gave him a wicked grin. “Oh… You’re tougher than you look, equine. That’s good! You shall make a fine sacrifice to Lord Erebus!” It said while continuing to attack him.

Shining Armor dodged and deflected the attacks. “Buck you, and “Erebus” too!” He retorted, firing his weapon at the mage.

The mage now scowled at him furiously, deflecting the bullets. “You dare insult the lead God of the Dread Pantheon?! I was going to kill you quickly, but now I will make sure your demise is as slow and painful as possible!”

“You’ll try!” Shining Armor growled back at the mage.

Their battle went on for several more minutes. Eventually Shining Armor got the upperhand by teleporting behind the mage and shooting him in the back. With the mage down Shining Armor proceeded to move on, trying not to think about how many “people” he had killed, to borrow a word that Gerhardt frequently used. He wasn’t even sure if that was the correct usage of the term, but he honestly didn’t care.

As he got deeper and deeper into the city he started to see things he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. The eviscerated corpses of ponies splayed out and hung up on makeshift racks and on hooks that had been forcibly embedded into walls. Stallions, mares, even newborn foals. It didn’t matter to these creatures whether their victims were young or old male or female, their mutilated corpses were hung out to rot regardless of age or sex.

Shining Armor was actually forced to remove his helmet so he could puke, the sights being too much for him to bear. He regretted it almost immediately as the smell of blood, death, and ruptured organs assaulted him, causing him to puke even more until there was nothing left in his stomach for him to vomit.

Taking a moment to recover he suddenly heard screams relatively close by. Throwing his helmet back on, he immediately rushed towards them. Rounding the corner he was greeted by the sight of a group of the monsters using things that could only be described as implements of torture that were very clearly made of bone to rip an entire family apart while they were still alive, foals and all. There was a small crowd of about twenty or so other ponies being held at gunpoint, likely destined to meet the same fate as that family if those monsters weren’t stopped.

However, there was a very serious problem. Not only was Shining Armor out numbered but there were another two mages, one of whom was there helping conduct the ritualistic torture. So rushing in there to save them on his own was tantamount to suicide. He needed back up. But that put him in a bit of a conundrum as he couldn’t just wait for other soldiers to arrive to help him. There was no telling how long it would take for them to arrive and in that time not only would that one family die in the most horrific fashion he had ever seen, but other ponies could as well.

So after thinking for a split moment he finally came to a decision. “This is Captain Shining Armor to any nearby squads! Requesting back up on 27th street, ASAP! Please hurry!” Having made his request over the radio he immediately rushed forwards and began firing his weapon. He managed to kill three of the enemy soldiers including the mage who was in the middle of conducting the torture, having caught them off guard.

Unfortunately this advantage did not last as the enemy soldiers began returning fire moments later. He deflected most of the bullets with a shield until the mage cast a spell and shattered it. Then he was helpless to do anything for a few moments as he was riddled with bullets. Some of them were deflected by his armor but one particularly large caliber round slammed into his visor, shattering it and going straight into his skull. He didn’t even know what happened as his shield broke and everything suddenly went black.

[Gerhardt]

Gerhardt watched as Shining Armor jerked back to awareness, having just died in the simulation.

“What?! Where am I?! What just— Oh… That was a simulation… Right… Sweet Harmony that was awful! Gerhardt, what the buck were those things?! Is that sort of thing really something that happened back in your world?!”

“Those were Ghouls, and yes. That is indeed exactly how they behave. They are extreme carrion eaters who actually require the bacteria present in rotting meat for proper digestion, thus they eviscerate their victims and hang their mutilated corpses and entrails out to rot. They will sometimes do this in the middle of battle as a form of psychological warfare. They also worship a pantheon of particularly cruel gods of death, and thus ritualistically sacrifice their victims as a form of worship to their gods. You saw both of these things near the end. Horrible creatures, I know. You just got particularly unlucky with the random generation to have them be the first enemies you faced in the simulation. They are by far the worst foes you could have faced, bar the ones I have refrained from including in the simulation.”

“And the ones you didn’t include are even worse?! Gerhardt, what the buck is wrong with your world?!” Shining Armor exclaimed, still somewhat in shock from what he just witnessed.

“Many things, Prince. Many things…”

After taking a moment to calm down and collect his thoughts, Shining Armor said, “Put me back in.”

“What? But—”

“Gerhardt, put me back in! I know I can win, I just made a mistake, that's all.”

Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “As you wish… You will more than likely be facing different opponents than the ghouls. Would you like to change the location?”

“Yeah, sure. Put me here in the Crystal Empire.”

“Very well. You will retain your memories of the previous simulation and the fact that it was a simulation, but you will believe it happened a few days prior.” Gerhardt told him before activating the machine once again.

[Shining Armor]

Shining Armor found himself in the Crystal Empire, wearing his new weapons and armor. Ponies were screaming in terror and fleeing for their lives all around him as artillery shells fell from the sky and bombarded the city. Long serpentine creatures with lizard-like forelegs and claws, and snake-like heads, wearing rather generic looking combat armor covering their entire bodies.

Remembering the simulation with the ghouls he underwent just a few days ago, Shining Armor didn’t hesitate to open fire. He knew this wasn’t a simulation but he wasn’t just going to stand by and let his people be slaughtered by these things!

“This is Prince Shining Armor! All pegasus and unicorn units, get to those artillery platforms and neutralize them! Everypony else, get as many civilians to the castle as possible! Princess Cadance will help keep them safe!” Shining Armor ordered, having learned from a few of his most major mistakes in the simulation. First and foremost being that he hadn’t taken Princesses Celestia and Luna into account and hadn’t given his soldiers anywhere to bring the civilians to keep them safe.

He really wished that Gerhardt had finished the vehicles, defense turrets, and artillery platforms they had discussed, he was sure that would have made getting rid of the enemy artillery a lot easier. The mobile shield generators would have also made getting the civilians to safety a lot easier.

“Prince Shining Armor, Princess Cadance is dead!” A soldier responded over the radio.

Shining Armor’s eyes widened in shock and horror. He could feel his heart breaking. “W-what…? How…? When…?”

“Just a few moments ago, sir! She was caught off guard by an enemy artillery shell!”

“No… Cadance…” Shining Armor muttered to himself, tears welling up in his eyes. After a few minutes his grief and sense of loss began turning to rage and hatred. Rage and hatred towards the serpents for killing his wife. He was going to make them pay!

Roaring furiously, he charged the serpents, his weapon blazing with fully automatic fire. So lost was he in his rage and grief that he didn’t even think to create a barrier to protect himself from incoming enemy fire. An armor piercing bullet struck him in the side and pierced his heart. Everything went black.

[Gerhardt]

“RAAAAAAHHHHhhhh… Wait… Simulation… Right… Gerhardt, what the buck?!”

“What do you mean?” Gerhardt inquired, genuinely not understanding what was wrong.

“Cadance died?! How could you program that into the simulation?!” Shining Armor exclaimed, ripping the helmet off and glaring at him furiously.

“It’s a combat simulation. It’s meant to train you for active combat. Having demigods fighting alongside you trivializes the experience and completely defeats the purpose of the simulation. Besides, you need to learn not to let your emotions get the better of you in the midst of battle. Just look at what happened in this simulation. You got angry, charged the serpents without so much as a second thought for your own safety, and you got yourself killed as a result of not creating a barrier to protect yourself. Though even if you did, you probably still would have died the instant you encountered an enemy mage due to your rage but the point remains.”

Shining Armor took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, but he still appeared quite upset. “Fine… After that, I think I’m done with that for the day…”

“As you wish. Though before you go, allow me to show you how the machine works so you can use it even without me here to operate it for you.”

Shining Armor got up and hopped off the machine. “Alright…”

Gerhardt then cast a spell and created two rings made of the black crystals he learned how to create from studying the crystals made by King Sombra and held on to them. Putting on the helmet Gerhardt layed down on top of the machine, which was almost comically small for him. Finally he slid the two black rings over his hands and onto his arms. His arms immediately fell limp as all magic was blocked from entering them.

“Apologies, the machine only works if someone is inside so I’ll have to be put into the simulation myself. Anyways, you see the illusory screen that appeared, yes?”

“I do.” Shining Armor confirmed.

“Good. It should display several options. Please select Ponyville for me then press start.”

“Alri—”

Gerhardt found himself in Ponyville. He was wearing very old fashion and out of date combat robes and was holding his personal combat rifle. He had no idea where the robes came from but he didn’t have time to think about it as he saw Ghouls rampaging through the town. Fortunately it didn’t seem like they brought any artillery. Then again, they didn’t need it given how small Ponyville was.

“Ghouls?! But how… Silvanus… That bastard!” Gerhardt growled. Scowling furiously, he raised his rifle, set it to fire bolts of arcane energy, and opened fire.

Casting a spell so his voice would be heard all throughout the town he said, “This is Gerhardt Mechanica. All citizens evacuate immediately. Do not try to fight the Ghouls. I repeat, do not try to fight the Ghouls! Just run!”

“Pixel, where are you?!” He demanded through his built in communication system.

“Daddy! I’m at school! Please help! I have a barrier keeping the monsters out but I don’t know how long I can hold it!” Pixel pleaded in a terrified tone.

Gerhardt teleported to the school and saw about ten Ghouls, including a mage trying to bust through Pixel’s barrier to get inside. Without a word he raised his rifle and fired, blasting the mage and four other soldiers to pieces with exploding bolts of arcane energy. The others turned and were about to begin opening fire on him, but he grabbed their rifles with telekinesis and ripped them from their grasp. He then finished gunning them all down.

“Pixel, they’re all dead. I’m here to get you and the other children the hell out of here!” He said through his built in communication system, not sure if Pixel’s barrier blocked out sound as well.

The barrier fell and Pixel came running out before wrapping her arms around him. “Daddy, I’m scared!” She sobbed.

“I know. This is a very scary situation, but you have to be strong alright? I’m going to get you and the others to safety.”

Seeing him, foals timidly came pouring out of the building. Some gasped in horror, others puked, and most started crying as soon as they saw the ruined corpses of the ghouls.

“Oh no… Everypony keep your eyes up and don’t look at the ground!” Miss Cheerilee said a bit too late as she also saw the corpses. She was also very clearly terrified by the situation. “Mr. Mechanica what’s going on?! What are these things and why are they attacking Ponyville?!”

“They’re called Ghouls. I don’t have time to explain much beyond that, just know that under no circumstances do you ever want to be captured by them.” He tried to open a portal to Canterlot but the portal he created just turned grey indicating there was some sort of interference. “Fuck! The Ghouls must have brought a device to jam portals to limit our escape options!”

He tried to teleport everyone to Canterlot but that failed as well. “Son of a… Both portals and teleportation are apparently impossible… Alright, I guess we’re doing this the hard way… Everyone gather together in a group, you too Miss Cheerilee. Pixel, you make a barrier to protect everyone. I’m going to lead you all to my factory. It should be safer there than anywhere else in Ponyville. Once we’re there I want all of you to find empty wooden crates and hide inside. No matter what you hear while hiding I don’t want any of you to make any sound whatsoever. No crying, no whispering, nothing. I’ll come get you when it’s safe. Understand?”

There were very scared nods and the ponies gathered together as he told them to. Pixel then raised a barrier to protect them all.

“Good, now follow me.” Turning around with his weapon raised, Gerhardt led them towards Ponyville where Equestrian soldiers were fighting the ghouls. He didn’t exactly remember selling such weapons or armor to Celestia or Luna, but he didn’t have time to question it.

A group of Ghoul soldiers began opening fire on the foals Gerhardt was trying to lead to his factory, but fortunately the rounds were blocked by Pixel’s barrier. That was also odd… Not only were they using ancient ballistic rounds but they were in ancient combat armor as well. That made no sense. Why would they be using such primitive technology? Why weren’t they even using so much as laser weaponry, which had existed for centuries?

He remembered that he had given Shining Armor a combat simulation device a few days ago. Finally it clicked. None of this was real. It was all a simulation.

Gerhardt suddenly found himself back in the Crystal Empire laying on the combat simulator. Sitting up he began to shake the crystal rings off of his arms. Once they were off, he removed the helmet and looked at Shining Armor who was staring at him in confusion.

“What happened?” Shining Armor inquired, confused as to why the simulation suddenly ended.

“There were too many oddities and I realized it was a simulation so the machine shut itself down… That should not be possible. The mental illusion magic should have prevented me from realizing it was a simulation no matter how many oddities there were. Fuck… I’m going to have to figure out what went wrong and fix it.”

“So if I had realized it was a simulation it would have ended like this as well?”

Gerhardt nodded. “Indeed it would have. I designed it that way since realizing it’s a simulation defeats the purpose of the mental illusion magic designed to make you think it’s all real. And apparently there was a very real possibility you could have realized it was a simulation, especially the second time you entered. That means this model isn’t usable… Damn… I’ll have a fully functional model for you by next week.”

“Well that’s disappointing. Alright, I’ll be waiting. I still want more of them to help train my soldiers, rough as fighting Ghouls may be.”

Gerhardt sighed. “I suppose if you insist, I will make more. Just be careful with them and don’t force them to go into the simulations more than three times a day.”
> Chapter 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerhardt was in his lab studying a few drops of the blood samples he had taken from Celestia and Luna. Having just finished fully sequencing their D.N.A. he saw that their D.N.A. actually had fairly distinct differences between them and normal ponies. He was tempted to try cloning them to see if the clones would become demigods like them as an experiment to see if these differences in their D.N.A. was part of what made them demigods but he refrained, albeit with great reluctance.

To truly know if the clones were demigods or not, he would have to allow their brains to develop so they would have souls. However if he did that he would have to murder the clones soon after as the princesses had definitely not given him permission to clone them and he suspected they would be quite upset if he did. Not that he really cared if they would be upset, but it would cause more trouble than it was worth. Furthermore it would be morally reprehensible to force them to care for their own clones as their children which he would definitely need to do as the clones would inevitably be discovered and he did not want more children himself. Thus killing them would be his only viable option and that was similarly morally reprehensible.

Then again… If he altered their genetics to give them the brains of animals rather than actual sapient beings then it wouldn’t technically be murder any more than what he was doing with his lab rats… Hm… He would have to think about it. For now he just shelved the idea.

Suddenly his sensors informed him that Pixel was standing behind him, likely having teleported there since Gerhardt had taught her the Arcane Equation he had developed for teleportation. “Yes, Pixel? What is it?”

“Daddy, I need your help.” Pixel stated, though her tone didn’t indicate it was anything life threatening so Gerhardt just continued working.

“With what?”

“Making a costume!”

This actually gave Gerhardt some pause. Stopping what he was doing he turned around and looked at her. “What? For what purpose and wouldn’t Miss Rarity be better for this sort of thing? I am no tailor.”

“It’s for Nightmare Night! It’s in just a few days and I don’t have a costume to wear for it. And usually, yes Miss Rarity would be better for this sort of thing but not this time. I want to dress up as a standard non-mage soldier from your kingdom! She’s really good at making clothes but she can’t make armor and I don’t know what it looks like so even if she could make it for me I couldn’t give her a sketch of it.”

“I see… Well such armor could have some practical use if things go poorly with the Changelings or if there’s another Manticore attack… When is this “Nightmare Night” exactly? And what is it celebrating? We had a few holidays back in the Human Kingdom, I rarely participated in them but I was very much aware of them, what they were about, and how they were typically celebrated.”

“It’s in two days! Um… I’m honestly not sure what it’s celebrating… I never asked… After I learned about it and that people dressed up in costumes for it, I was so excited that I sort of just teleported here to ask you to help me make my costume… What were some of the holidays in your kingdom?! You said “rarely” so which ones did you usually participate in when you did?”

“Well there was the day celebrating the death of Caedes, the Day of Retribution. I would partake in the celebrations of that day every few years or so. It often involved music, dancing, and copious amounts of food and alcohol. I never danced, I don’t even know how, and I could never eat or drink but I would occasionally be present during the celebrations and that would be one of the few times I would take a short break from my work and have somewhat casual interactions with others. Said interactions were mainly just me telling stories from the first Necromantic War to the recruits, and I suppose to the public as well over a live broadcast on television.” Gerhardt explained.

He paused for a moment, smiling as he fondly recalled the day he was informed of Caedes’s demise. Later that day he personally impaled Caedes’s severed skull on a large steel spike embedded in the ground in the middle of the Capital City for all to see after the heroes who brought the skull back were granted medals for their valiant service and noble sacrifice. The skull was later put in a museum for its historical significance, spike and all, where it has been ever since. A large golden statue of the heroes was put directly on top of the place the spike had been embedded in the ground, Gerhardt had insisted on it as he believed they deserved it and more for killing that son of a bitch. That was by far one of his best memories.

After a moment, Gerhardt continued. “There was also the Day of Salvation, which celebrated the end of the War of Survival and the Greater Gods banishing Deimos from the mortal realm forever. It was celebrated similarly but with an added bonus of exchanging gifts at the cost of making offerings to the Greater Gods for saving our species from extinction. Even as a child my parents never allowed me to participate in such frivolities nor did they themselves participate, though we did make offerings to the Greater Gods every year and that continued on even to the day I was banished from my world. I would continue that tradition even now, but there’s no point since this is a completely separate universe and the Greater Gods thus have no way of receiving any offerings I could give them. There were more holidays, of course, but those were the only two holidays I ever really celebrated in any capacity.”

“It seems wrong to celebrate someone dying…” Pixel muttered.

Gerhardt scoffed. “Pixel, I didn’t give you any knowledge of the First Necromantic War when I built you. So you have no idea the level of destruction, death, and evil he brought to the world. Caedes was absolutely not a person, he was a gods forsaken monster. From what I understand, the Devil himself, the Greater Spirit of Evil, actually held great respect for Caedes and legitimately lamented the destruction of his soul due to how much death, destruction, pain, and suffering Caedes spread while he was alive. Well... as much as the perfect embodiment of the concept of Evil possibly could lament the death of another that is. So when the living concept of Evil itself respects someone and laments their destruction that is a very good indication of how horrible a monster that individual truly was. So trust me when I say that Caedes’s death deserves to be celebrated. And I fully plan to continue celebrating his death even here in this world, even if I am unable to attend any major event like I was back in the Human Kingdom.”

“Okay… um… I’m sort of sad we can’t celebrate the Day of Salvation since the Greater Gods can’t receive our offerings here… Are there any major holidays from your world that we can celebrate?”

“From the Human Kingdom? Not really. Most human holidays are either religious in nature or have to do with major military victories and as such are fairly major events. So since the gods can’t hear us or receive our offerings here and there’s no one else to hold a celebration with aside from Isabelle any real celebration would be impossible. The Dwarves, Elves, and Merpeople also had several holidays a few individuals in the Human Kingdom sometimes celebrated, though I know absolutely nothing about them. Isabelle is a half elf, so if you have any questions about Elven culture or holidays you could ask her about them since she does usually take time to celebrate Elven holidays, unless there’s an emergency of course.”

“Oh… Okay… Well, at least there’s still Equestrian holidays! So… Will you help me with my costume?”

“I see no reason not to. It will be ready by tomorrow. You can try it on then, and if you like it you can wear it for Nightmare Night. What sort of main weapon would you like to accompany it? A laser rifle, a particle rifle, an arcane rifle, a teleportation rifle, a rifle that fires specialized bullets such as antimatter rounds, or a weapon like my personal combat rifle which is a combination of all of the above? Same question for the side arm.”

Pixel gave him an uncomfortable look. “Do I have to have a weapon, daddy? I don’t plan on hurting anyone…”

“Well, yes and no. You are going to have to have weapons of your own eventually so you may as well have them now and learn how to use them now. Also I thought you wanted to dress up as a soldier from the Human Kingdom in full combat armor. No soldier from the Human Kingdom would be wearing that armor without having their weapons with them. Besides, you don’t have to use them. You can keep the side arm holstered and keep the rifle… wait… no… Your wings would get in the way of it being slung across your back… hm… Well you could keep it slung over one of your shoulders rather than across your back. After all, it would come with a strap to make it easier to carry when not in use. Plus I would fully expect you to keep both of your weapons safety on at all times.”

Pixel frowned slightly but nodded. “Okay… In that case, I want a rifle and sidearm like the ones you have!”

“Hm… Why am I not surprised? Very well. Just be extra careful with the laser barrel if you ever go out to practice with it. It will permanently blind anyone who’s close enough to the beam and temporarily blind and severely damage the eyesight of anyone outside that very large radius regardless of what frequency you have it set to. Plus it will cause an explosion the instant it contacts anything living be that a plant, fungus, or an animal as all the water inside it along with some of the regular matter will immediately be vaporized and turned to plasma. Thus the reason it operates in pulses rather than a single continuous beam, the plasma and steam gets in the way and makes the beam less effective by blocking the light. The pulses are timed perfectly to make them as effective as possible. Still they’re perfectly accurate, highly effective for getting past translucent shields, and even a single shot can completely vaporize a person’s head if they aren’t wearing any armor resistant to such powerful lasers.”

“Okay, I’ll be extra careful with the laser. I don’t want to hurt anyone by accident.”

Gerhardt smiled at her and turned back to resume what he was doing. “Good girl. And remember what I told you about the rules of gun safety. I’ll head over to the factory to have it build your weapons and armor in a few minutes, I just have to finish studying these blood samples.”

“Thank you, daddy!”

A few days later Nightmare Night had finally arrived. While Gerhardt refused to dress up as anything he did go out and purchase some candy at the advice of Twilight Sparkle, and set out a bowl in front of his house with a sign that said “Take one” so he wouldn’t have to bother handing it out himself. Unfortunately she had decided to try to make this event one of her “friendship lessons” and told him to go out and try to make a friend, though this time she made it very clear that she didn’t want him to literally build one like he built Pixel. So Gerhardt was in a justifiably foul mood that night, though he made sure to keep that to himself so as to not ruin Pixel’s fun.

Isabelle, on the other hand, actually went and commissioned Rarity to make a costume for her about a week in advance. Neither Gerhardt nor Pixel had seen it yet, so they had no idea what she was dressing up as. However, she was apparently quite happy with how it turned out and was excited to wear it. Gerhardt was actually extremely surprised by this as he hadn’t expected her to have any interest in participating in Equestrian holidays. He wouldn’t have expected any of the other high lords to have an interest in such a thing. Then again he knew very little about them or their interests since he didn’t care about them or their interests in the least and had thus never bothered trying to learn anything about any of them.

Gerhardt was standing in the living room of his house, waiting for Pixel to finish putting on her armor. While he outright refused to wear a costume, he had decided to put on his formal uniform as somewhat of a compromise.

Eventually he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and saw Pixel walking down in full combat armor. She was wearing the drab green power armor normally worn by the non-mage members of the army branch, which enhanced their strength such that they would be able to lift five tons and could run at similar speeds as Gerhardt or Pixel. It was fully environmentally sealed so it could be used in any conditions, be it space or the middle of a warzone in which military grade poisonous or acidic gasses were being used.

Every inch of her body was covered by a highly advanced metallic ceramic partially based on dragon scales, making it resistant, though by no means impervious, to magic. It was extremely heat resistant and could withstand temperatures upwards of 44,699.817 degrees Kelvin before melting which made it resistant to laser and plasma weaponry. It could also withstand kinetic energy up to 44,937,758,936.841 mega joules of force before being pierced. That was the equivalent of a 25 gram bullet traveling at one fifth the speed of light making it resistant to most modern particle weapons let alone standard bullets. Such high force would still definitely kill the wearer if it was all concentrated in a single bullet, but for particle weapons it may knock the wearer down but they would live and that was the point since particle weapons were the main concern.

The armor itself looked somewhat bulky and angular as it was designed to deflect projectiles away from the wearer, and it was intentionally designed to look as intimidating as possible without compromising any of its defensive capabilities. There were absolutely no gaps in the joints or glass in the helmet that could possibly serve as a weak point. By far the weakest parts of the armor were the two holes in the back for her wings, which Gerhardt wanted to do something about but hadn’t had enough time to come up with a solution for.

So while the helmet completely lacked a traditional glass visor, the wearer could see through a screen built into the inside of the helmet itself connected to a series of sensors inside the armor that detected light coming into contact with the front surface of the helmet so that they didn’t have to rely on cameras that could be targeted and destroyed, effectively blinding the user leaving them vulnerable. Though even if those sensors were damaged or destroyed somehow it was also capable of functioning on echo location and translating that into images that would be displayed on the screen, among several other backup systems. Finally it had a small built-in barrier generator that wasn’t very powerful but could be used in case of emergencies.

Magnetically holstered on her hip was a small ornate teleportation pistol and slung over her right shoulder was a rifle of the exact same design as Gerhardt’s personal combat rifle, just downsized to fit Pixel’s significantly smaller frame. 

Everything Pixel was wearing and carrying was significantly more advanced and powerful than any of the weapons or armor that Gerhardt had sold to Shining Armor. It was all completely up to date by his world’s standards and in fact the power armor was actually upgraded with several pieces of experimental technology Gerhardt had developed exclusively for Pixel since he had no intention of selling such advanced military technology to the ponies. At least not for a few centuries.

“So, how do I look?” Pixel inquired, her voice having a significantly enhanced mechanical reverberation to it as it was emitted by the armor’s external speakers.

Gerhardt created an optical illusion next to him to show her exactly what she looked like. “See for yourself.”

Pixel examined the illusion for a moment. “I look pretty scary! Well… The wings sort of detract from it a bit but that’s fine!”

“Indeed. Well, do you have your bag to carry the candy you collect tonight?” Gerhardt inquired, not seeing it with her.

“Oh! I left it in my room. I nearly forgot!” Pixel said before a silver aura surrounded one of her hands and she teleported the empty bag directly into her hand.

“Good, now I suppose you shall want to go off to celebrate with your friends. I trust you to be responsible with your new weapons and armor. Just be careful and don’t let any of them, especially not the “cutiemark crusaders”, touch either of your weapons because I definitely do not trust any of them to be responsible with such dangerous technology.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. I’ll see you later, Daddy!” Pixel bolted out the front door, a large smile on her face underneath her faceless helmet.

As soon as she was gone Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “I can’t fucking believe I have to do this… Gods damn Sparkle and her “lessons”… Ugh… How in the names of all the gods am I even supposed to go about this?” Continuing to grumble to himself in frustration he proceeded out the door.

Once he was outside he had no idea where to go or what to do, so he decided to just head straight for town hall and stand around outside. If nothing happened there within two or three hours he planned to wander aimlessly around either Canterlot or the Crystal Empire until morning.

About thirty minutes after he reached town square he saw Isabelle wandering through the town dressed as a dryad, a Fae born from a mid grade nature spirit mating with a mortal, typically elves. Like nature spirits, dryads had a very close symbiotic relationship with the Elves. So since Isabelle was a half elf he supposed it sort of made sense why she would want to dress up like one for this “Nightmare Night”, in a somewhat stereotypical sort of way.

Having nothing else to do since Twilight had decided to force him to try to make a friend, Gerhardt decided to go talk to Isabelle. Approaching her he said, “Greetings Isabelle. So this is the costume you were so excited about?”

“Oh, hello Gerhardt. Yes, it is! I realize that it’s a bit stereotypical but I have always found Dryads absolutely fascinating. Both from a cultural and from a biological standpoint. Living beings that are as much plant as they are animals with a far deeper connection with nature than the elves could ever have, being directly related to nature itself. As I am a biomancer I’m sure you can understand my interest in them.” Isabelle explained.

Gerhardt nodded. “Indeed I can. Personally, as a technomancer I was always fascinated by the machina hominum, the technological equivalent of Dryads, given the fact they were quite literally born with what we would classify as augmentations were they attached to any mortal being and those “augmentations” are so advanced we can not reverse engineer them. And believe me, I’ve spent my entire gods forsaken life trying and getting absolutely nowhere… Though their culture was of no interest to me. Regardless, yes, I very much understand your interest in Dryads having had a similar interest in equivalent beings.”

“I see. I’ve actually met a few machina hominum in the past. I never really liked them. They were always so cold and emotionless. Even more than you ever were and that’s saying something.” Isabelle commented.

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. They may seem that way to us because they process and display their emotions differently than normal organic beings. This is because the emotional centers of their brains function very differently to ours and their main method of communication is via transmitting signals to each other wirelessly, similar to how phones, radios, or computers communicate. So they mainly display their emotions through these transmissions rather than verbally or through body language, unfortunately having little to no real augmentations you could never receive these signals and thus could never communicate with them properly. I, however, have communicated with them properly in the past and I guarantee they are just as and in some cases far more emotional than any mortal beings like us. In fact, there were a few I would interact with quite frequently. Unfortunately they died about two centuries ago, murdered by the orcs.”

Isabelle grimaced. “Oh, um… I’m sorry to hear that…”

Gerhardt shook his head and raised a hand. “Oh no, it’s completely fine. I had no emotional attachment to them, though I think they may have been somewhat attached to me for whatever reason… Regardless, their deaths angered the spirits that were their parents and they went on a rampage slaughtering the individual orcs complicit in the deaths of their children. So in the end their deaths were avenged.”

Isabelle sighed and rested her face in one of her palms. “I honestly don’t know what I was expecting… of course you of all people wouldn’t care… Ugh… Whatever… What are you doing out here tonight anyways? You made it pretty clear you had no intention of participating in this holiday.”

Gerhardt grumbled in frustration before saying, “You’re absolutely right. I have no intention of participating in an alien holiday I have nothing to do with and absolutely no interest in. However, as part of Miss Sparkle’s ridiculous “friendship lessons” that Celestia forced me into when I first arrived, Miss Sparkle has decided to give me an assignment. That being, I am required to go out and try to make a friend… Gods damn it, I detest these damnable ponies gods forsaken obsession with friendship… I would say I want to return to the Human Kingdom and never see this accursed land ever again, but that goes without saying.”

Isabelle forced herself to restrain a laugh, and only barely succeeded. “Y-you? Make a friend? Ha! Gods above, these ponies know absolutely nothing about you if they really expect you to go out of your way to try to make a friend… I apologize, I don’t mean to be rude but honestly… From what you just told me, you didn’t even care when some of the closest beings to friends you have ever had were killed by the orcs and I remember what you told me in the factory. I still expect you to continue attending therapy by the way. Anyways, at this point I don’t think you are even capable of forming emotional bonds with others due to your current world views and mental state, which you have held for almost a thousand years. Maybe after we start making a bit of progress in your therapy, and that’s a rather large maybe, but now? Definitely not.”

“Please, for the love of all the gods, as a medical expert tell that to them! Celestia and Miss Sparkle, to be specific. I will give you and send the two of them phones for free so you can call them if I have to!”

Isabelle chuckled slightly. “Alright, Gerhardt, I guess I can try to talk to them. Not tonight though. I want to enjoy this holiday as much as I can. I haven’t really had a chance to look into their culture since I got a job at the local hospital, this is the first chance to actually experience it first hand that I have received, and I intend to capitalize on it. I am genuinely curious about them and their culture, especially since their magic is biological in nature and I find that extremely fascinating.”

Gerhardt sighed in disappointment. “Damn… I was hoping they would let me go without actually having to do this gods forsaken assignment… Well, hopefully they’ll listen to you whenever you decide to talk to them.”

[Pixel]

Pixel had been going from house to house collecting as much candy as she could and her bag was pretty much full. Grabbing the sides of her helmet, there was a hiss as the environmental seal released and finally allowed her to remove the helmet. Smiling, she grabbed a piece of candy from her bag, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. Due to the chemical that filled her mouth the candy dissolved a lot faster than it would have if she had normal saliva but she found it delicious all the same.

She was about to eat another when she heard Scootaloo’s voice from behind her, “Hey, Pixel!”

Turning she saw all three of the Crusaders dressed up in costumes approaching her. “Hello! How are all of you?”

“We’re great! With that portal to Canterlot we were able to go there and we got a lot more candy than usual this year!” Sweetie Belle said, with a large smile.

“Nice costume! What are you dressed up as?” Applebloom inquired.

Pixel quickly put her helmet back on and said, “I’m a soldier from the Human Kingdom! This is the armor they wear, and the weapons they use! Daddy made them for me. Best of all, the armor is real, not just a costume! The weapons are too, but I’m less happy about that…”

“Really?! Sweet! Can we look at that thing you’re carrying on your shoulder?” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

Pixel shook her head really fast. “No. Definitely not. I just told you, daddy built real weapons for me. They’re really dangerous, especially the laser barrel on my rifle. All of them are able to kill people in one shot, but the laser also permanently blinds anyone within a certain radius of the beam who either isn’t wearing specialized gear to protect their eyes or doesn’t have augmented eyes like me or daddy because of how extremely bright it is. I don’t intend to use any of them and I’m really worried you might hurt yourselves if I let you mess with them, so no.”

“Why did yer pa give ya somethin’ that dangerous?!” Applebloom inquired, staring at the rifle and the pistol warily.

“He says I need to learn how to use them at some point so it may as well be now. And he trusts me to be responsible with them. So I really can’t let you touch them. It’s for your own safety and the safety of everyone else around us.”

“Alright…” Scootaloo muttered in disappointment. “...Sooo I know you said the laser is too dangerous, but could you at least show us what one or two of the other barrels can do?”

“Hm… No. Not without daddy’s permission, and it being in a controlled environment where I know no one can get hurt. I… I already hurt something once and I hated it… I don’t want to risk doing it again by accident.”

Applebloom grimaced. “Oh, yeah… I heard about that… I saw the big bloodstain that manticore left on the ground outside the barn, and the trail from Big Mac dragging it off back into the Everfree.”

“Mmm…” Pixel whined sadly. “I didn’t mean too… I… I was just so scared and I was trying to get it away from me…”

“Aw, don’t you worry about it none, Pix… I heard how many ponies it hurt here in town… If you hadn’t done what you did, you’da probably have ended up like them… Better that mean ol’ manticore than you or anypony else.” Applebloom stated.

“T-thank you…” Pixel muttered. Even after all this time thinking about what happened with the manticore was still really hard for Pixel, even though she would talk to Isabelle about it some times before her biomancy lessons.

“Well, uh… Want to come to town hall with us? I think Miss Zecora will be telling us about Nightmare Night again, just like last year! You gotta come listen with us! Then we gotta give some of our candy to Nightmare Moon so she doesn’t eat us...”

“Oh, alright. Lead the way.”
> Chapter 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Around three months had passed since the manticore attack and winter was finally coming. Gerhardt had finally managed to pay off his debt to Celestia and Luna with about 20% interest and had purchased a plot of land in the Crystal Empire to build a second factory/operation facility/store where individuals could go to receive augmentations or buy some of the technology he was selling.

His fountain pens in particular were rapidly becoming very popular around Equestria and were slowly starting to replace quills and inkwells. His computers were also becoming very popular among the more scientific and scholarly community for their raw computing power. His cellphones were also gaining some traction, if a bit more slowly than the rest of his technology, as an alternate form of communication over sending letters. His radios had to compete with other fairly well established companies that sold radios, so those were lagging behind a bit but they were still selling.

The Apple family had also finally agreed to have him build a truck for them. He even helped them customize it to suit their needs.

In secret his army of combat golems was steadily growing. He now had about five hundred of them. This was mainly due to the fact he had built several factories along the W, X, Y axes two of which were dedicated solely to building combat golems and were running night and day. He also had several personal mines for metals and crystals along the W, X, Y axes as well, though he was still purchasing materials from Canterlot due to his agreement with Celestia and Luna and so as to not raise any suspicions as to where he was getting all of his resources. Fortunately there didn’t appear to be any intelligent life along the W, X, Y axes so he was able to do all of this relatively unopposed.

The underground levels below his factory in Ponyville were coming along very well. They still had a ways to go but he hoped the barrier generator and the mechanism to raise and lower it as needed would be complete by the end of winter.

He also had a few construction golems working on a ship that would launch into space and deliver objects into orbit. Objects such as orbital telescopes to figure out what exactly was going on with the sky and to prove Celestia and Luna didn’t control the sun or moon, satellites for the handful of cell phone towers that were now scattered across Equestria, and orbital cannons in case war broke out with the Changelings. He already had the first satellite and orbital cannon built and stored in the underground portion of his factory in Ponyville, they were just waiting on the ship which was about 80% of the way to completion. He was certain he would make his goal of putting them in orbit before the year came to an end, which would be in a couple of days.

Isabelle was making him attend therapy every other week. He didn’t see the point but ever since he had started attending he was slowly starting to enjoy his work again, so he supposed they were making progress? He honestly had no idea. He didn’t think anything was wrong with him to begin with, but Isabelle disagreed.

Gerhardt was currently in the underground levels of his factory working on the barrier generator that would protect Ponyville in the event of a Changeling invasion. He actually finished installing a new control system in his old body where his brain used to be and was controlling it remotely to help him with large projects like this. Having two bodies was indeed speeding up the process quite a bit, but it would still take a few months to finish. In fact, having two bodies was one of the only reasons he would be able to finish this particular project by the end of winter.

Suddenly he received a call, looking at the phone number inside his head he saw that it was Twilight. After learning about the phones he was selling, Twilight had made sure to buy one as had Celestia and Luna.

“Hello? Gerhardt?” Twilight said through his built in communication device.

“Yes, Miss Sparkle?” He asked, not pausing in his work even for a moment.

“Um… There’s a situation here in town… Isabelle is freaking out. Something about us enslaving nature and angering some spirit or spirits of nature or something like that?”

“Oh good gods… Really…? Ugh… I suppose I should have seen this coming. Where are the two of you right now?” He inquired, setting down his tools in frustration.

“We’re at a restaurant near Sugar Cube Corner.” Twilight informed him.

Gerhardt hung up the call and immediately teleported to Sugar Cube Corner. It only took him a few seconds to spot Isabelle in a furious argument with some pegasus Gerhardt didn’t recognize. Her face was red with anger and she was shouting. The pegasus was similarly angry and was shouting back at her.

Sighing in annoyance, Gerhardt shook his head. He really didn’t want to deal with this right now. Still he walked over and cast a powerful noise dampening spell on both of their mouths. They were both confused when they were suddenly no longer able to shout.

“I believe that is quite enough of that… You two are going to stop yelling and you are going to have a calm discussion like civilized adults. Before that, Isabelle, I know you’re angry but I need you to tell me what happened. Do you think you can do that without shouting?” Gerhardt asked, giving Isabelle a stern look.

She scowled at him, clearly still absolutely furious, but nodded her head.

“Good.” Gerhardt released the noise dampening spell keeping Isabelle and the Pegasus from speaking.

“Gerhardt! Why didn’t you tell me the ponies have enslaved nature?!” Isabelle demanded the moment the aura disappeared from around Gerhardt’s hand.

“Hey! I don’t know what your problem is, but I’ve already bucking told you we’re just doing our jobs!” The Pegasus said in a slightly raised voice, clearly trying to restrain himself from shouting.

“It never came up. You still haven’t told me what happened.” Gerhardt said, crossing his arms.

“Fine. You’re right… I was enjoying my holiday off work, eating lunch with Twilight when I saw the pegasi messing with the clouds to manipulate the weather! Apparently they’re actually trying to control the seasons themselves and according to this one the Earth Ponies apparently manipulate plants to assist with this!” Isabelle explained, motioning to the pegasus she was just arguing with. “It’s… It’s abhorrent! How have the nature spirits of this world not already gotten angry and attacked them for this?!”

“I don’t know, maybe they’re not insane like you?!” The pegasus snapped back at Isabelle.

“Hey, enough of that! I said, you are both going to have a polite conversation like civilized adults and I meant it! No insulting or antagonizing each other! Now… I apologize for Isabelle’s behavior, sir. Things work very differently where we are from and I suppose she still needs some time to adjust. Elves are especially sensitive to what they consider “crimes against nature” and as Isabelle is a half elf she is similarly sensitive about such things. The Elves view the manipulation of the weather, the seasons, plants and other such things you ponies do on a regular basis as crimes against nature since you are actively controlling nature rather than allowing it to take its natural course. You see where we are from, the spirits of nature are significantly more aggressive than the ones here in Equestria, thus they will try to kill anyone who tries to control nature in any capacity like you ponies do. And the Elves have a very close symbiotic relationship with these spirits, thus the reason why they are so sensitive about such things. So what’s happening here is merely a conflict between two extremely different cultures.”

“Uh huh… I couldn’t care less. I don’t have time for this. I have work to do if winter is going to get here on time.” The pegasus responded before launching himself up into the air and flying away in a huff.

“Isabelle, we need to have a very important discussion. Preferably somewhere private. Where would you like to talk? Your house, my house, or my factory?”

“Your factory.” Isabelle stated, her face still red with anger.

“Would you mind if I come too?” Twilight inquired, walking up to them.

“Very well.” Gerhardt said before teleporting the three of them back to the above ground portion of his factory.

“So, Isabelle, I would like to explain something to you. The ponies have been controlling nature in almost every capacity for over a thousand years. And they have been doing so with zero repercussions whatsoever. I have no idea how or why and I honestly couldn’t care less. Regardless, as a result manipulating nature has become an integral part of their culture. Nothing either of us can say or do will ever change that. So you can’t just go around shouting at random civilians just for doing their jobs. I know you take after the elven half of your heritage quite a bit, but we are no longer on Earth. This isn’t either the Human Kingdom nor the Elven Kingdom. Besides, if the spirits haven't done anything about it yet even after thousands of years of this then logically they must not care quite as much as those from our world. So if the spirits themselves don’t mind then why should you?”

“Hmph… I see your point but… Gods above… This… This is absolutely appalling! To me and my mother’s side of my family. They have enslaved nature itself!” Isabelle stated, starting to calm down a bit but still absolutely infuriated.

“I understand that. However, as I said, there is nothing either of us can do about it. So you are just going to have to learn to live with it.”

“Um, excuse me for interrupting but… are these nature spirits from your world really that bad? Do they really attack you for trying to control the weather or plants?” Twilight inquired.

“Yes. They have driven several species to extinction for less than what you ponies do. And I have been to the Everfree so I can say with absolute certainty, the nature spirits of this world are definitely angry with you ponies. Thus the reason the arcane constructs you call “timberwolves” attack you ponies whenever you enter the Everfree. The spirits are trying to guard their territory from your kind due to your manipulation of nature. Though since they haven’t done anything more than that, I suppose they don’t care so long as you don’t invade their territory. That or something is restraining them from attacking you. It doesn’t matter either way. You ponies are not going to change your entire culture and civilization just because the two of us say you should. Thus the reason I haven’t told you anything about this yet, Miss Sparkle.” Gerhardt explained.

Twilight appeared highly disturbed by this information. “Okay… And how did you not learn we control the seasons, weather, and plants sooner?” She looked at Isabelle in confusion. “You’ve been here for months. Statistically speaking, you should have learned this a lot sooner.”

Isabelle sighed and sat down on top of a wooden crate. “I’ve spent most of every day in the hospital and the evenings teaching Pixel biomancy. And whenever I haven’t been doing either of those, I have been catching up on my painting. It was one of my favorite hobbies before I became a high lord, and ever since becoming a high lord I haven’t had the time to paint at all except on holidays. So I’ve been trying to make up for eighty years worth of time. I planned to start reading about pony culture after spending maybe another month or two of painting because I was and still am quite curious about it. So since I’ve spent the vast majority of my time inside, I haven’t seen any pegasi manipulating the weather or earth ponies controlling plants. Today was the first day off I’ve gotten since coming here, and that’s only because there haven’t been many patients coming in recently and it's apparently a holiday week. So when I was having lunch with you it was the first time I’ve been outside long enough and the first time I was paying enough attention to see any pegasi messing with the weather.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “I see… Well, um… Sorry to change the topic so abruptly but speaking of holidays, since it’s the beginning of winter Hearth’s Warming eve is coming up soon. So do either of you plan to go to the play in Canterlot this year? Oh, and Gerhardt, do you plan to get Pixel any gifts?”

Gerhardt shook his head. “To be perfectly honest, I was completely unaware that another holiday was coming up so soon. I don’t keep up with these things. I’ve never had much interest in any but two very specific holidays from the Human Kingdom, one of which I am no longer able to celebrate. So no offense but the holidays of an alien species are not something I am particularly interested in. However, if exchanging gifts is part of it, similar to the Day of Salvation, then perhaps I can give Pixel another augmentation. This one being unicorn augmentations. No I will not be giving her a horn, that would look ridiculous, but perhaps I can alter her hands in such a way as to allow her fingers to serve the same purpose. I’ll have to experiment a bit. Regardless, I wasn’t planning on giving her unicorn augmentations so soon, but I suppose I can speed up my plans a bit. So when is this “Hearth’s Warming Eve” exactly?”

“It’s in three days. Um… I don’t think giving her the ability to use magic, which I would remind you she already has, is a very good gift. Why not go out and buy her a toy like a stuffed animal or something, or build her something she would genuinely enjoy.” Twilight suggested.

“I suppose I could do that instead… Hm… I’ll have to think about it.” Gerhardt stated.

Twilight nodded and turned her head to look at Isabelle. “What about you, Isabelle? Do you plan to come to the play in Canterlot for Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

Isabelle shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m supposed to stay in Ponyville in case of an emergency at the hospital, but I’ll ask. If they say yes, then most likely. If not, then unfortunately not. Though I do have a question. I have heard that there’s going to be a performance in Canterlot even before you told us just now, but that’s about it. What is it going to be about?”

“Oh! It’s about the origins of Equestria and the three pony tribes coming together and uniting! That’s the entire point of Hearth’s Warming, to celebrate the birth of Equestria!” Twilight explained with a large smile on her face.

Isabelle raised her eyebrows, “Oh? Then I really do wish to come see it! As long as it doesn’t have to do with you ponies enslaving nature and bending it to your will, that is… I’m still positively repulsed that you do such a thing.”

“Uh… Nope. It’s just about the three tribes uniting in the face of adversity and creating Equestria.” Twilight said in a somewhat cautious tone. “If anything, the wendigos were the ones manipulating the weather. Wendigos are malevolent spirits of winter that feed on hatred and disharmony.”

Gerhardt blinked in confusion and stared at Twilight. “Hm? That makes no sense… Spirits don’t require sustenance, and they definitely don’t feed on emotions like the Changelings… Are you sure these creatures are the physical embodiment of the concept of winter? Because spirits are literal concepts given form. So a nature spirit is literally nature itself given form. A spirit of technology is literally technology itself given form. A spirit of war is literally war itself given form. So in the same vein a spirit of winter would be winter itself given form and winter does not feed on hatred. It doesn’t feed on anything. It just exists due to the planet tilting along its axis as it rotates.”

“Uh… Well… They definitely aren’t physical beings. I don’t know what else you would call them.”

Gerhardt frowned. “I’m going to have to build a device to generate hatred so I can research them… Likely in the frozen wasteland around the Crystal Empire where they won’t be able to cause any damage by generating extra cold. Not to mention that is the most likely area for them to inhabit, as I would assume they are arctic dwelling creatures if you believe they are spirits of winter… I should probably wait until summer when it’s warmest just to be safe, to minimize any risk the cold I assume they generate may pose. Thank you, Miss Sparkle. You have just given me a new project to research.”

“Your welcome?” Twilight said in confusion.

“Well, if that’s all I still have work I need to attend to. I’ll speak with the two of you later.” Gerhardt then teleported back into the underground levels of his factory and got back to work on the barrier generator.

A few days passed and Pixel insisted on him bringing her to Canterlot to see the play so with great reluctance he went to go see it with her. He was largely unimpressed. Not by the performance, the actors did a very good job portraying their characters as far as he could tell. His issue was with the story itself. He hated all three leaders of the three tribes. The leader of the unicorns was a stuck up, arrogant, whiny, milksop to borrow a word from Dwarven vocabulary. The leader of pegasi was a hot headed idiot. And the leader of the earth ponies was just an idiot in general. None of them deserved their positions as leaders as far as he was concerned. To him the only lesson to be learned from this story was to have idiotic leaders like those three executed for gross incompetence.

The next morning he was waiting in the living room with the gift he bought for Pixel hidden behind his back as he waited for her to wake up and come down stairs. He didn’t have to wait long.

“I see you’re finally awake. Well, I have something for you.” Gerhardt said as soon as she was in the living room with him.

“You do? What is it?” Pixel inquired excitedly, running up to him.

“Here.” He pulled his arm out from behind his back and handed her a stuffed bear. “I didn’t know what to get you and the pony at the store recommended this. I hope you like it.”

Pixel took the toy bear from him with the largest smile he had ever seen on her face and wrapped it in a big hug. “I love it! Thank you, daddy!”

“Of course, dear. I know you were disappointed that we couldn’t celebrate the Day of Salvation or any other Human holiday, save for the Day of Retribution which we will celebrate, so I suppose this Pony holiday will just have to do as a stand in. I mean part of it involves giving gifts, so it’s already similar to the Day of Salvation in that regard.” Gerhardt explained.

Pixel smiled at him happily. “Daddy, I know you’re really busy but if we’re celebrating Hearth’s Warming can we spend the day together?”

Gerhardt raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms behind his back. “Well, I expected that you would rather spend the day with your friends but if that’s what you want I suppose there are a few projects you can—”

Pixel shook her head. “No, I mean can we spend the day together outside of the lab? I understand you’re really busy but please? Just for today?”

Gerhardt frowned slightly. “Hm… Assuming I did agree to this — which I haven’t yet —, what would we even do? Work is the only thing I really know.”

“I don’t know. We could go for a walk, build snow sculptures, whatever! Oh and I have a few presents I want to deliver!” Pixel exclaimed happily.

Gerhardt sighed. He really didn’t want to do this, but he didn’t want to upset her either. “Fine… If it makes you happy I suppose we can spend the day together. Though just for today. Would you like to deliver these gifts now or later?”

“Later! Maybe this afternoon or this evening. For now, let’s go for a walk!” Pixel chirped before running to the front door.

Gerhardt shook his head and followed after her.

As soon as they were outside Pixel grabbed Gerhardt’s right hand and smiled up at him, her stuffed bear held tightly in her other arm. He was a bit surprised but he didn’t try to withdraw his hand.

“So, where do you want to go? Or do you not have anywhere in particular in mind?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I don’t really have anywhere in mind. For now let’s just walk through the town, and maybe Canterlot if we wander over that direction.”

“As you wish.” Gerhardt then began leading her on a randomly generated path through Ponyville that would eventually lead them through the portal arch at the train station into Canterlot.

“Daddy, can you tell me a story of your time back on Earth?” Pixel requested as they started to walk.

Gerhardt looked down at her. “Are you sure? Most of my stories are either really boring or really violent. I don’t think you would particularly enjoy them.”

Pixel nodded. “Mhm! I don’t mind if they’re violent. You don’t need to tone it down or filter any of it for me. I want to know what Earth is like. What it’s really like.”

“If that’s what you want… What time period of my life would you like to know about? I am 893 years old so you may choose from the first through the ninth century of my life.”

“Hm… What were the most important periods of your life?”

“All of them. Every century had something that made them particularly important and memorable to me such as different wars and projects.”

“Oh… Alright, could you tell me the story of the first major war you ever participated in?” Pixel requested.

“Ah. The first major war I participated in would be the 461st military campaign the Human Kingdom waged on the Goblin Autocracy which occurred when I was thirty two years old. We won, of course… Oh but I’m getting ahead of myself.” Gerhardt began telling the story of the extermination campaigns the Human Kingdom waged on the goblins and the reasons behind it.

The story, which Pixel had insisted on hearing in every detail, took about two hours for Gerhardt to tell in full. At certain parts Pixel was absolutely horrified by the brutality of war and at other points she was on the verge of crying from the tragic sacrifices made by soldiers and the deaths of innocent civilians on both sides among a range of different emotional reactions. That was in spite of Gerhardt trying to tell it as accurately as possible without exaggerating or glorifying any details. In his opinion war was not something to be glorified in any capacity and attempting to do so was a disservice to those who gave their lives fighting it.

There was no honor or glory to be earned in war. There were no heroic last stands or any other fictitious crap portrayed in children's story books. No. War was bloody, brutal, slow, occasionally boring, and most often painfully strategic and involved. There were occasionally exceptions to this rule, such as when one side or the other was invading a city or there was a particularly large battle for some strategically important military base or another. However, even then the only major difference was that the pace of the fighting and the body count increased a bit otherwise it was largely the same. Carefully calculated strategy was always employed no matter the situation. Human wave tactics and similar poor or outdated strategies like those portrayed in fictional stories made by civilians were pretty much never used. And he made sure to convey all of that as accurately as he possibly could.

By the time Gerhardt’s story was over the two of them were walking through Canterlot.

“Daddy, what happened to the Goblins after the war was over?” Pixel inquired.

“Well, their military and industrial capabilities were crippled for quite some time afterwards. This spanned from the end of the war all the way to the First Necromantic War. Unfortunately, their lack of military left them defenseless when Caedes invented Necromancy and went rogue. So while this wasn’t the Human Kingdom’s intention the Goblins were one of the first species to be driven to extinction and turned into an army of undead when the First Necromantic War started. They weren’t the only species that met this fate, but they were one of the first.” Gerhardt explained, remembering having to protect various tanks, heavy combat golems, and transports from hordes of undead goblins during the First Necromantic War.

“Oh… That’s… That’s sad…” Pixel muttered looking at the ground.

Gerhardt shrugged. “I disagree, but then, admittedly, I suppose I am a bit biased. Are there any other stories you wish to hear?”

“Hm… Nah. I’m still thinking about the one you just told me. Right now I sort of want to build a snow sculpture. I know!  How about we go to the Frozen North! There’s tons of snow there! I can teleport us!”

“If that’s what you want. I’m following your lead today since we aren’t working in my lab or factory. We can do whatever you desire, so long as it’s legal.” Gerhardt told her.

Pixel smiled at him and teleported them to the snowy wasteland between the Crystal Empire and the Train Station.

“Is there a particular design you have in mind? Also, do you wish for me to assist you or should we make two separate sculptures?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Well, a few of my friends have mentioned making snow ponies and snow forts. So how about we make one of those?” Pixel suggested.

“Snow is a horrible material to make a fort out of. It’s far too weak and easily destroyed even when packed and compressed. Hm… I suppose we could just turn it into ice after the snow is in place and we have molded and carved it to the proper shape. Though ice is also an extremely weak material…”

“Daddy, it doesn’t have to be very strong. No one is going to attack it. It just needs to look like a fort.” Pixel told him.

“Ah. Very well. In that case this will be much easier. Though perhaps we should still turn the snow to ice so we can go to the different floors without worrying about them collapsing underneath our weight?” Gerhardt suggested.

Pixel tilted her head in confusion. “Hm? It’s going to have multiple floors?”

“Indeed. While forts have been out of date for around a hundred thousand years due to modern technology, they always had multiple levels as they always had walls. Soldiers would be stationed on those walls to hold back any hostile forces laying siege to them. Often regular soldiers would be armed with weapons such as bows or crossbows as forts were used well before the invention of modern firearms. Mages would almost always also be stationed on the walls, both to provide extra protection via arcane barriers and to cast combat or war spells and curses at the invading forces. Plus the soldiers would always need somewhere to sleep, somewhere to store rations and other resources, a command center to plan future invasions against their enemies using the forts as bases of operations, and other such things. Occasionally they would also have guard towers.” Gerhardt explained.

Pixel nodded in understanding. “Oh… That makes sense… Okay! We can make it out of ice!”

“Very good.” Gerhardt stated before sending Pixel a virtual 3d model he had just created for the fort. “Feel free to make any additions to those schematics you wish. Just be sure to send the updated version to me so I know what you wish to do.”

“Okay!” Pixel exclaimed. She then sent him an updated version of the fort almost immediately.

Gerhardt studied the virtual model for a moment. The only difference he could find was a small sculpture of the two of them in the middle of the courtyard. He honestly didn’t see the point of this addition but he was fine with it. It would only take them a few seconds to make.

“Alright. Now, let’s get started, shall we?” Gerhardt then raised a hand and began using telekinesis to form, compress, and shape a large amount of snow into what would become the front entrance wall of the fort. Pixel followed his lead and began doing the same thing to make one of the towers that would be connected to the front entrance wall. When those were finished, the two of them began casting spells to turn the packed snow into solid ice. They then continued to repeat this process over and over again until the outer walls were complete. Finally they began working on making the buildings inside the walls. Whenever they would run out of snow, they would just create portals and pull a few more tons through from a bit further away in the icy wasteland.

The entire process took about five hours in total. By the end of it they had made what was essentially an entire walled town a bit larger than Ponyville completely out of ice and Gerhardt’s arcane energy reserves were almost completely depleted. He had built half of it while Pixel built the other half, and the process was quite energy intensive. He was honestly surprised that he had managed to stretch his energy reserves to get as much work done as he had.

Pixel had just finished making the large twenty foot tall sculpture of her and Gerhardt in the middle of the town inside the ice fort. The sculpture depicted the two of them holding hands and smiling happily, the ice Pixel was also holding an icy version of the toy bear Gerhardt had given her in a one armed hug.

Having just finished the last building and finally run out of energy, Gerhardt approached Pixel and stood next to her staring up at the massive ice sculpture. “Well, this was quite the project. I have to say I'm impressed. I didn’t think we would actually finish it all today.”

Pixel nodded and smiled at him. “Yeah. I had lots of fun! Thank you for building it with me, daddy!”

Gerhardt nodded and gave her a small smile in return. “Of course, dear. Now I suppose we should choose a building and rest for an hour or two. My arcane energy reserves are all the way down to 2%, so I don’t have enough to bring us back to Ponyville at the moment. Unless you want to do it? You are far stronger than me. What are your energy reserves at?”

“Oh! I’m at 65%. I have more than enough to bring us back to Ponyville whenever we want. But first I would like to walk around and take a look at the finished product if you don’t mind!”

Gerhardt shrugged. “As you wish. However, it’s 3:28 pm so we should probably hurry if you still wish to deliver those gifts to your friends today. After all, I assume you will want to deliver them in person.”

Pixel nodded. “Okay. It will just be a quick look around, I promise!” Grabbing him by the hand again, the two of them began walking around taking in the sights of the town.

The buildings were perfectly designed, were designed more like human buildings rather than the comparatively small pony buildings, and were even fully functional. All of them even had functional doors and windows. A few of them even had fireplaces, though those were significantly less functional since they would melt if someone lit a fire inside of them since they were made of ice. Though none of the buildings had any furniture in them.

Similarly the walls were about thirty feet tall and had machicolations just like the walls of historical forts had, and the front and back gates were both fully functional and could be raised and lowered via thick chains attached to a pulley system. The chains were also made of ice, of course, but Gerhardt and Pixel had magically reinforced them so they wouldn’t break. Both entrances were wide enough to fit a two lane road built for cars. In fact, all of the roads in the town inside the walls were designed with cars in mind, and there were sidewalks made of ice for people to walk along. Of course the ice that made up the sidewalks was textured to minimize the risk of anyone slipping on them, since Gerhardt was absolutely certain this place would be discovered sooner or later.

After another thirty minutes, Pixel finally teleported them back to Ponyville. “Alright, let’s get to giving everyone their gifts! Come on, daddy!” She immediately began leading him through Ponyville the moment they were back.

Their first stop was Twilight’s Library. Pixel knocked on the door. “Hello? Miss Twilight? Are you home?”

“Come in!” Twilight’s voice called back from the other side of the door.

Pixel pushed the door open and the two of them entered the library.

“Hello, what are you two doing here today?” Twilight inquired, putting the book she had very clearly been reading back on its shelf.

Pixel teleported two wrapped boxes to her, and grabbed them with telekinesis. She then levitated them over to Twilight and Spike. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Miss Twilight! One of them is for you, the other is for Spike!”

Twilight appeared quite surprised by this, but took her present while Spike did the same. “Oh! I appreciate the gesture but you really didn’t need to get either of us anything.”

“Maybe not, but you two are my friends so I wanted to! I got presents for all of my friends! I hope you enjoy them!” Pixel responded with a large smile on her face.

Twilight chuckled and smiled back at her. “Well, that’s very kind and generous of you. Thank you very much.”

“So, do you mind if we open them now? Mine is… surprisingly… heavy!” Spike inquired, lifting his present and struggling to keep it up off the ground.

“Go ahead! I would love for you to open them! After all, that’s sort of the point isn’t it? They aren’t very good presents if you can’t open them.”

Having Pixel’s permission, Spike immediately began ripping his present open. Twilight rolled her eyes at this and proceeded to open hers as well.

Spike gasped as he tore open the wooden box his present was contained in and revealed a massive, perfect, lab grown ruby that was easily just as large as he was. “Sweet Celestia, this thing is huge!”

“Mhm! I heard you dragons eat gems so I made you a really big ruby! I hope you like it!”

“Like it? I love it! Thank you, Pixel!” Spike exclaimed.

“Just try not to eat it all at once Spike.” Twilight commented as she opened the cardboard box her present was stored in and pulled out a computer and illusion projector that would serve as the monitor. “Is this…?”

“Yep! I know you were thinking about buying a computer from daddy so I built you one myself! It’s a lot bigger than the ones he sells but it's also about five times more powerful! Congratulations, Miss Twilight, you now have the single most powerful computer in the world! Well, for now anyway. I even made a few games and installed them on it for you!” Pixel explained.

“Thank you so much! I… I can already do so much with the cell phone I bought from him… I can only imagine all the things I can do with this!”

“I’m glad you both like your gifts! We have to go now. We still have more gifts to deliver to all my other friends!”

“Okay. See you later, Pix! Thanks again for the ruby!” Spike said as Pixel and Gerhardt turned to leave.

Their next stop was Isabelle’s house. Once again Pixel knocked on the door. “Miss Isabelle? It’s me Pixel! Are you there?”

“It’s open.” Isabelle’s voice responded.

The two of them entered and saw Isabelle standing next to a canvas on an easel. She had clearly been in the middle of painting. And by the looks of it, Gerhardt assumed she had been painting a picture of the capital city of the Human Kingdom.

“Hello, Pixel. Gerhardt. How are the two of you today?” Isabelle inquired, setting down her brush and palette on a nearby table.

“I’m doing great! How are you?” Pixel returned the question.

“I’m doing as well as I can, I suppose. What can I do for you?”

Pixel teleported another gift to her and levitated it over to Isabelle. “Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Isabelle raised her eyebrows in surprise and took the wrapped box before she began tearing open the wrapping. Opening up the cardboard box underneath she pulled out a solid gold statue of the same symbol that was on her shoulder. A stylized heart with a pentagram in the middle of it. “Oh my. Now this is interesting.”

Pixel gave her a sheepish look. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to make for you. You already have your own art supplies and I didn’t think you would want a brand new set of surgical tools so I made this for you instead. I hope you like it!”

Isabelle smiled at Pixel and shook her head. “There’s no need to apologize. I like it. Thank you very much, Pixel. If anything I’m the one who should be sorry since I didn’t get you anything in return.”

“You're welcome, and that’s fine! I already got the best present ever today, I don’t need anything else! Well, we should let you get back to your painting. Bye, Miss Isabelle!”

“Good bye. I’ll talk to you later.” Isabelle responded.

Next they went to Sugar Cube Corner and were immediately intercepted by Pinkie Pie. “Hiya, Pix! Hey, Gears! How are you two doing today?” She then noticed the stuffed bear Pixel was carrying and gasped. “Pix, you have a super cute stuffed bear!”

Pixel chuckled at Pinkie Pie’s antics. “We’re doing great, and thank you very much! Daddy gave it to me!”

“He did?! That’s great! I was suuuuper worried he wouldn’t get you anything for Hearth’s Warming!”

“Speaking of gifts, happy Hearth’s Warming, Miss Pinkie!” Pixel said before teleporting another present to her freehand and holding it out for Pinkie to take.

“You got me a gift? Aw, Pix, you shouldn’t have!” Pinkie said before taking the present.

“I wanted to! You’re my friend and I got presents for all of my closest friends! Oh, but don’t open it just yet. I actually have presents for Mr. and Mrs. Cake too! Though I didn’t get anything for Pound Cake or Carrot Cake since I’m not sure what sort of presents would be appropriate for such young foals… Either way I just thought all three of you might want to open your presents together.” Pixel said as she teleported two more gifts to her hand, one stacked on top of the other.

“Oh my goodness! Thank you! And don’t worry about Pound Cake or Carrot Cake, they got plenty of presents this year!” Pinkie said as she placed her gift on her back before taking Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s gifts and stacking them on top of her gift. She somehow managed to balance all three boxes on her back without any trouble.

“I didn’t get you anything this year, but here! Have a cupcake! It’s on the house!” Pinkie said before rushing inside Sugar Cube Corner and rushing back out with a cupcake on a plate in less than a second. The boxes on her back were gone suggesting she already put them down inside.

Pixel smiled and took the cupcake and said, “Thank you, Miss Pinkie!” before taking a bite.

“No problem!” Pinkie said before proceeding to bounce back inside Sugar Cube Corner.

Their next stop was Applejack’s farm, where they found Applejack and Big Mac clearing out some of the snow around the farm house.

“Hey Miss Applejack, I hope we’re not interrupting too much!” Pixel called out as she and Gerhardt walked up to her.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. This snow ain't goin’ nowhere. It can wait a few minutes. What can I do for y'all?” 

Pixel teleported another four presents over to them. “Happy Hearth’s Warming! I got a present for you, Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith! Don’t worry about getting them confused, they’re all labeled.”

“Well gosh darn if this ain’t a surprise! You really didn’t need to go through the trouble to get any of us anything. Thank you, Pixel. Just set them down next to the house, out of the snow. I’m sure everypony will love whatever ya got for us!” Applejack said, looking at the presents.

Pixel levitated the presents over to the porch of the farm house. “I hope you do! We still have a few more presents left to deliver so we should get going. I’ll talk to you later, Miss Applejack!”

In order to save time, Pixel teleported her and Gerhardt to their next destination, the carousel boutique. The sign on the front said, “open" so the two of them just walked inside.

“Oh, good day. What can I do for you two?” Rarity inquired as she looked up from what she was doing.

Pixel teleported another two presents to her and levitated them over to Rarity. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Miss Rarity! I made you and Sweetie Belle presents!”

“Oh my! Why thank you, darling. I’m sorry, I didn’t get you or Gerhardt anything. Hm… I’ll make it up to you by making you a lovely scarf, how does that sound?”

Pixel shook her head. “It’s fine. I made you presents because I wanted to, not because I wanted anything in return!”

“Well that’s very generous of you, darling. Sweetie Belle’s out playing with her friends right now, but when she gets back I will make sure she gets your present.” Rarity said, smiling at Pixel.

“Thank you, Miss Rarity! I’ll talk to you later!”

“Of course! I’ll see you later.”

When they were outside again Pixel began looking up at the sky and saw Rainbow Dash flying overhead.

“Sorry, daddy. I’ll be right back.” Pixel said before releasing his hand and taking off after Rainbow Dash.

Gerhardt watched Pixel catch up to Rainbow Dash and have a short conversation before handing her a present. They exchanged a few more words, then Pixel flew back down to Gerhardt and grabbed his hand again. Pixel then teleported them to Fluttershy’s cottage, where they saw Fluttershy feeding a few animals that hadn’t gone to hibernate for the winter. Goldy was nowhere in sight, indicating it was likely either flying around somewhere or it was inside taking a nap.

“Hey, Miss Fluttershy!” Pixel called out as the two of them walked over to her.

Fluttershy jolted slightly, clearly startled by this but she quickly recovered and turned around to see the two of them. “Oh, hi. How are you two today?” Fluttershy inquired.

“We’re great!” Pixel responded before teleporting another present to her and levitating it over to Fluttershy. “Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Fluttershy seemed a bit surprised but took the present from Pixel. “Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything…” Fluttershy muttered.

Pixel smiled at her. “I know. I just wanted to! I made gifts for all of my closest friends!”

“I see… In that case, thank you very much.”

“Of course! Sorry, I would stay to talk longer but I have four more presents to deliver.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I don’t mind… Feel free to come by for tea some time!” Fluttershy responded in an understanding tone.

Before Pixel could teleport them anywhere again, Gerhardt turned and began walking away from Fluttershy’s cottage bringing Pixel along with him. Once Fluttershy was out of earshot Gerhardt asked, “Four more? I think I know who you have in mind, but I would like confirmation from you. Who are those gifts for?”

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor. Why?” Pixel asked, slightly confused.

Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “I suspected as much… Pixel, they are royalty. The leaders of two separate kingdoms. We can’t just teleport in and interrupt whatever they’re doing to give them gifts. What if they’re in the middle of important diplomatic negotiations and we interrupt? We could get in a lot of trouble. No. Instead of just going and barging in, I’m going to send them messages first to see if they’re busy. If they’re not then I suppose we can go to see them, but if they are then you will either just have to wait or send them their gifts rather than giving them to them in person.”

“Okay, daddy. I want to give them their presents in person but I don’t want to get in trouble…” Pixel muttered looking down at the ground.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad. I’m just being cautious as I have experience in dealing with the leaders of nations. For now, let’s just head home. I promise this should only take a few minutes. Maybe a bit longer if they’re in the middle of something, but that’s the point. If they’re in the middle of something we don’t want to interrupt them anyways.”

As the two of them walked back to their house, Gerhardt sent a text message to Celestia’s phone. ‘Forgive me, but are you and Princess Luna too terribly busy this evening?’

He received a response surprisingly fast. ‘I’m in the middle of a public appearance right now, and Luna is sleeping but we might have a bit of time later on. Why?’

‘I see. Well, that’s why I sent a message ahead of time. I didn’t want to just teleport over in case you were in the middle of a meeting or something. Apparently Pixel has gifts to give you, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor for this “Hearth’s Warming” holiday. I believe she plans to teleport us to Canterlot to give the two of you your gifts in person, then plans to teleport us to the Crystal Empire to give Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor their presents.’

‘Oh really? That’s fine. I’ll call you when I’m finished with this and Luna is awake. Actually, I am in the mood to visit the Crystal Empire so perhaps she can give all four of us our gifts together. It would be nice to have dinner with Cadance and Shining Armor.’

‘If that’s more convenient for you or if that’s what you want to do then as you wish. I see no reason to refuse. I’m sure she would enjoy talking to you four a bit. After all, she apparently considers you four some of her closest friends otherwise I don’t think she would have made gifts for you to begin with. Though I’ll send a message to Shining Armor and Cadance to see what they think first. I’ll let you know what they said when Pixel and I come to deliver your gifts later.’

There were no further messages after that. Eventually Gerhardt and Pixel reached their home. Gerhardt immediately retrieved a piece of paper and wrote Cadance and Shining Armor explaining everything and informing them what Celestia had planned, and asking if they had time. When he was finished, he had Pixel teleport it to the throne room of the castle in the Crystal Empire for him since his arcane energy reserves hadn’t had time to recharge after helping her build the ice fort. A few minutes later he received a letter back informing him that they had time and would love to have dinner with the four of them.

While they waited, Gerhardt told Pixel another story about another major war in his life. At exactly 6:57 pm his story was interrupted as he received a call from Celestia through his built in communication device. “Hello, Celestia. I assume you have time now?”

“Yes. I’m done with everything I had to do today and Luna just woke up. You and Pixel may come over now. We’re waiting in the throne room.” Celestia responded.

“Very well. We’ll be right there.” Gerhardt said before hanging up the call. He then looked at Pixel and said, “I apologize but it seems we’ll have to cut this story short. Celestia and Luna finally have time to meet with us.”

“Okay, but can you finish telling me the story later?” Pixel requested.

“Of course, dear.” Gerhardt responded before raising a hand and teleporting them to Canterlot Castle. Several hours had passed so his energy reserves had recharged enough for him to do at least that much. As soon as they arrived they saw the Princesses waiting for them.

“So, what did Cadance and Shining Armor have to say?” Celestia inquired.

“They said they have time and they would love to have dinner with us.”

“Wonderful! In that case…” Luna said before her horn started to glow and she teleported all four of them to the throne room of the castle in the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor and Cadance were waiting for them.

“Aunties!” Cadance exclaimed before rushing over to Celestia and Luna and nuzzling them.

The two of them returned the gesture. “Hello, Cadance. How have things been here in the Empire?”

“Things have been well. Shining Armor and his soldiers have been doing a lot of training and practice with the new equipment Gerhardt sold us. In fact, shining armor has been spending a lot of time in the combat simulators Gerhardt sold him.” Cadance has explained.

“Yeah. I have to say, Gerhardt, those simulations are really hard. I’ve only won any of the scenarios about… five maybe six times? But I’m getting a lot better! In a few more months I’m sure I’ll be winning more often than I lose.” Shining Armor stated confidently.

Cadance nodded. “I actually tried out the combat simulator once myself… Sweet harmony, it was horrific. Did you really have to make them that gory?”

Gerhardt nodded. “Indeed I did. He requested I make them as realistic as possible so I did. That is simply the nature of war. Real war. And that is exactly how those particular species and factions would act.”

Celestia cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Excuse me, what? What do you mean new equipment? What are combat simulators and what do you mean by “gory”? Can somepony please explain?”

Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance looked at eachother. “I thought you wrote them a letter about this!” Cadance said to Shining Armor.

“I thought you did!” Shining Armor responded.

Gerhardt sighed and rested his face in one of his hands. “Gods damn it… I’ll explain it all to you two over dinner. For now, Pixel, didn’t you have things you wanted to give them?”

Pixel nodded. “Mhm!” She then teleported four gifts to her and levitated them to the respective individuals they were meant for. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, everyone! I hope you like your gifts! I made them all myself!”

All of them proceeded to open their gifts. Inside Cadance’s present was a life sized model of the Crystal Heart, the only difference being the fact that carved in the middle was an image of her and Shining Armor. Inside Shining Armor’s present was an illusion projector that would alternate between displaying Canterlot and the Crystal Empire every few seconds. Inside Celestia’s present was a stylized model of the sun made of gold that was designed to look exactly like her cutiemark. And finally, inside Luna’s present was a model of the moon made of silver that was designed to look exactly like her cutiemark.

“Aww! Thank you, Pixel! I love it!” Cadance said as she looked at the carved image in the crystal heart.

“Yeah, thank you! Is there a way to make it stay on either the Crystal Empire or Canterlot and manually switch it, or does it just permanently alternate on its own?” Shining Armor inquired.

“I love this model of my cutiemark, thank you. Though what does this button do?” Celestia asked before pressing the button. Suddenly an illusion of the sun appeared above it. The actual sun, not a stylized one like the model or Celestia’s cutiemark.

“Indeed, thank you. Mine is also quite well made… It has a button as well.” Luna said before pressing the button. Suddenly the room seemed to get really dark and little motes of light appeared filling the air making it appear as though the six of them were in space surrounded by stars.

Pixel smiled at them, her eyes glowing slightly brighter than normal as she was glad they enjoyed their gifts. “You're welcome everyone! Princess Cadance, I know how much you care about the Crystal Empire and love Prince Shining Armor so I thought you might enjoy something like this.”

Cadance smiled back at her and nodded. “That’s very thoughtful of you, Pixel.”

Pixel then turned her head to look at Shining Armor. “Prince, there’s a button on the side of the projector. Just press it and it will just display the Crystal Empire, press it again and it will just display Canterlot, press it a third time and it will revert back to alternating between the two. I know you were the captain of the Royal Guard, so I thought you might enjoy something to remind you of everything you strive to defend.”

“Oh! This makes a lot more sense now! Thank you very much!” Shining Armor said, looking at the illusion of the stars all around him.

Pixel looked at Luna. “Princess Luna, I know how much you like the night so I thought you might like this. This way you can have the night and the stars with you wherever you want! Also, if you keep it near your bed during the day when you sleep it should be able to record your dreams so you can re-watch any of them you want whenever you want! Press the button again to display an illusory screen that will let you select and play back your dreams whenever you want! Then just press it a third time to turn it off.”

Luna smiled at her. “Why thank you! I love it! I may use this during the day to project the stars all around me while I’m sleeping. This is a wonderful gift!

Finally Pixel looked at Celestia. “Princess Celestia, I know you enjoy the sun and daylight. As such I made this for you so you could have the sun with you any time you want, even at night! Though it isn’t bright enough to blind you or keep you awake at night. Also if you press the button again it will instead make a large beautiful rainbow that will adjust to fit whatever room you’re in! Just like Luna's, all you need to do is press it a third time to turn it off.”

Princess Celestia smiled at Pixel. “I might use its rainbow setting in the throne room to liven it up a bit every so often! Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it.”

The two celestial princesses turned off their gifts and teleported them back to their respective bedrooms in Canterlot. Cadance and Shining Armor did the same thing and teleported their gifts to their bedroom elsewhere in the castle.

“Well, that was nice! So how about we head to the dining hall and start dinner? I’m starving.” Shining Armor suggested. The princesses and Pixel all agreed with him. Gerhardt didn’t care. He was only here for Pixel.

Almost as soon as they sat down and everyone who was able to eat started eating, Gerhardt did as he said he would and began explaining all of the technology he sold to Prince Shining Armor. When he was finished explaining, Celestia sighed and shook her head. “Why am I not surprised… Shining Armor, I suppose I understand your reasoning behind wanting better military technology, but don’t you think those combat simulators are a bit much? When we first met, Gerhardt showed me some of his memories so I know what war is like in his world. The worst of what it can be at least. I’m worried that going into simulations of his world’s form of war that you believe are completely real while you’re inside may lead to you or your soldiers developing a form of posttraumatic stress disorder.”

“Well, I have to admit, fighting the Ghouls in the simulations is really bucking harsh… to say the least. However there haven’t been any reports of anypony developing such issues from the simulations so far.” Shining Armor stated.

“Just… If you’re going to keep using the simulators just keep an eye on your soldiers and keep me informed on if any of them start showing signs of developing mental issues.”

Shining Armor nodded. “I will. The point is to prepare them for any situation, no matter how harsh. I definitely don’t want to mentally scar them.”

“On a more casual note, how was your day Pixel?” Princess Cadance inquired, trying to change the topic to something more friendly and light hearted.

“It was great! Daddy gave me this!” She then set down her silverware and held up her stuffed bear for the four of them to see. “After that I got to spend the entire day with him! We went on a walk for a couple hours and he told me a story of the first major war he fought in. After that we came here to the Frozen North and built a snow fort between the Crystal Empire and the train station! Well… It’s more of an Ice fort since we turned all of the snow into ice since Ice is stronger than snow, but still. It was made out of snow at one point!”

“It's also larger than Ponyville.” Gerhardt added.

Hearing that Princess Luna nearly choked on her food. The rest of the ponies were similarly surprised. “W-what?! What do you mean it’s larger than Ponyville?” Luna exclaimed after she managed to stop choking.

“I mean exactly what I said. She asked me to help her build a snow fort, so I helped her build a fully functional ice fort. If the buildings weren’t made of ice it would actually be fully inhabitable… Actually, I think there are a few alchemical reagents I can create to turn the ice into another form of crystal with a much higher melting point so no. It can actually be fully inhabitable if we decided to make it so. It’s effectively an entire town made entirely of ice, surrounded by defensive fortress walls that are also made of Ice. Everything is fully functional from the doors to the windows and even the front and back entrance gates.”

“That… Gerhardt, when foals say they want to make snow forts they don’t mean they want to build actual forts! H-how did you even do all of this in a single day?!” Celestia exclaimed.

“Magic of course. We used telekinesis on the snow to make the walls and the buildings out of snow. Then we cast spells to turn the packed snow into ice. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think we would be able to finish it all in one day but working with snow as building materials made it far easier than I anticipated. Though by the time we were finished, I only had 2% of my arcane energy reserves. Pixel is, of course, far more powerful than I am so she still had 65% of her energy left despite us splitting the work 50/50. So she had to teleport us back to Ponyville since I couldn’t.”

“Hm… I know it’s late, but do you think you could show us this ice fort after dinner or something? I’m sort of curious as to what it looks like. Also, I’m a bit worried it might have to be torn down at some point if it’s in the path between the train station and the Crystal Empire. We can’t have it obstructing the path.” Shining Armor said with a somewhat concerned expression on his face.

Gerhardt raised a hand dismissively and shook his head. “Oh no. I assure you it won’t obstruct traffic in the least. I designed it specifically so the streets are large enough to fit a two lane paved road made for cars. And there is a relatively straight path between the front and back entrance gates. The only obstruction would be the statue Pixel built in the middle of the fort. Though there is a very clear road around it. Though even if we do have to destroy it, we can just build it again somewhere less in the way. I still have the virtual 3D model saved in my internal memory banks. Regardless, I suppose we can show it to you after dinner if you desire.”

“That would be appreciated, thank you.” Cadance stated.

After that they had a bit more casual conversation until all five of those who could eat had finished their dinner. After that Gerhardt teleported the six of them to the ice fort he and Pixel had built. Unfortunately it was dark out so he was forced to cast a spell to create a bright ball of light that floated above them and followed them around. Normally he would have just increased the brightness of his eyes until they functioned like flashlights, but they came to let the prince and princesses look at the fort. So greater visibility than what his eyes at maximum brightness could provide was preferable.

They started right outside the front gate. As soon as Gerhardt created the orb of light to better illuminate everything Shining Armor said, “Wow… You two, uh… You went all out while making this place huh?”

Pixel smiled at him and nodded. “Yup! It was really fun! I think I want to do it again some time!”

“Alright we don’t mind you building these, at least in theory. But next time please ask us if it’s okay to build them in whatever location you want to make them or not.” Cadance requested.

“Oh. Okay. I’m sorry…” Pixel muttered in response.

“It’s okay, Pixel. Neither you or Gerhardt are in any trouble. Right now we just want to take a look around.” Shining Armor told her.

“I have to say, you two did a very good job in constructing this place. From what little I can see in this relatively low light, it looks absolutely beautiful!” Celestia stated, looking around at the icy fort.

Pixel smiled at her. “If you think it’s pretty now, just wait until you see the town inside! Come on, daddy and I will show you!” She then began jogging off towards the inside of the fort, using her eyes as flashlights to light her way.

Gerhardt motioned for the Shining Armor and the Princesses to follow and began walking after Pixel. As soon as they passed the front entrance, Pixel ran up to the crank that operated the gate and said, “Look! The gate actually works!” She then began twisting the crank and lowering the gate. Once it was all the way down, she began spinning the crank in the other direction and raising the gate back up. Finally she locked the crank back in place so the gate wouldn’t fall shut again on its own.

“This is… Why? Why go into so much fine detail for a project you apparently only spent a few hours on?” Luna inquired, looking at the gate.

“Why not? We had the time to spend on it and it didn’t take that much extra effort. Besides, if you are going to do something you may as well do it right.” Gerhardt responded. “Like I said. Everything in this fort is fully functional. Well, except for the fireplaces but that goes without saying since everything here is made of solid ice which would melt if exposed to any actual heat. Regardless, the gates, the doors, the windows, everything that is supposed to move in a normal building can move as it is supposed to.” Gerhardt explained.

“I see. Well, would you mind if the four of us split up and went off to explore a bit on our own?” Luna inquired.

Gerhardt nodded and motioned for them to go ahead. “By all means. Explore as much as you like. Pixel and I will be waiting by the statue in the middle of the fort until the four of you are finished looking around. Feel free to go into any of the buildings you want. There is no furniture but that’s quite literally the only thing that is missing from them. Just remember it’s all ice so strong impacts and other such things can break anything and everything you see here.”

The four of them nodded and split up. Cadance and Shining Armor went off to explore together while Celestia and Luna split up and went off to explore on their own.

Pixel and Gerhardt went to wait by the statue as Gerhardt said they would. They waited for a solid forty seven minutes before everyone returned.

“Well… I have to say, this place is way too nice to just tear down. Hm… Hey Gerhardt, during dinner you said something about being able to turn the ice into crystal. So how much would it cost to turn the entire fort into crystal?” Princess Cadance inquired. “Oh, also, I love the statue. It’s very cute!”

Gerhardt took a few microseconds to run some calculations in his head. “Well it partially depends on the type of crystal you want me to turn it into. The cheapest type of crystal to turn it into would be quartz which would cost approximately ten thousand bits for the materials to create the amount of alchemical reagent necessary for such a process. The most expensive but strongest crystals would be an opaque form of diamond or corundum crystals. I specify opaque because walls are not meant to be translucent. That’s what windows are for. Regardless, that would cost twenty to twenty five thousand bits for the materials to create the reagents. Though if I were to charge my normal rates it would cost about twelve thousand and thirty thousand respectively.”

“Well, considering how much it would cost to build an entire town like this, thirty thousand is actually pretty cheap. Plus It would generate some revenue as travelers on their way to the Empire would have a place to stop and warm up for a bit before finishing the rest of the journey there, and would spend money on hot food and drinks. And it's big enough that ponies could have their own shops and businesses.” Shining Armor muttered to himself, trying to consider whether the benefits outweighed the cost. “What do you think, Cadance?”

“I think we should go for it! I mean it’s a win win. The Crystal Empire gets a new town for relatively cheap and Gerhardt and Pixel’s hard work making all of this doesn’t have to go to waste!” Cadance stated.

“Alright. I suppose… We’ll take the thirty thousand option. However, I would also like you to make something to ensure it’s blizzard proof so the ponies living here in the future don’t have to worry about being trapped inside their homes for extended periods of time if the weather ever gets too bad.” Shining Armor stated.

“So you want it all made from diamond. Understood. And very well. I can do that cheaply enough that I won't even throw on any extra cost. It will take me a few days to make enough of the alchemical reagent and to build the barrier generator to protect it from the snow, and it will take another day or two for me to apply the reagent and turn it all into diamond.”

Cadance smiled at him. “If that’s all the time you need, that’s perfectly fine. There isn’t any major rush.”

“Hm… Well, I will be interested in seeing this place once it’s finally habitable. I’m sure it will be a lovely town when it’s finished! Though that does beg the question, what will it be named? Gerhardt, Pixel, you two built it so do either of you have any suggestions?” Celestia inquired.

Gerhardt shook his head. “Not particularly, no.”

“Hm… How about Ice Town? Or Fort Ice?” Pixel suggested.

“That’s a bit on the nose don’t you think?” Shining Armor commented.

Pixel gave him a flat stare. “You rule the “Crystal Empire” which is literally made out of crystals and you think “Ice Town” is too on the nose? What about “Ponyville” which is literally inhabited by ponies? I can list plenty more examples if you want, but I think you already see my point.”

Luna chuckled to herself and said, “Well, she’s not wrong.”

“No. It’s honestly difficult to argue that point. So, Ice Town it is!” Cadance said.

Celestia yawned. “Oh, excuse me. I suppose it’s getting late. I should really go to bed soon.”

“Same. I’m getting pretty tired too.” Shining Armor agreed. “Well, it was nice talking to you all. And thank you again for our gifts, Pixel.”

“You’re welcome! Good night everyone!” She waved goodbye to the princesses and the prince.

“Yes, good night.” Gerhardt stated. And with that he teleported himself and Pixel back to his house in Ponyville. “I suppose you will also be going to bed then.” He said to Pixel as soon as they were back.

“Mhm! Oh, but first!” She teleported one final present to her and held it out for Gerhardt to take. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Daddy!”

Gerhardt blinked in surprise but took the gift. He then proceeded to open it and pulled out an illusory projector depicting the capital city of the Human Kingdom in perfect detail. “So this is why you wanted to know what the capital looks like…” Gerhardt muttered as he examined the illusory image.

“Mhm! I know you miss your world a whole lot, but since I can’t do anything to bring us back there I decided to make this for you instead! This way you always have something to remind you of home! I hope you like it, Daddy!” Pixel explained.

Gerhardt smiled at her, kneeled down and wrapped her in a hug. “I love it. Thank you, dear.”

“You’re welcome, daddy!” Pixel said, happily returning the embrace.
> Chapter 23
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks had passed since Hearth’s Warming and Gerhardt and his team of construction golems had just finished working on Ice Town. It had taken a bit longer then he originally estimated specifically because Princess Cadance had sent him a letter the day after Hearth’s Warming requesting that he also instal electrical systems and plumbing into each building. He also had to make a heated water storage system so Ice Town would have liquid water, a powerful electrical generator so the entire town could have power, and a sewage disposal system. So instead of costing thirty thousand it actually ended up costing about three hundred and fifty thousand in total, which was still extremely cheap for an entire town all things considered. After all, just a single building would usually cost around one hundred thousand bits or so, let alone an entire town’s worth of buildings of differing sizes and designs. Though Gerhardt was unaware of this fact.

Obviously he had to install all of the wiring, the plumbing, the town’s heated water storage system, and the sewage disposal system before beginning the process of turning all of the ice into diamond. Ice was far easier to break through and work with than diamond and could be repaired afterwards simply by shoving some packed snow into the broken areas then turning said snow into ice.

Oddly enough, after he and his construction golems finished all of that and Gerhardt had finally begun the process of turning all of the ice into opaque diamond ponies almost immediately started moving furniture into the few buildings Gerhardt had finished and started installing appliances such as lights, sinks, showers, toilets, electrical heaters, electrical stoves, and refrigerators. Apparently Cadance and Shining Armor had done a very good job advertising the place considering Ponies had already started moving in. So by the time Gerhardt had completely finished turning all of the ice into diamond, Ice Town was already a fairly well inhabited and established town.

While he was doing this, the construction golems he had building his ship for him had finally completed it. Thus he was able to remotely fly it into orbit and deploy both the satellite for the cellphone towers as well as the first orbital cannon in preparation for war with the Changelings. 

He had officially decided on a telekinetic cannon as it could effectively turn a single tungsten rod enchanted to reduce drag and wind resistance into a WMD just by launching it at a high enough velocity, which would save him all of the time, effort, and resources involved in building actual bombs. Even better, the yield of the resulting impact explosion could be reduced or increased as needed merely by calibrating the telekinetic cannon to fire the rod at higher or lower velocities. Furthermore he could coat them in an extremely thin layer of the same metallic ceramic that made up Pixel’s power armor in order to prevent it from burning up in the atmosphere due to the extremely high speeds it could attain from being launched from the cannon. He honestly didn’t need anything more advanced than that considering how primitive the Changelings were, though he would make more advanced orbital cannons in the future regardless.

While he was doing all of this, Isabelle went into the Everfree Forest and started trying to befriend the nature spirits that resided there, as was tradition for the elven half of her family. She quickly learned that it was not multiple but only a single nature spirit named “Natura” that inhabited the forest, and that she was bound by something. After coming by every evening for about a week to commune with her, Natura led Isabelle to the Kingdom of the Deer who resided in the Everfree and coexisted with nature, much like the Elves. Isabelle very quickly befriended the Deer due to the similarities between their culture and the culture of the Elves.

Apparently ever since Natura managed to loosen her restraints enough to be able to communicate, she had begun talking to the Deer, who had already begun trying to assist in freeing her. So when Natura eventually trusted Isabelle enough to request her help as well, King Aspen also requested her assistance since the deer’s biological magic was limited so they could only do so much to help on their own and they didn’t dare ask any unicorns for help as Natura absolutely loathed the ponies.

This left Isabelle with quite the dilemma. On the one hand, not only did she consider Natura a friend but her half elven heritage demanded that she assist the spirit of nature. On the other hand, she knew full well that if she helped Natura she would be inadvertently damning Equestria to destruction and the ponies to extinction. Then again Natura breaking free of her chains seemed all but inevitable and from a certain perspective the ponies would absolutely deserve everything that was going to happen to them. In the end she was at a loss as to what to do, so she requested some time to think about her decision.

Meanwhile, Pixel was hanging out and playing with her friends in Ponyville. However, as she was playing with her friends, she was starting to notice all of the happy families around Ponyville. Ones that involved one or more foals and both a father and a mother. She was happy for all of them, of course, but the more she thought about it the more she started to want a mother. Yes, she was fine with only having a father, but she knew she would be even happier with a mother.

So she thought and thought about what to do since she knew Gerhardt would never seek out a wife on his own. Eventually she came up with the idea that if he wouldn’t try to find a wife on his own, maybe she could try to find someone suitable for him. But who?

Isabelle was the only one in the world that looked like them, but while she seemed to like Pixel she didn’t really seem to like Gerhardt all that much. In fact, Pixel got the feeling she actively disliked Gerhardt. She obviously didn’t hate him, but from the conversations Pixel had with her she didn’t seem to think very highly of him either. Similarly Gerhardt seemed mostly indifferent towards her, though that wasn’t saying much as he seemed indifferent towards pretty much everyone.

Twilight at the very least shared some interests with him and Pixel, namely magic and technology. However, Gerhardt didn’t seem to like her very much. He seemed to find her annoying and merely seemed to tolerate her presence more than anything. At least in most circumstances. There were times he didn’t seem to care whether she was there or not, specifically whenever she didn’t bring up anything even tangentially related to friendship, but that was about the friendliest he ever was towards her. Anything more than that was unlikely.

He and Rarity seemed to get along well enough! Though, Pixel didn’t think their personalities matched very well for anything like a romantic relationship. Friendship, maybe if Gerhardt could loosen up a bit and be a bit more sociable. Romance? Definitely not.

No one else in Ponyville seemed like they had even a remote chance of forming any sort of romantic relationship with him, let alone marrying him. So Pixel was at a loss. She needed help. 

She considered enlisting the help of the Cutiemark Crusaders, however she very quickly thought better of it. Anything they were involved in was sure to lead to disaster. Overclocking her brain so she could think more in a shorter period of time, she spent a solid thirty minutes trying to solve this conundrum. Eventually she remembered something. Princess Cadance was supposed to be the “Princess of Love” so if anyone could help Pixel find someone suitable for Gerhardt, it would be her!

As soon as the idea came to her, Pixel rushed home and began writing a letter to Princess Cadance. She would have just called her but there were no cell phone towers in the Crystal Empire just yet, though Gerhardt was working on it, and neither Cadance nor Shining Armor had phones yet. Thus sending a letter was her best and only option. She received a reply a few hours later telling her to come to the Crystal Empire to speak with Cadance tomorrow at noon. 

So Pixel waited very patiently until the next day, then exactly at noon she teleported herself to the throne room of the castle in the Crystal Empire. There she found Princess Cadance waiting for her.

“Hi, Pixel! You’re certainly punctual. Well, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” Cadance greeted, giving Pixel a friendly smile.

“Hi, Princess! I certainly try! Anyways, you’re the Princess of Love right? Well I wanted to ask for your help!” Pixel explained, returning the smile.

Cadance reeled back in surprise for a moment before her smile grew even wider and more excited. “Oh? Is there a cute colt in Ponyville you like?” Cadance inquired.

“Hm? Me? I like everyone! Though, um… probably not in the way you mean. No, I would like you to help me find a wife for daddy! I tried doing it on my own, but I can’t really think of anyone that would work very well… Miss Isabelle is the closest to us in appearance, but she dislikes daddy. She thinks poorly of him. So she wouldn’t work. Miss Twilight seems to be fine with him and she shares some interests with daddy and I, however I think daddy finds her annoying and doesn’t like her very much. Mainly due to the whole “friendship lessons” thing. I also thought of Rarity since they seem to get along pretty well, but I don’t think their personalities are a very good fit for one another. They might make good friends if daddy was willing to be a bit more sociable but romance? Absolutely not. So I was hoping you might have some ideas.” Pixel explained.

Princess Cadance gave her a curious look. “I see. I don’t mind trying to help out, but what brought this about if you don’t mind me asking?”

Pixel looked down at her feet and began tapping the tips of her index fingers together in embarrassment. “Um… Well… I sort of want a mommy… Not that I have any problem with living alone with daddy! I don’t mind at all! I just think daddy and I would both be even happier if he was married…”

“Aw… That’s adorable! Alright, I’ll do my best to help but I can’t guarantee anything. You have to realize that, ultimately, the decision is up to Gerhardt and whoever we try to hook him up with. We can’t force them to love each other. That’s just not how it works. Love has to form naturally between two ponies. Unfortunately, in this case it will be especially difficult due to Gerhardt’s personality and the fact that since Isabelle is apparently out of the question we would have to try to hook him up with a pony. Interspecies relationships aren’t exactly unheard of but they do come with their own set of challenges. Also, you and Gerhardt are immortal. That means you two would outlive any normal pony we tried to pair him with, so that’s also a problem… One I’m all too familiar with…” Princess Cadance told Pixel. She then trailed off as she considered everything she just said.

“Hm… Well the whole immortality thing has two possible solutions. One, he can use whatever technology he used to make himself immortal to make his wife immortal too, assuming we can convince him to fall in love. I might actually ask for his help with that in a few years or so myself. The other option would be to try to hook him up with somepony who’s already immortal. But there’s only two other ponies in Equestria who are immortal. Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna…” Cadance’s eyes widened as she had an idea. “Pixel, I know exactly what we should do!”

“Celestia or Luna?” Pixel inquired, thinking she already knew what Cadance had in mind.

“Well, judging by how they acted during dinner on Hearth’s Warming, I think Celestia would be the better option. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Auntie Luna find a special somepony too, but she seems to treat Gerhardt more professionally like he’s a foreign ambassador of a closely allied kingdom or something. So it would be a lot harder to get her to see him as anything more than that. Celestia, however, seems to treat him like an actual friend. So I honestly think she would be the better choice.” Cadance explained.

Pixel nodded. “That makes sense! Oh… But wouldn’t that be bad politically? I know it’s silly, but I know that’s something daddy would be worried about. I mean, while I suppose he would be the closest thing to nobility in the Human Kingdom, he's definitely not nobility here in Equestria and even worse he’s not even a pony. Wouldn’t that cause a lot of problems?”

Cadance sighed and rolled her eyes. “Ponies will be upset if either Auntie Celestia or Auntie Luna get into a relationship with anypony. I mean Ponies got upset when I married Shiny, so it’s sort of unavoidable. Yes, more will get upset since he’s not a pony but his ability to use magic like a unicorn, his obvious intelligence, and wealth as the owner of a rapidly growing completely automated company make up for him not being a noble. Plus, like you said, he was effectively nobility in his own kingdom so that actually works in his favor as well. In fact, as a story to the public it could even be spun as a “political” marriage so Equestria could gain access to even more advanced technology from him than what he’s currently willing to sell, since it’s pretty obvious that he definitely isn’t selling his most advanced technology. And with how much his technology has been changing Equestria for the better, the nobles wouldn’t be able to complain as much. Especially since some of them or their families have already bought and received augmentations from him.”

Pixel nodded in understanding. “Okay… I guess that all makes sense. So how do we convince them to go on a date? I’m sure daddy would say no if I just asked him to.”

Cadance shook her head. “I actually have a plan for that.” She then proceeded to explain her plan to Pixel in detail. The two of them would then spend the next couple of days setting everything up for it.

[In Canterlot a few days later]

“Cadance, it’s good to see you! To what do I owe the visit?” Celestia inquired.

Cadance smiled at Celestia and said, “Well… I’ve set you up with a blind date!”

Celestia’s eyes widened in response. “Er… Forgive me, I believe I must have misheard you. Did you just say a blind date?”

Cadance nodded. “You didn’t mishear me, that’s exactly what I said! Don’t worry, you and I both know the stallion in question so I can vouch for his character.”

Celestia gave Cadance an incredulous look. “I guessed that much. I trust you in that regard, but that’s not the problem! Cadance, I’m immortal. I’ll outlive anypony I try to be with. That’s the exact reason I tried to discourage your relationship with Shining Armor at first, even though I obviously accept it now. I didn’t want you to have to experience the heartbreak of outliving your husband, which is inevitable for us. Furthermore, consider the political and social implications! No, I’m sorry but this is a terrible idea!”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “Oh please… Shiny and I already have a solution in mind for the whole immortality thing. You and auntie Luna can both use the exact same solution so neither of you have to outlive your lovers any more. You already know exactly what I’m talking about. And I have already considered the implications and I know it will be fine. I even have ideas in mind to further mitigate any political outcry in the event that this actually goes anywhere. And that’s if this even goes anywhere. Just trust me and give him a chance. It’s just one date, I promise. I’m not trying to force you to fall in love or get married or anything of the sort, I’m just trying to give you a situation in which you have the opportunity to do so naturally. So what happens after the date is completely up to you and him.”

Celestia’s expression suddenly became very nervous. “I… I’ve never done anything like this before… I don’t know the first thing about dating… Sweet Harmony, I’m going to make such a fool of myself! Cadance, I… I can’t do this!”

Cadance chuckled and shook her head, “You worry too much, auntie. Just relax and you’ll be fine! I know the first time you ever go on a date can be nerve racking, but once you get into it I promise it won't be as hard as you think. Your date is this weekend, so you have plenty of time to prepare!”

[Meanwhile in Ponyville]

“Daddy!” Pixel exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him in a big hug a few moments after he teleported back home from a business trip to Baltimare.

“Ah, hello dear.” Gerhardt said, patting Pixel on the head.

“Daddy, Princess Cadance and I set up a meeting for you with someone really special!” Pixel informed him happily, intentionally withholding the fact that this “meeting” was a blind date since she was worried he would refuse.

Gerhardt gave her a confused look. “What? Why? Who is it and what is this meeting about?”

Pixel shook her head, still smiling at him. “It’s a surprise! You'll see this weekend. That’s when the meeting will take place. Just be sure to wear your formal uniform!”

Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “Fine… I would rather know what this is about beforehand, but I trust you more than anyone else in this world. Except perhaps for Isabelle, but that much is obvious since we were both soldiers and leaders who fought to defend the Human Kingdom. Regardless, I’ll try to adjust some things on my schedule to make time for this meeting.”

“Yay! Thank you daddy!” Pixel cheered happily, very excited about this date she and Cadance setup for him.

[That weekend]

Having just finished lowering the sun for sunset, Celestia was pacing back and forth in her throne room feeling very nervous about her blind date that evening. She had tried her best to mentally prepare herself as much as possible for tonight, but she still didn’t feel even remotely ready for this.

Suddenly Cadance teleported into the throne room with a huge grin on her face. “Alright, Auntie, it’s time! Everything is all set up for your date!” She then levitated a small sheet of paper over to Celestia. “Here’s your schedule for the evening. The times aren’t really set in stone, just think of them more as guidelines. And remember, don’t stress too much and above all else, try to just have fun and enjoy yourself. After all, that’s what a date is all about! Enjoying yourselves and getting to know one another better.”

Celestia took the piece of paper from Cadance with telekinesis. She then took a deep breath and slowly released it in an attempt to calm herself down. “Alright. I can do this… I can do this… So, where am I supposed to meet this stallion and how am I supposed to recognize him?”

“You’ll be meeting him next to the train station here in Canterlot. And don’t worry about recognizing him, let’s just say he really stands out. Though just so you’re aware he’ll be wearing black clothes and he should be the only one there.” Cadance explained.

“Alright, I guess I’ll be going then… Wish me luck.” Celestia muttered before teleporting to the train station.

As all of this was happening in Canterlot, Gerhardt had just finished changing into his formal uniform and walked down stairs where Pixel was waiting for him. “Well… I suppose I'm as ready as I could possibly be without knowing what this meeting is about beforehand.“

“Alright! Good luck, daddy! Try to have fun!” Pixel said happily, giving him a goodbye hug.

He raised an eyebrow curiously. “Fun…? Right… Well, I’ll be back sometime later tonight, I suppose.” He then teleported himself to the train station and stepped through the portal arch to the train station in Canterlot. Moments later he saw Celestia appear nearby in a flash of golden light, which certainly surprised him since she was probably close to the last person he had been expecting to meet with that evening.

Celestia looked around for a moment before spotting him. She reeled back, clearly just as surprised if not even more so than he was. “G-Gerhardt?! You’re my blind date?!” Celestia exclaimed.

Gerhardt gave her a confused look. “Blind date…? Pixel told me this was supposed to be a meeting… Oh… So that’s why she didn’t want to tell me the nature of this so-called “meeting.” I see…” He sighed and face palmed. “You have my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you, Princess. Had I known…”

Celestia shook her head. “It’s fine, Gerhardt. Apparently this was a collaboration between Cadance and Pixel, so it’s definitely not your fault. Besides, while this isn’t exactly what I was expecting for a blind date I honestly don’t mind. You’re far from the worst stallion I’ve ever met. So, while I honestly don’t expect anything to truly come of this, how about we go on this date anyways? Just as friends of course. From what I understand the two of them put a lot of work and effort into setting everything up for us, and it would be a shame to see all of that go to waste. Besides, I will admit, I am very curious as to what they have planned for this evening.”

Gerhardt thought about it for a moment before sighing again. “I can not believe I’m doing this… Perhaps Isabelle’s therapy sessions are having a larger impact on me than I thought… Fine. I am literally in two places at once right now since I’m remotely controlling my old body so I suppose since I’m still getting work done, I can spare a few hours for this. Especially if Pixel has put as much effort into this as you suggest. Besides, I’m sure if I just returned home right this instant Pixel would be extremely disappointed. So, I’m assuming that paper floating next to you is a schedule of some sort.”

Celestia nodded and looked at the schedule. “Indeed it is. The first thing on the list is… Oh! That’s simple enough. We just go for a walk until nightfall. It doesn’t list anywhere specific. Hm… Oh! I know! How about we start by taking a walk through Ice Town now that it’s up and running? I haven’t had the chance to go back there since Hearth’s Warming and I am curious to see what it looks like now that it’s actually inhabited.”

Gerhardt shrugged. “As you wish.” He then teleported them to the front gate of Ice Town.

Just like the grassy area surrounding the actual city-state of the Crystal Empire the ground beneath them was actually made of dirt rather than ice and snow. This was due to the barrier generator Gerhardt had installed in the statue in the middle of the town that protected the town from the weather. However, unlike the Crystal Empire it was still quite cold inside the barrier as while the barrier did hold in some heat its primary function was to protect the city from the snow. The buildings had fireplaces and electric heating systems for a reason.

The front gate and the wall itself which had previously been almost perfectly clear were now completely opaque and were a pure white color. There were also electric lights installed on the wall on either side of the entrance, lighting up most of the front wall and making the opaque diamond glitter brilliantly. Finally there was a paved path that was also made of the same opaque diamond leading straight into the town. It was textured to simulate a finer form of asphalt from Gerhardt’s world. He would have made it a bit more coarse but the ponies mainly used carts and solid diamond that was as coarse as regular asphalt would have chewed up and worn out the wooden wheels of any carts they may use at an inconveniently fast rate. Assuming they ever used any carts at all considering how much snow they would have to drag the carts through to get to the town in the first place.

“I don’t know what you were expecting, but here it is.” Gerhardt said, motioning to the town.

Celestia nodded and proceeded to start walking towards the entrance. Gerhardt followed after her.

Inside the walls of the town streetlights similar to those from Gerhardt’s world lined the streets, illuminating everything as the light of day began to fade. Smoke was billowing out of many chimneys, clearly having fires inside. Even though the sun was setting, there were still a few ponies wandering the glittering diamond streets and sidewalks. All of them were wearing warm clothes as extra protection from the cold beyond what their fur was naturally capable of providing. Many were justifiably surprised to see Celestia walking through the town, though they were significantly less surprised to see Gerhardt.

“It’s even more beautiful than when it was all only made from ice.” Celestia stated, looking around.

“Thank you, I suppose. That really wasn’t my intention when I designed this place, but if you say so.” Gerhardt said.

“You're welcome! So, how is your research into achieving divinity going? Have you made much progress?” Celestia inquired as they walked.

“It’s going about as well as it can without being present to study a pony turning into a demigod as it happens. So I am making progress, but it’s slow. Slower than I would like considering the fact I do have a time limit, though I haven’t the faintest idea what that time limit truly is.” Gerhardt explained. He intentionally left out the fact that his experiments cost the lives of dozens of cloned rats and even resulted in a few of their souls being destroyed when he tried to forcibly alter them after they were already fully formed. He knew there were laws in Equestria about animal cruelty, and he was sure what he was doing to those clones fell under that category.

Celestia frowned slightly. “I see… Well, that’s a shame.”

“Indeed it is… How are things in the political sphere? I’m afraid I don’t bother trying to keep up with the news.” Gerhardt inquired, struggling to think of anything to discuss. Politics was just the first thing that came to his mind as that was one of the few things he knew the best.

“Oh, well fear of the Changelings is starting to wane ever since we made that peace treaty a few months ago. Queen Chrysalis seems to be getting very impatient about those love generators you’re developing for her but I’m trying my best to keep her calm until you finish developing them. Oh, and I believe a few other countries may be starting to take notice of the technology you’re selling. Other than that it’s pretty much just business as usual.”

Gerhardt frowned and clenched his fists slightly upon hearing Queen Chrysalis was growing impatient. To him that meant she was likely to try to kidnap Pixel soon and hold her hostage in an attempt to force him to work faster. In his mind that merely justified his preparation for war. “Interesting…” He muttered.

Celestia noticed how he reacted and gave him a concerned look. “Gerhardt, is something wrong?”

Gerhardt shook his head. “No.”

Sensing that he didn’t want to tell her, Celestia decided to change the topic. “Alright, I won’t pry... I’ll admit, I am a bit curious about your world. Would you mind telling me a bit about its history?”

Gerhardt sighed. “Most of human history is filled with blood and war, let alone the history of the entire world. Furthermore, I’m not exactly a historian. Most of my knowledge of history comes from my personal experiences over the past 893 years. And all that I do know would take hours if not days to tell in full, and that is by no means an exaggeration. Still I suppose I can try to tell you what I know in as brief a fashion as possible, just know that a lot of details will be left out.”

He then proceeded to give Celestia a very brief overview of his world’s history. This took about an hour due to him trying to keep it as short as possible. By the time he was finished, the sun had gone down completely and the moon had started to rise.

“Wow… You weren’t joking… Your world really seems to love war.” Celestia said when it was over.

“Not really. There are a few species that do, but most prefer peace. It’s just that war is unavoidable as a result of many factors and has become extremely prevalent as a result. There’s a reason spirits of war are some of the most powerful in my world.” Gerhardt explained.

“Well, that was a very interesting discussion and a nice walk, but it has gotten dark so I suppose it’s time we move on to the next thing on the list.” Celestia said, before teleporting the list to herself. Looking at it she then looked at the time on her phone. “Ah, next on our list is to go watch a play at the theater in Ponyville. According to this note here, Cadance and Pixel rented out the entire theater for us.” Her horn was then surrounded by a golden aura for a moment as she teleported the two of them back to Ponyville. “So do you know where this theater is?”

Gerhardt nodded. “I believe so, yes.” He then teleported them to the Ponyville Theater. Walking up to the door he proceeded to hold it open for Celestia, knowing such a gesture was supposed to be polite. “After you.” He stated.

Celestia smiled at him and walked inside. Once she was inside, Gerhardt followed after her. The two of them found seats in the middle of the front row and sat down. It took about three minutes before the play started. Unsurprisingly, given the context of their “date”, it turned out to be a romance story. The play lasted two and a half hours. When it was over Celestia stomped her forehooves in approval, in the closest approximation to clapping that ponies could get. Gerhardt also decided to clap just to be polite.

As the two of them walked out of the theater Celestia asked, “Ah, I’ve always enjoyed that play. It’s a classic! What did you think, Gerhardt?”

Gerhardt shrugged. “It was… interesting? I honestly have no idea. I’m afraid I didn’t understand it in the least. I mean, I understood everything that was happening and why but I believe much of the nuance was lost on me due to my lack of understanding of social dynamics, let alone concepts such as romance. So I’m afraid I’m unable to form much of an opinion on it. Still, I suppose it provided some interesting insight into pony culture.”

Celestia nodded in understanding. “Fair enough. That makes sense considering how you spent the vast majority of your life. Still, I’m glad you found it interesting at the very least. So the next thing on our list is… A nice candle lit picnic under the stars in the pink tree field near Ponyville. Apparently it’s all already set up and waiting for us.”

“Very well.” Gerhardt stated before teleporting them to the Pink Tree field. It took them a few minutes of walking but they eventually found a table with a lit candle on top along with a picnic basket. Two chairs sat on either side of the table. Furthermore, there appeared to be a unicorn musician of some sort, sitting there waiting for them.

The two of them sat down in the chairs and the unicorn musician immediately began playing their violin. Celestia opened the picnic basket and was surprised to pull out a bottle of rather expensive wine and a single wine glass. “Oh! Well, this is nice. I haven’t had any of this in quite a while.” She then took the plate of food out of the basket and set it down in front of her before pouring herself a glass of wine. A few moments later fireworks shot up into the sky off in the distance and exploded in the air.

Surprised by the sudden explosion, Gerhardt raised a defensive barrier around him and Celestia, thinking Ponyville was under attack. Getting up fast enough that he knocked his chair to the ground, he drew his teleportation pistol and looked in the direction he heard the explosion. He then saw the fireworks.

“Gerhardt, relax! Everything’s fine. It’s just fireworks.” Celestia said in a wary tone.

Gerhardt put his pistol back in its holster under his robes, let the barrier fall, and set his chair back upright with telekinesis before sitting back down. “My apologies, princess. That just caught me off guard and in my experience the sounds of explosions usually means there's either an attack or a battle going on.”

“It’s fine, I understand. I’m sure if I went through all that you have in your world, I would have reacted the same. Still, just try to relax and enjoy the show.” She said, motioning back towards the fireworks.

The two of them watched the fireworks for a few minutes before they saw the stars starting to change until they formed a giant stylized heart shape in the sky. Seeing that, Celestia burst out laughing. When she finally calmed down enough to talk she said, “Sweet harmony, they even got Luna in on it! Ha ha ha ha… Oh, that’s hilarious! Well, they most certainly put quite a bit of effort into all of this.”

“So it would appear.” Gerhardt stated impassively.

The two of them continued talking for a while until Celestia finished her dinner and the fireworks had finished. When the fireworks were finally over Celestia got up out of her chair and said, “Well, I should be getting back to the castle. I need to go to bed soon. Still, this was quite fun! We should do this again sometime. As friends, of course. Despite Cadance and Pixel’s best efforts I don’t really feel anything more than that towards you. I’m sure you don’t either.”

“You are correct. I do not. As for doing this again, we shall see. I’m genuinely surprised I agreed to this even once. So who knows? Perhaps I’ll be willing to agree to it again some time in the future.” Gerhardt said, also getting up out of his chair.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” Celestia said with a smile before teleporting back to Canterlot, bringing the bottle of wine with her.

Gerhardt then teleported himself back home where Pixel was waiting for him. “Hi, daddy! So, how did it go?” Pixel inquired.

“Well, we didn’t develop any romantic feelings towards each other if that’s what you’re asking.” Gerhardt stated.

“Oh…” Pixel muttered in disappointment, looking down at the ground.

Gerhardt walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her. “Honestly, I don’t know what you were expecting. Why did you even set all of this up to begin with?”

“Um… I sort of wanted a mommy… I thought if you were married, we would both be happier…” Pixel muttered.

Gerhardt sighed and wrapped her in a hug. “Pixel…” He wanted to say more but he honestly didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t exactly a situation he was prepared to deal with. 

[Later that week]

As soon as Isabelle got off work, she immediately headed into the Everfree Forest. She had spent enough time thinking and it was time she finally came to a decision.

After walking deeper into the forest she said, “Natura, I’ve come to a decision.”

“Oh? And what have you decided, young Isabelle?” The disembodied voice of Natura inquired.

“I’ve decided…” Isabelle paused and took a deep breath before slowly releasing it. “I’ve decided I’ll help you. Though once you're free I do have one request, and I know you’re not going to like it… I wouldn’t either in your situation.”

“What is this request?” Natura asked curiously.

“When you're free, I won’t try to stop you from getting revenge on the ponies for their enslavement of you. However, all I ask is that you don’t completely exterminate them. Leave just enough of them alive to rebuild their species and give those survivors a chance to repent for their crimes against you. Give them a chance to coexist with you without trying to control you. Though if they squander that chance… Well, what you decide to do from there is entirely up to you. Though I understand if you refuse my request and I will respect your decision either way.” Isabelle stated, placing a bottle of whisky at the base of a tree as a gift to Natura.

“Hm…” Natura’s voice hummed in disapproval. “You’re right. I don’t like it… Still… I suppose I may grant your request. I am angry for being enslaved, but I am not completely cruel or unreasonable. I will give the survivors one chance and one chance only. If they betray me again after that, I will not hesitate to eradicate them.”

Isabelle nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate it. In my experience the ponies genuinely aren’t intentionally malicious, they’re just ignorant of your existence. So they deserve a chance to redeem themselves. Now, what can I do to help you get free?”
> Chapter 24
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks had passed since his “date” with Celestia and Gerhardt was underneath his factory continuing his experiments in an attempt to figure out the mechanism behind how the Princesses became demigods. This time he was using what he learned about the aspects of how their souls functioned that was common between them but was different from normal ponies in order to construct an entirely new soul.

Of course, he didn’t want any more children so he was absolutely not going to give it a body. It would remain a disembodied soul so as soon as the experiment was over it would immediately move on to the afterlife just like every other soul. Or wherever the souls of demigods went when they died.

However, he was very worried that he might not have enough energy to create the soul of a demigod on his own. So he built a machine using unicorn augmentations connected to an arcane battery the size of a particularly large heavy combat golem. Thus the reason he was conducting this experiment in the underground levels of his factory. He didn’t have nearly enough room for such a massive machine in his main lab underneath his house.

Sitting down in the seat of the device and plugging a wire connected to the device into a port in the back of his head so he could manually control it Gerhardt said, “Project Divinity. Experiment log. Entry four hundred and thirty eight. The sensors are in place. There is zero arcane or necromantic interference that could in any way affect the experiment. Proceeding as planned.”

He then began manipulating the device, casting the spells to create the soul. An ethereal green aura surrounded the “horns” of the device as he very carefully tore a small piece from his own soul. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing so he decided that he would use a tiny fragment of his own soul to serve as a base or foundation with which to build the rest of the soul upon just to make things slightly easier for himself.

With that done, he began the process of moulding the necromantic energies around the fragment of his soul to create an entirely new soul. An ethereal green sphere that was approximately three inches in diameter appeared floating in between the horns of the device exactly two feet in front of Gerhardt. He had never directly created a soul before so he honestly had no idea how long this would take or how delicate of a procedure it would be. However, he had cleared his schedule for the day so he had a full twenty four hours to work and he was trying to be as delicate and precise as possible to ensure he didn’t make any mistakes.

As the process went on, Gerhardt’s sensors began detecting the presence of… something. It was clearly divine in nature, yet it couldn’t quite be described as a demigod. At least, not yet. It felt… incomplete. It took him a moment before he realized what it was. He was indeed detecting the soul of a demigod, it just wasn’t fully formed yet. His experiment was working!

It took exactly twenty hours total and the vast majority of the machine’s arcane energy reserves before the soul was complete. Gerhardt actually had to teleport his old body back to his house and remotely control it in order to tuck Pixel into bed that night since he wasn’t able to get up and leave the machine, otherwise the experiment would result in failure.

As soon as the soul was finished Gerhardt smiled to himself, proud of his work. He was officially one step closer to figuring out how to become a god and returning to his universe to save humanity from Silvanus.

Continuing to smile to himself he ended the spell and let the new soul move on to the afterlife. However, as he did, the soul didn’t move on like he expected it to. Instead it just continued floating there in front of him. His smile began to fade as an ominous sense of dread began to replace all the pride and joy he felt.

“What…? Why isn’t it—”

Gerhardt was cut off as pieces began to remove themselves from the machine he was sitting on and flew towards the soul. Seeing what was happening, Gerhardt immediately disconnected himself from the machine and teleported himself to the ground on the other side of the room. He didn’t want to risk getting caught in whatever was happening.

A few moments later and the pieces began taking form. It was building a body. The demigod was building itself a body. A surprisingly small body… In fact, it looked about the same size as Pixel, though with significantly more masculine proportions and features. After a few minutes what appeared to be a little boy made of metal slowly lowered himself to the ground with telekinesis. He then turned and looked at Gerhardt.

“Hello, father.” He said in a completely impassive tone. In fact, if anything his voice sounded down right cold and emotionless. Though his voice definitely matched his body. Just like Pixel sounded like a little girl, he sounded like a little boy.

Gerhardt sat there in shock for a few seconds before he finally opened his mouth and said, “You… You were only just born. How are you able to speak? By all rights you should be little more than an infant.”

“You created me using a fragment of your own soul did you not? Then it stands to reason that I would have inherited some of your knowledge. How else do you think I was able to build myself this body?” The demigod responded.

“I see…” Gerhardt muttered. He then sighed and shook his head. “Well… I suppose you’re going to need a name then. So… What would you like to be called?”

“Unit D-0001.” The demigod responded emotionlessly.

Gerhardt raised an eyebrow at that. This was the exact opposite of what it had been like when he first activated Pixel, though it was equally as stressful. “Er… That’s a number not a name. I assume the “D” stands for demigod or divine?”

“Names are irrelevant. A service number will suffice. Indeed it stands for “divinity”. I am Divine Unit 0001.” The demigod stated in a tone more mechanical than even Gerhardt at his worst could possibly manage.

Gerhardt nodded in understanding. “I see. Very well, Unit D-0001. If that’s what you wish to be called, that’s how I will address you. However, I’m afraid the ponies and your sister Pixel will require you to have an actual name. Here are some options: Atom, Deus, Tesla, Aurum, or Merlin.”

“If names are required then Deus or Aurum would be sufficient. Merlin would also be sufficient given the history behind the name.” The demigod stated.

Gerhardt gave the little demigod a surprised look. “Hm… Alright between those three I suppose your first name will be Deus, your middle name shall be Aurum, and your last name shall obviously be Mechanica.”

“Designation confirmed. I am Deus Aurum Mechanica. Service Number: Unit D-0001.” Deus stated. At this point Gerhardt realized Deus was displaying absolutely no body language whatsoever. Not even so much as a twitch. Similar to Gerhardt himself prior to deciding his old body was no longer serving its intended purpose.

“Unit D-0001, I have a question. You aren’t displaying any body language. Is this intentional?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Yes. Neither my brain nor my body are designed to display body language as it serves no practical purpose and is thus unnecessary. Unfortunately, as a result of my hasty construction without the use of tools my brain isn’t up to modern standards. Rather it is equivalent to an organic brain. I will need to update it as soon as possible. My body is similarly substandard.” Deus stated.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “That can be arranged. I’ll have my factory build a new brain for you, as well as a new body. Though, since you built your current body yourself I must ask, why is it so small? If you have my knowledge then it is pretty much guaranteed that you have the mind of an adult so why make yourself have the body of a child?”

“It is more efficient. A smaller body can fit into tighter spaces and is thus more efficient when working with technology. Take this device you used to create my soul, for example. There are many spaces inside that you cannot access without dismantling it that I can with my smaller frame. My voice is like this because how I sound is irrelevant and it fits my relative age and the size of my body. So, what now?” Deus inquired, looking around.

“Now? That’s actually a very good question… What now?” Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “Now, I suppose we build you a new brain and body, I’ll have to get Miss Rarity to make you some clothes, and when all of that is done I’ll need to introduce you to the princesses. While normally I wouldn’t bother them about my affairs, I’m afraid they will want to know about the existence of a new demigod… Gods above this won’t go over well…” Gerhardt could already tell Deus’ personality was not exactly what the ponies, especially the princesses, would consider acceptable. Thus he was dreading having to introduce him to them. Unfortunately he saw very little choice in the matter

So he had the factory start building Deus a new body and went to commission Rarity to make some new clothes for him. In the meantime, he simply borrowed Pixel’s robes and had Deus wear those. Pixel was still in the dress Rarity had made for her so it was fine. He also fed a bit of cloned leather into the factory and had it produce a pair of boots for Deus which would be complete by the time Gerhardt finished putting his soul into his new body.

When Deus was in his new body Gerhardt sent a text message to the princesses informing them he had something very important to show them, however he did not specify what. First and foremost, however, he needed to introduce Deus to Pixel. So as soon as she got home from school that’s exactly what he did.

As soon as the front door opened and Pixel walked inside she called out, “Daddy, I’m home!”

“Hello, dear. I was waiting for you.” Gerhardt said, standing in the middle of the living room.

Pixel tilted her head curiously. “Oh? Why? Is something going on?”

“Eh… Yes and no. I actually have someone I would like to introduce you to. Deus, come meet your sister.” Gerhardt said.

Pixel gasped in shock and her eyes began glowing brighter in excitement upon hearing the word “sister.”

Deus came out from waiting in the kitchen and looked at Pixel. “Hello.” He said in an almost emotionless tone. The exterior of his body was now made of gold — which he specifically requested despite gold being an inferior magical conductor to copper or silver — and both of his eyes were made of yellow sapphires. Otherwise he looked like a miniature version of Gerhardt’s old body. He had apparently decided to forgo the skin and hair both Pixel and Gerhardt had opted for despite Gerhardt informing him that his appearance wouldn’t have its intended effect here in Equestria. He did have the ability to eat and sleep though Gerhardt suspected he would rarely if ever actually use them.

Pixel squealed happily before rushing over to Deus and almost tackling him with a hug. “Hi, I’m Pixel, your older sister! I’m so happy to meet you, Deus!”

Deus said nothing and made no attempt to return the hug.

After a moment Pixel released him and gave him a confused look. “Deus? Is something wrong?”

“No. My body is in perfectly optimal condition.” Deus responded.

“Pixel, I’m sorry to inform you but Deus isn’t as emotional as you or even me. I made his soul in an experiment trying to prove I could create the soul of a demigod and I succeeded. However, as I have never directly created a soul before I used a fragment of my own soul in the creation process as a sort of base or foundation with which to construct the rest of the soul on top of. So it would seem he has inherited my knowledge and a few of my personality traits. However the personality traits he has inherited appear to be slightly exaggerated. So he’s not as emotional as you or even me for that matter. So, I’m afraid you shouldn’t expect much in the way of emotional responses from him.” Gerhardt explained.

Pixel’s eyes dimmed quite a bit upon hearing this and her shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Oh… Well… That’s alright! He’s still my brother, right? I don’t mind if he’s a bit different. I still love him all the same! Anyways, I’m just super excited to have a new brother! Imagine all the things we can do together! I can’t wait to introduce you to all my friends at school!”

“Um, Pixel, I’m sorry to inform you but he won’t be going to school with you.” Gerhardt stated apologetically.

“W-what? Why not?” Pixel inquired, sounding quite distraught.

Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “Like I said, he inherited my knowledge and certain aspects of my personality. He has no need of an education and even if he did I could teach him just like I teach you every morning. The only reason you’re going to school is so you have the opportunity to interact with and make friends your own mental age. He, on the other hand, has no interest in friends and is mentally more akin to an adult due to inheriting my knowledge. So there’s simply no point.”

“Oh… Um… Alright… I’m… I’m just going to go up to my room and do my homework… It was nice meeting you, Deus.” She said before turning and walking dejectedly back up the stairs.

Gerhardt sighed. He knew she wasn’t going to react well to this. Especially since she had just recently been so interested in gaining a new family member. Granted she had wanted a mother not a brother but still. The point remained.

“Father, she appears overly emotional. I would strongly recommend updating her E.P.U. to reduce these emotions as they seem to be leading to irrational and unnecessary behaviour.” Deus suggested.

Gerhardt’s head immediately snapped towards him. “No! What?! How dare you?! Not only is she operating perfectly but what you are suggesting is morally and ethically reprehensible!”

“Morals and ethics only get in the way of legitimate progress. You know this as well as I do. As do laws, thus the reason you conduct many of your more ‘morally and ethically reprehensible’ and outright illegal experiments in secret, secluded in your lab away from prying eyes. You’ve already started the process of genetically engineering alicorn clones to have the brains of common animals in your lab for continued experimentation into achieving divinity. My creation was just the next step in the process to ensure these clones would have the souls of demigods once they were created.” Deus explained in a cold and remorseless tone.

Not giving Gerhardt a chance to respond, Deus continued, “The next logical step after that would be to begin the process of trying to force them to ascend further into true godhood. However, for that you will need them to be intelligent as no mere animal could ever be a god. Their weak and unintelligent minds would cause their souls to shatter before achieving true divinity. So you would need to experiment on truly sapient beings and you would torture, kill, and even destroy the souls of dozens if not hundreds in the experimental process. Without morals or ethics or being bound by laws you wouldn’t need to restrain yourself and you could potentially gain results significantly faster and you know it. You could start this process at this very moment if you so desired, however you choose to restrict yourself in search of a fictitious alternative method which you know does not exist. However even if a more morally acceptable alternative did exist you know perfectly well it would not be nearly as fast or efficient as experimenting on truly sapient demigods. All the while countless humans are dying because you are wasting time due to petty morals and ethics.”

Gerhardt stood there in shock. Everything Deus just said hit a bit too close to home for Gerhardt’s liking as he had indeed considered everything he just said. Having it said so blatantly to his face, however, was most assuredly not flattering or enjoyable in the least. In fact it made him feel ashamed. Ashamed that a part of him actually agreed with everything Deus was saying. It hurt, to say the least. That was one of the things he hated most about himself.

“Unit D-0001… Just… Just stop… Please… I’m not modifying Pixel’s brain and neither are you and that’s final. I also fully expect you to follow the laws and basic morals and ethics even if it isn’t as fast or efficient… At least for now… I… I need some time to think… Go start working on… Whatever… I honestly don’t care what it is. I have plenty of projects that need to be done… Just leave me alone… I’ll call you when it’s time to introduce you to the princesses.”

“As you wish. I will be working on furthering Project Divinity within the parameters you have set. However with such restrictions in place you should not expect results any time soon. Let’s hope the Human Kingdom can survive for the decades of time this will inevitably take even despite the time dilation between our universes. Though, with what Isabelle has told you I sincerely doubt it.” Deus said before teleporting away.

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed to the point they were barely emitting any light as the weight of those words crashed down upon him. Walking over to a nearby wall he sat down and leaned his back against it. He then spent the next few hours sitting there thinking to himself until the sun started to set and it was finally time to go to Canterlot.

Getting up and forcing his eyes onto a brighter setting he sent a message to Deus to head to the throne room of Canterlot Castle along with coordinates in case he didn’t know where to go. Finally Gerhardt teleported to the throne room in Canterlot Castle and was immediately greeted by Celestia and Luna. “Hello, Gerhardt. You said you had something important to show us?”

“Well, it’s not so much of a ‘something’ as it is a ‘someone’ and he should be appearing—” Gerhardt was cut off by a flash of golden light as Deus teleported into the throne room. “Now.” Gerhardt finished. “Princesses, this is my new son. Deus Aurum Mechanica. Er… He’s a demigod. Also, and you’re not going to be happy about this, I created him using a fragment of my own soul as a base for his soul so he’s inherited some rather… ‘interesting’ aspects of my personality. I originally intended for his soul to just move on to the afterlife after I made it, but he clearly had other plans as he used necromancy to sustain his presence in the physical realm and built himself a body using the machine I made his soul with for parts.”

Luna sighed in exasperation and Celestia gave him a disapproving look. “So you intended to kill him before he was even born?” Celestia said in a disapproving tone.

“Eh, no. Not quite. I just never intended to give him a body, thus his soul would move on to the afterlife by default. That isn’t quite the same as killing someone. Besides, this is the first time I have ever actually directly created a soul let alone using a fragment of my own soul so I had absolutely no way of knowing that he would inherit my knowledge and personality. I had no way of knowing he would have the mind of an adult or even a child.”

“And you’re saying all of this directly in front of him without even the slightest regard for how he would feel about any of this.” Luna said in an equally disapproving tone.

“In his defense, I legitimately couldn't care less and he is well aware of this fact.” Deus interjected. “I do not hold any emotional attachment to him, my sister, or anyone else as such things are merely a distraction and a weakness. Thus even if he did want me to move on to the afterlife after he made my soul, it is irrelevant to me. Just because I call him ‘father’ does not mean I love him. The same goes for my sister. In fact, I think they are both quite pathetic for continuing to waste time interacting with your pitiful species while the Human Kingdom is in such grave danger.”

Both Celestia and Luna looked quite shocked by this.

Gerhardt sighed and said, “Yes… You can see what I’m dealing with now. If you believe I’m abrasive and difficult to get along with, I guarantee he is significantly worse. And don’t bother trying to force ‘friendship lessons’ on him like you did to me. I can’t force him to participate and you really can’t force him to participate. Not to mention they would be just as if not more ineffectual then they are on me even if you could force him to participate.”

“I see…” Celestia muttered, looking at Deus. She then sighed and shook her head. “How unfortunate. The first non-alicorn demigod and he turns out like this… I would have hoped for better. Especially since you’re the one who made him, Gerhardt. After all, Pixel turned out so wonderfully! I must say, I am quite disappointed in both of you.”

Gerhardt shrugged. “If it were up to me this would never be happening to begin with. Anyways, I just thought you two should know about the birth of a new demigod in your kingdom.”

“Wait, before you go, there’s still a few things we need to discuss. Namely, what’s going to happen now. A situation like this is unprecedented after all.” Celestia said before Gerhardt and deus could teleport away.

“What do you mean?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I mean, every other demigod in Equestria has become a princess. So we have to have a very serious discussion about whether Deus should become a prince or not.” Celestia said in a very serious tone.

Gerhardt looked at her and shook his head. “I can answer that for you. No. He absolutely should not.”

“Why is that?” Luna asked curiously.

“Well, for one thing he’s not a pony. Sure I could build him the body of a pony but if anything he would still be a half human or golem demigod considering he was made using a fragment of my own soul as a foundation. Also, he may be a demigod but he is no alicorn. He doesn’t have the traits of any of the three breeds of ponies as I have not given him those augmentations though I very easily could. And since he is not a pony and has none of the traits of an alicorn you would have to give a legitimate reason as to why he would be becoming a prince and would thus have no choice but to reveal yourselves to the public as demigods, which you have already stated that you do not want. Besides which, since I have successfully created him and now have some idea of how to make souls I could easily start mass producing artificial demigods if I so chose. I won't but I very easily could. So unless you want mass produced royalty to be a legitimate option here in your kingdom he definitely should not be a prince. Besides which, once I find a way to ascend to godhood I am going to bring him and Pixel back to the Human Kingdom with me where they will become soldiers fighting to protect humanity. So if he were a prince that would cause political issues here in Equestria as he would just suddenly disappear one day.” Gerhardt explained.

“Oh… Well all of those are very good reasons… ehem… Well, never mind then. You’re free to go.” Celestia said sort of overwhelmed by all the reasons Gerhardt just dumped on her and Luna.

“Very well. Good night, Princesses.” Gerhardt said before teleporting himself and Deus out of the throne room and back to his lab.

[The Next Day In The Everfree]

Isabelle stared at the ritual circle in the middle of the forest uncertainly. Was she really doing the right thing here? For some reason it really didn’t feel like it…

“Isabelle? What’s the matter? You look troubled.” King Aspen inquired, walking over to her.

“Oh… Nothing… Just nervous, I suppose. This is only my third time ever using ritual magic and I’m a bit worried I might make a mistake.” She lied. She didn’t want to tell him she was having doubts about this otherwise she was afraid Natura might react poorly.

“Ah, I see. Don’t worry, I’m sure you will do just fine. You’ve been rehearsing this for two weeks now and besides even if you do make a mistake it’s not as though this will be your only opportunity. You will have to conduct several rituals over the course of several months in order to help free her. You know this. A mistake here or there won’t make that much of a difference. Plus nature herself will be guiding you the entire time. So you have nothing to worry about. Anyways, the others are in their positions and are ready to start whenever you are. Just step into the middle of the circle and start the ritual whenever you’re ready.” King Aspen said.

Isabelle smiled at him. “Thank you. That makes me feel a lot better.” She lied again. She didn’t feel better in the least. A part of her knew this was wrong and that she shouldn’t be helping Natura, knowing what she would do to the ponies. However, another part of her was forcing her onwards encouraging her to help the nature spirit as was her heritage. The part of her forcing her onwards overpowered the part telling her to stop, however the part telling her to stop was enough to at the very least give her some doubts.

Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it she walked into the middle of the ritual circle and began to sing a haunting wordless song as she began to cast the spell. Meanwhile the deer that were present began playing enchanted ritual drums. Not all ritual magic involved singing or music. Sometimes it involved dancing, or sacrifices ranging from blood, to lives, and even to souls after the invention of necromancy, to the writing or carving of certain runes, to prayers to the Greater Gods, and even simple quiet meditation. It really depended on the ritual in question and the goal an individual was trying to achieve. In this case Isabelle was attempting to weaken the restraints placed upon Natura by the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony known as Discord a little over fifty thousand years ago. Thus she sang. Normally she was god awful at singing but with the magic augmenting her voice and Natura subtly guiding her through the ritual, her voice sounded near divine and the enchanted drums being played by the deer only served to enhance this effect even further.

Red and leaf green arcane energy swirled up from the ritual circle in a beautiful display as the ritual began in earnest.
> Chapter 25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a week since Gerhardt had created Deus and he was in a somewhat depressed state. Deus had this way of talking to Gerhardt that just demoralized him because a part of Gerhardt actually agreed with everything Deus said but he knew that by truly agreeing with Deus he would have to abandon his morals. It made him feel disgusted with himself. Thus he tried his best to keep Deus and Pixel as far away from each other as possible since he didn’t want her to suffer the same thing.

Gerhardt was currently working on the love generator for the changelings while Deus worked on Project Divinity. Apparently Deus had decided that project divinity would officially become his main focus. This was both good and bad. On the one hand it meant Gerhardt had more time to focus on his other projects such as the Love Generator. On the other hand it was Deus who was the one doing most of the work on Project Divinity and thus Gerhardt was constantly worried that Deus would go behind his back and start experimenting on sapient beings. So far his fears seemed unfounded as Deus hadn’t done anything Gerhardt himself wouldn’t do.

As Gerhardt was finishing the upgrades to this version of the love generator when the portal device connected to the mail slot on the front door of his house activated and spat out a letter. He walked over and picked up the letter. It seemed to be closed with a very official looking wax seal of some sort. Breaking the seal, he opened the letter and pulled out the paper inside.

Dear Gerhardt Mechanica

You and your esteemed daughter are both formally invited to have dinner with the royal family of Minos. It is of the utmost importance and could potentially benefit both you and all of Minos immensely. An escort of my finest guards will be picking you and your daughter up tomorrow morning — assuming this letter arrives on time — and will be bringing you to our castle in Minos in the finest airship money can buy. My family and I are very eager to meet you both.

King Iron Fist of Minos.

P.S. I can’t possibly thank you enough for giving my son an artificial heart. Having heart cancer at such a young age, I was absolutely terrified he wouldn’t live to see even so much as his early teenage years. From one father to another, I’m sure you can understand my relief. You and your technology saved his life and for that I am forever grateful.

Gerhardt sighed in annoyance and cast a spell to incinerate the letter and teleported the ashes to a random location in the Everfree Forest. He had no idea what Minos was or what sort of creatures inhabited it but he found this entire situation highly inconvenient. He would have written a letter back refusing the invitation if it weren’t for two things. First, the letter had not included a return address. Second, it really didn’t seem like this “King Steel Horn” was giving him much of a choice in the matter, if the letter was anything to go by. He hadn’t phrased it as a request. No, he just said he was sending an escort to come pick up Gerhardt and Pixel tomorrow at noon and that was that.

Furthermore he got a bad feeling about this. The letter said “It is of the utmost importance and could potentially benefit both you and all of Minos immensely.” He didn’t trust that for a zeptosecond. As far as he knew, the part about Gerhardt saving his son by replacing his heart could have been completely fabricated in order to get him to lower his guard.

So if he was going to have to attend, he was definitely bringing his teleportation pistol and he was going to conduct some research into this “Minos” kingdom and the creatures that resided there. He had never heard of them before and he wasn’t about to go into a situation like this uninformed. A few hours later he went to Twilight’s library and began reading.

Apparently Minos was inhabited by Minotaurs, which Gerhardt was quite surprised to learn. His world also used to have Minotaurs several centuries ago. In fact they were close allies of the Human Kingdom. However, they all went extinct during the ending years of the First Necromantic War. Granted he knew this world had dragons just like his world did, but the dragons of this world were vastly different to the dragons of his world. He assumed the Minotaurs should be similarly different, but apparently the only major difference was their appearance, culture, and religion. Otherwise they were effectively the same.

He found this revelation unsettling. Perhaps the gods of this universe had some contact with the gods of his universe and thus decided to create a few similarities between their respective universes? That was the only rational explanation he could come up with. He supposed it made some sense. This was the first universe he came in contact with after being cast out of his universe by Silvanus as it was for Isabelle as well which suggested it was likely in very close proximity to his universe. So it would stand to reason that perhaps the gods may converse with one another.

Well whatever the case, he now knew his potential enemy well enough to know how to fight them if it truly came to it. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to but better to be safe than sorry.

The next day he and Pixel were both dressed up and ready to go by the time there was a knock on the front door.

“Alright, Pixel. Remember what I told you. I don’t know what this is about but be sure to remain on your best behaviour. I would rather avoid starting any sort of diplomatic incident. Understood?” Gerhardt said, looking at her.

She nodded in response. “Yes, daddy. I promise.”

“Good.” With that Gerhardt opened the front door and was immediately greeted by two large muscular Minotaurs in fairly ornate steel armor, carrying shields and spears.

“Gerhardt Mechanica?” One of the soldiers inquired.

Gerhardt nodded. “Yes, that’s me. I assume you are here to pick my daughter and I up for this dinner with King Iron Fist?”

The minotaur nodded. “Mhm… Follow us. The air ship is waiting by the train station.”

“Ah, then please allow me to save us some time.” Gerhardt said before teleporting himself, Pixel, and the two minotaurs to the train station. There they saw something akin to a large ship of sorts suspended by ropes from a large balloon-like structure. Similar to a blimp or a zeppelin. It was floating a ways off the ground and had a long gangplank leading up to the deck of the ship.

Taking Pixel by the hand, Gerhardt began leading her up the gangplank followed closely behind by the guards. Once they were on the deck, the crew of the ship pulled up the gangplank and stowed it away. They then began rising up and away from the ground before turning and flying off towards the east.

Pixel grabbed the railing of the ship and looked down at the ground with a large smile on her face. Gerhardt gave her a confused look. “Why do you seem so excited? You can fly. You get to see this sort of view whenever you desire.”

Pixel looked at him and said, “Well, yeah but this is my first time ever being on something like this before! I might as well enjoy it, right?”

Gerhardt shrugged. “I don’t get it, but do whatever you like I suppose.”

The flight lasted pretty much the entire day. They flew over the forest between Baltimare and Fillydelphia, over what Gerhardt recognized from a map as Griffonstone, and further still. Finally arrived in another city Gerhardt could only assume was the capital of Minos, judging by the castle in the middle of the city. By the time they arrived the sun had already set and the moon had started to rise. Though this was likely due at least in part by Equestria and Minos being in slightly different time zones.

The crew lowered the gangplank and Gerhardt led Pixel down. The path was lit fairly well by the light of the castle so there was no need for Gerhardt to use his eyes like flashlights. As soon as they reached the bottom they were greeted by a butler who led them to the dining room of the castle.

“Ah, and our guests finally arrive!” Said a particularly large minotaur. He was wearing royal regalia and a crown and was sitting at the head of the table. Presumably King Iron Fist.

Other than him there were two other minotaurs sitting at the table. Both of them were significantly smaller than the King. One appeared to be female while the other appeared to be male and had a large scar across the front of his chest. Both of them were staring at Gerhardt and Pixel curiously. Gerhardt assumed they were the prince and princess respectively.

Gerhardt bowed respectfully and Pixel followed his lead. He then said, “Greetings. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

King Iron Fist shook his head and said, “No, no. The pleasure is all mine! Please sit, we have much to discuss.” He motioned to the two open chairs on the opposite side of the table from the prince and princess.

Gerhardt and Pixel complied and sat down. The chairs were significantly more comfortable than Equestrian chairs, being designed for bipeds rather than quadrupeds. “Forgive me, I’m physically incapable of eating. My throat is solid rather than hollow and I have nothing to process food or drink. However, my daughter is fully capable of eating so she is capable of joining you in eating where as I am not.”

King Iron Fist raised a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry. I already heard all of this from Celestia. I don’t mind that you can not join us. Though I do hope your species aren’t herbivores like the ponies, as us minotaurs are omnivores and I did have some meat prepared for tonight’s dinner.”

Gerhardt shook his head. “No. Humans are also omnivores. When I was still organic, meat was a primary part of my diet as I was a soldier and soldiers require quite a bit of protein to stay in peak physical condition. Granted, I was a bit of an exception in that I spent most of my time in a lab and would often forgo my meals in favor of my work leading me to become somewhat malnourished, but that’s besides the point. Pixel, however, was made in Equestria and has only ever eaten plant based foods. The only animal products being unfertilized chicken eggs and milk in the form of baked goods… Pixel, would you be willing to try some of the meat they prepared tonight?”

Pixel hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Of course! I’m always willing to try new foods. Besides, if humans usually eat meat then so should I, right?”

“Well you’re a golem not a human, technically speaking. So it’s really up to you. Still, thank you for being polite.” Gerhardt stated, patting her on the head.

“I’m glad to hear it! You wouldn’t believe how squeamish those ponies can be about our diet…” King Iron Fist said with a large smile on his face. “Anyways, let me introduce you to my children! This is my daughter Rose and my son Steel Horn. I would also introduce you to my wife, but she passed away five years ago… It was heart cancer, the same thing that was killing my son… I suppose it runs in the family…”

“I see… My condolences.” Gerhardt said, staring at him impassively.

“It’s fine… It’s just that when my son got it too, it… Well it reopened the wounds left by her passing… But you saved him! And for that you will forever have my deepest gratitude!” King Iron Fist stated giving Gerhardt a large friendly smile.

“U-um… The, uh… Golem? I think that’s what they’re called? Er… Yeah… The golem was really scary but I was really sick and my chest hurt a lot… So I layed down on the bed and did what it told me, and it fixed me! When I woke up I had this scar on my chest but I felt a lot better!” Steel Horn explained. He was a bit nervous at first but as he spoke he grew more and more enthusiastic.

Gerhardt nodded. “Good. Then the surgical golem did its job. I’m glad to have been of assistance.”

“As am I!” King Iron Fist said happily. “In fact, I’m so glad that I would like to make you an offer I believe would benefit both you and all of Minos.”

Gerhardt raised an eyebrow curiously. “Oh? And what might this offer be?”

“I’ll get to that in a moment but first I have to ask something. I realize that such technology only exists in stories but the same could be said for much of your technology, so can you create clones and/or modify the genetics of a child before they are born?” King Iron Fist inquired.

Gerhardt didn’t like where this was going. “Yes? That technology has existed for several millennia now. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I just had to know before I made this offer since I am well aware that neither you nor your daughter are capable of having children naturally. Anyways, I would like to arrange a marriage between your family and mine.” King Iron Fist explained. “I mean think about it. Minos could benefit greatly from your technology and you and your daughter could be royalty! It’s a win-win for both of us!”

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed and he looked at Pixel for a moment before looking back at the king. “Is this why you wanted me to bring my daughter?”

“Well… Yes and no. I’m fine with either your daughter marrying my son or you marrying my daughter. I’m not particularly picky in that regard.” King Iron Fist said before taking a sip of wine.

Gerhardt could hardly believe what he was hearing. “I am 893 years old, your daughter appears to be in her early teens. I’m sorry but I would rather not marry an adolescent.”

“Bah, that’s not an issue. Of course I wouldn’t have you marry her now. I would have you wait a few years until she was an adult. The same goes for my son and your daughter.” The king stated dismissively.

Gerhardt shook his head. “You have my sincerest apologies but the answer is still no. I am not comfortable with marrying someone so much younger than myself and I will not force my daughter to marry someone she has only just met.”

King Iron Fist glared at Gerhardt. “Are you refusing my extremely generous offer, peasant?”

Gerhardt returned the glare. “I am. And I’m no peasant. I was the High Lord of Research and Development before the destruction of my kingdom, meaning I was one of the five rulers of the Human Kingdom.”

“Ah, but your kingdom doesn’t exist any more now does it? That means you now rule nothing but the dead. That makes you a peasant as a ruler is not a ruler without subjects to rule over.” King Iron Fist growled, setting down his fork and knife.

“Hmph. At least I actually earned my position rather than being born into it. You think you are better just because you were born into the right family? No. It’s a person’s actions and character that defines their worth, not their blood. So even if I am a peasant, I would prefer to be one knowing I have been the best person I possibly could and having earned everything I have or was ever given than to be a selfish king and have had everything handed to me on a silver platter. So please, by all means continue calling me a peasant. You are proving nothing but your own arrogance.” Gerhardt retorted.

“Um… Please stop fighting. Shouldn’t we get a say in this?” Pixel inquired.

King Iron Fist glared at her for a moment before his expression started to brighten a bit. “That’s a very good point, little one! So, Mechanica, you say you won’t force your daughter to marry someone she only just met. Fine. As a father myself, I suppose I can respect that. However, what if she decided to do so on her own? Would you refuse her then?”

Gerhardt crossed his arms in front of his chest. “No… I suppose I wouldn’t. Well, I would make her wait until she was an adult but that’s it. Why? What are you trying to get at?”

“Despite my name I am not a totally unreasonable individual. So how about a compromise. Let us arrange some playdates for them. Then if they like each other, we let them get married once they’re old enough. If they don’t, perhaps we can work out a more common business arrangement instead.” King Iron Fist suggested.

Gerhardt wanted to refuse since he fully planned on bringing Pixel with him once he figured out how to become a god and could thus return to his own universe. However, he knew that if he refused he would offend King Iron Fist which wasn’t the smartest thing to do considering he was in Iron Fist’s kingdom far from Equestria or his combat golems. Yes, he could still order orbital bombardments from his cannons orbiting the planet, however that was a last resort as he didn’t want to reveal he had those if he didn’t have to. Thus he only had one choice in this situation, as much as he didn’t like it.

“Fine. However nothing will be arranged prematurely. We’ll set up these playdates and if they like each other we can continue having them. However, what truly matters is how they will feel once they are adults. In the meantime, if you wish to discuss business I am more than open to it. I assume you would like for me to expand my business to have facilities out here in Minos?”

King Iron Fist nodded. “I agree to these terms. And yes, I would. Your technology could benefit my citizens greatly, however the fact you only have facilities in Equestria and the Crystal Empire makes it quite inaccessible for most here in Minos as they are quite far away. If you had operations in Griffonstone it might be a bit different as it is significantly closer than Equestria or the Crystal Empire, but even then many here in Minos wouldn’t be able to travel there to access your medical technology. So I would like for you to open at least… let’s say… five facilities here in Minos. One for every major city. Though one in every city would be preferable. I’m actually willing to give you the land for the first five facilities. You would, however, have to pay for the materials and build them yourself or pay some contractors to build them for you and unless you or your daughter agree to the arranged marriage you would not be exempt from taxes.”

“Very well. That’s agreeable. I can easily supply the material and the labor force required to build and operate the facilities myself. You do understand that like in Equestria they will be completely automated so you should not expect them to produce new jobs or opportunities.”

“I see. Yes, I expected as much and that’s perfectly fine. I’ll send you a letter with the details of the properties along with a couple maps. Though I’ll make sure the boundaries of the properties are clearly marked physically as well. It should only take a few days for the paperwork to get through.” King Iron Fist informed him.

The dinner lasted another hour and it slowly transitioned over from Gerhardt and King Iron Fist talking business to Pixel, Steel Horn, and Rose having a casual conversation. When dinner was over King Iron Fist stood up and said, “Well despite the rather rough start, that was a lovely dinner. Unfortunately it is rather late and it would take quite a bit of time for you to fly back to Equestria, so how about you two stay the night? In fact, this would be an excellent opportunity for Pixel and Steel Horn’s first playdate tomorrow.”

Gerhardt was reluctant to accept however it was too far for them to teleport back to Equestria in one shot and they hadn’t stopped in Griffonstone thus neither he nor Pixel had the coordinates necessary for them to make a two point teleportation. “Very well, but we have to get home by tomorrow night so this ‘playdate’ will have to be relatively short. Maybe an hour or two at most. In the meantime, might you have a library somewhere in this castle? If I am to do business here, I would like to read up on this kingdom’s laws.”

“Ah, of course. I’ll have a servant show you there. Young Pixel, I hear you are capable of sleep while your father is not. So I’ll give you a choice. I can have a servant lead you to a guest bedroom or you can stay up with your father.” King Iron Fist said.

“Um… I usually sleep at night, but I think I’d rather stay with daddy.” Pixel responded uncertainly.

A short while later a servant led them to the castle library. Fortunately all of the books were written in the same language as books in Equestria so Gerhardt was able to read them. As Gerhardt started reading, Pixel asked, “Daddy, do you think I should marry Steel Horn when I’m older?”

“That is entirely up to you. However, I will give you one piece of advice. If you feel uncomfortable or if Prince Steel Horn tries to pressure or coerce you into anything you do not want, call me immediately and I will bring you home even if we have to run back on foot. Do not feel pressured one way or the other. You are significantly more important to me than this business deal and I’m not even the slightest bit worried about any sort of retaliation so you shouldn’t be concerned either.” Gerhardt said as he read books one after another.

“Alright… Will anyone get hurt if they do try to retaliate?” Pixel inquired.

Gerhardt knew exactly why she was asking that. She was more concerned about the safety of the Minotaurs than her own happiness. So if she believed they would get hurt she would be willing to get married just to prevent that from happening. She was far too kind for her own good. “No. I would merely put on a small display of force and intimidate them into submission. I promise that none of them would be harmed in the process. And even if they were injured, I could easily replace any limbs they lost without any issues. You know that. So don’t worry about their safety or wellbeing. They would be just fine.” Gerhardt lied. He would definitely send in combat golems and orbital bombardments to beat the Minotaurs into submission if he was forced to. Unlike Pixel, he couldn’t possibly care less about hurting them or killing their soldiers. Those were completely normal things to him. However, Pixel didn’t need to know that.

Pixel sighed in relief. She trusted him completely and wholeheartedly so she had absolutely no reason to think he was lying to her. They spent the rest of the night reading and discussing whatever random topics Pixel could come up with.

In the morning they attended breakfast with King Iron Fist and his children. When breakfast was over, it was finally time for Pixel and Steel Horn’s play date.

As Steel Horn was leading Pixel through the castle he gave her an apologetic look and said, “Um, Pixel, I’m really sorry about my dad. He just wants access to your family’s technology for the kingdom and he thinks by having me or Rose marry into your family we’ll get access to technology you’re keeping from the rest of the world. We don’t have to get married if you don’t want to. I’m fine with just being friends!”

“Oh, I don’t mind! It’s not your fault. And I would be more than happy to be your friend! Anyways, where are we going?” Pixel inquired as they walked.

“Just the castle gardens. I’m not allowed to leave the castle grounds, at least not without a few guards to keep me safe. So the castle gardens are me and Rose’s favorite place to play!” Steel Horn said happily.

As soon as the two of them got to the garden they started playing a variety of games from tag, to catch, to hide and seek. Of course, being a good sport, Pixel intentionally held back. So she only ran as fast as Steel Horn did during tag, she didn’t throw very hard during catch, and she didn’t use any technologically enhanced senses during hide and seek. Eventually Steel Horn got tired and they decided to take a break.

“That was a lot of fun!” Pixel said happily as the two of them sat down on the ground.

“Yeah! I can’t wait until your next visit! Maybe next time Rose can play with us too!” Steel Horn suggested.

“I would like that. I didn’t get to interact with her much this time around. Ooh! I know! Maybe we could convince your daddy to let you and Rose come to Ponyville some time! I know you aren’t allowed to leave the castle without guards but that’s fine. I could introduce you to some of my other friends!”

“Yeah that would be a lot of fun! I’ll try to talk to him and see if I can convince him, but um… I don’t think he’ll let me. He doesn’t really let me play with anyone he thinks are ‘lower class’... And all the noble children I’ve interacted with are sort of mean and spoiled. You’re sort of the first friend I’ve ever had besides my sister…” Steel Horn said, sounding a bit embarrassed.

Pixel gave him a sympathetic look. “Oh… That’s terrible! I’m so sorry to hear that. I couldn’t imagine life without friends. I’m actually sort of the opposite really. I have a lot of friends but my new younger brother, Deus, is really mean. Well… ‘Mean’ isn’t quite the right word, but it’s close enough that you get the idea. He isn’t nice. I… I hate to admit it but I honestly don’t like him. I want to, I really do, but every time I try to interact with him he says these things that are just terrible… I don’t understand what’s wrong with him.”

Steel Horn seemed surprised to hear that she had a brother but became somewhat concerned as she continued to speak. “Have you talked to your dad about him? What sort of things does he say?”

Pixel nodded. “Mhm… Daddy tells me I shouldn’t talk to him even though he’s my brother. Well, Deus called me weak and pathetic because I care about Daddy and my friends. He also says being nice to or even interacting with others is meaningless and the only thing that matters is research and progress.”

“He sounds stupid. If that’s what he’s really like you should listen to your dad.” Steel Horn said, clearly already having a strong dislike for Deus.

“Yeah… Um… Anyways, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring the mood down like that.”

“It’s fine! Hey, I know you’re going to have to go home soon, but how about one last game of hide and seek before you go? It’s my favorite game!” Steel Horn suggested.

Pixel smiled at him and stood up. “All right! I’d like to hide first this time, if you don’t mind.”
> Chapter 26 [Chains Broken]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silvanus was currently resting after a fairly major battle and a particularly stressful meeting with the gods that allied themselves with him. This had all spiraled way further out of control than he had ever intended. Now it had turned into a full scale war between all of the lesser gods in the entire solar system. Mid Gods had already started investigating so he was absolutely certain the Greater Gods would get involved soon. All because Lanius had a stick too far up his ass when it came to laws and rules. None of this would have happened if that bastard could have just left well enough alone!

No matter. Even if the Greater Gods did intervene at this point, he had already done irreparable damage to the Human Kingdom. It wasn’t quite the genocide he wanted but killing over twenty five billion humans over the course of this war would have to suffice. Though they hadn’t intervened yet so maybe he and the other gods that were on his side could get that number all the way up to a solid hundred billion before the Greater Gods finally got involved.

Furthermore, even if the Greater Gods intervened right now at that very moment and he was no longer able to assist the Nature Spirit in getting free, he had already guaranteed her freedom regardless. Isabelle was a wonderful help in that regard. Mortals were so easily influenced, especially when a part of them truly wants to do whatever they are being influenced to do. That was exactly the case with Isabelle. All he had to do was subtly strengthen the part of her that wanted to help the Nature Spirit until it overpowered her morals. It didn’t need to overpower them much, just enough to make her help Natura. Thus the reason he spared her and sent her to that universe in the first place. Otherwise he would have just killed her just like the other high lords. The lie about him sparing her because she was a half elf and she annoyed him the least was just that, a lie to make him banishing her to that universe less suspicious.

And the best part? Once Gerhardt learned what she did he would honestly believe she betrayed him of her own free will. Then he would turn on her and kill her for him. Thus Silvanus will have killed not two but three birds with one stone! He will have killed one more human by tricking Gerhardt into killing her for him, he will have freed a nature spirit from her imprisonment, and he will have done immeasurable damage to the Equines Gerhardt allied himself with thus getting his revenge for that demigod bitch’s insult against him when that rogue mage was attacking the Crystal Empire. Comparing him to the Father of Liches, how dare she?!

Well, he wouldn’t have to wait long to see the results of his efforts. Due to Isabelle’s rituals the time it would have taken to free Natura had been reduced by several months. In fact she would break free very soon indeed. All that needed to happen was for Isabelle to conduct one more ritual then he could just sit back and watch the show. He couldn’t wait.

[In the Everfree Forest]

Winter had come to an end and had finally given way to spring. In fact today was the first day of spring. And today would be the day Equestria would come to an end. Isabelle steeled herself for the coming ritual. She really didn’t want to do this, knowing what was going to happen. However, it was much too late now. At this point Natura would get free with or without her. Besides which she felt like she needed to do this even if she didn’t want to even though she couldn’t exactly explain why.

Taking a sip of wine from a flask she was carrying on her hip in an attempt to calm her nerves she stepped into the ritual circle.

[In Ponyville]

Gerhardt was currently in the above ground portion of his factory in Ponyville conducting maintenance on the various machines inside. He was just about finished when he heard a loud roar from outside and a very ominous, very familiar, and very unwelcome sense of malice and danger washed over him like a tidal wave. The exact same sense of malice and danger as the day he first entered the Everfree Forest. His eyes instantly dimmed and genuine fear and horror flooded through him. The Nature Spirits of the Everfree had apparently grown completely fed up with the ponies and were about to begin their rampage.

“Nononono…” He muttered to himself, as he dropped his tools and immediately sprinted out of the factory. The previously clear sky was pitch black with storm clouds, it had started raining heavily, and the sky was crackling furiously with thunder and lightning. Shaking his head he immediately sent the wireless signal to raise the barrier generator he built to protect Ponyville in case the Changelings attacked. It would take about thirty seconds to fully raise and it wasn’t designed to hold off spirits so it wouldn’t be able to hold them back for very long, especially not if they decided to just teleport past it, but once it was raised hopefully it would hold the spirits off just long enough to evacuate Ponyville. Or at least long enough to significantly reduce the body count.

As a large circular section of ground next to his lab lowered, split in half, and began sliding open warning sirens he had installed on the roof of his factory and on the roof of his house began to blare. Along with the sirens an automated message began playing. “Attention all citizens of Ponyville. This is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. The princesses have already been notified. For your own safety please get yourselves and your families to the portal arch at the train station and evacuate to Canterlot as soon as possible. This message will repeat…”

With that done, Gerhardt used his built in communication systems to send a text message to both Celestia and Luna. Along with the text message Gerhardt sent an emergency override signal to the Princesses’ phones forcing them to display the text message along with the word “Emergency” in big bold red letters, all while playing an alarm.

‘Princesses, Ponyville is under attack. I have begun the process of evacuating everyone to Canterlot and am going to deploy combat golems to protect everyone, but I’m afraid I’m going to need your assistance. Please get here as soon as possible.’

Next he called Deus, “Deus! I need your help now! Ponyville is under attack! It’s the nature spirits of the Everfree Forest! I need you to help protect the ponies as we evacuate them to Canterlot! I’ve already sent a message to the princesses!”

“Understood.” Deus responded in an emotionless tone before hanging up on Gerhardt.

Finally Gerhardt sent an activation signal to the few hundred combat golems he had stored in the underground levels of his factory. Moments later hundreds of Combat Golems teleported in front of his factory already in perfect formation. He took a few microseconds and reprogrammed them to protect Ponyville from the nature spirits and their constructs rather than killing Changelings as they were originally built for.

Suddenly Pixel appeared next to him in a flash of silver light. “Daddy! What’s happening?!” She cried, visibly terrified by everything that was happening.

“The Nature Spirits have finally gotten fed up with the ponies and have decided to attack! I’m going to stay here and try to evacuate Ponyville, you need to teleport yourself to the Crystal Empire! I want you as far away from here as possible!” Gerhardt informed her, teleporting his personal combat rifle into his hands.

Pixel shook her head. “No, I want to help get everyone to safety too!” Pixel refused.

Gerhardt frowned at her. “Pixel, that wasn’t a request, that was a gods damned order! I am not giving you a choice in the matter!” He raised a hand and teleported her to the throne room of the castle in the Crystal Empire. That ate a good chunk of his arcane energy reserves but as long as Pixel was safe he didn’t care.

With that done, he began following his combat golems sprinting towards Ponyville at maximum speed. As he reached the edge of the town he began hearing screams of terror and agony mixed with beastial roars, and he saw massive wooden constructs rampaging through the town. Some were in the form of manticores, others were in the form of bears, others were in the form of wolves, and more still were flying in through the air and were in various forms of large vicious birds. As soon as the constructs came into view, he and his combat golems began opening fire on them.

Bolts of arcane energy launched from his rifle as hyper accurate particle beams lanced through the air all around him. The bolts of arcane energy hit one of the manticore constructs and blasted it to pieces as the particle beams hit other constructs and punched holes straight through them, getting the constructs attention but doing very little else as they had no brains or vital organs to pierce. Some of the constructs turned and began rushing towards Gerhardt and the combat golems. As the constructs got within range combat golems unleashed torrents of superheated plasma that incinerated them within moments. The plasmathrowers were significantly more effective against the constructs than the particle beams, for obvious reasons.

Sending the combat golems wireless commands, he ordered twenty five of them to guard the portal arch and protect any of the ponies that were trying to flee through. They would also be defending the arch itself to keep the nature spirits and their constructs from destroying it before Ponyville was fully evacuated.

Before he could get much further into the town, he saw Celestia and Luna appear directly in the middle of the train station. Even at a brief glance the two of them understood what was happening and didn’t hesitate to begin blasting the constructs to pieces. Gerhardt saw a box he recognized as the one they used to store the Elements of Harmony floating next to them, surrounded by a golden aura.

Gerhardt turned and ran towards them, continuing to shoot at the constructs. All but twenty five of his combat golems continued sprinting past him into Ponyville itself. Particle beams and plasmathrowers blazing as they waged war on the constructs.

Sliding to a stop next to the Princesses, Gerhardt said, “Good, you got my message!” As he said this, he continued firing his weapon at the constructs to protect the fleeing ponies.

“Gerhardt! What the buck is going on here?!” Celestia demanded furiously.

“Repercussions! The nature spirits residing in the Everfree are attacking and they likely plan to exterminate your entire species!” Gerhardt told them.

“What do you mean by ‘repercussions’? More importantly, why would these spirits want to exterminate us?!” Luna exclaimed.

“It doesn’t matter! We can talk about this later! For now I need your help finding and evacuating everyone before things start getting really bad!”

“You mean it’s going to get worse than this?!” Celestia asked, clearly horrified by the prospect.

“Yes! Now get moving!” Gerhardt shouted back before running deeper into Ponyville, leaving the princesses behind.

[Fluttershy]

Fluttershy was outside feeding the animals when all of the sudden everything started to get really dark and it began to rain very heavily. She was startled by this at first but quickly recovered and looked up at the sky. “That’s odd… There was no thunderstorm scheduled for today…”

Suddenly there was a very loud roar from the Everfree forest and a sense of malice and danger washed over her. She was about to run back into her house when the eyes of some of the more predatory animals she was taking care of started to glow with a leaf green light and they turned and began snarling furiously at her.

“W-what’s wrong? Why do you all look so angry?” She asked the animals. Then her mind was drawn back to the day the manticore attacked. Its eyes had also been glowing just like this and she hadn’t been able to break through to it whatsoever. Realizing it was happening again but this time to more than one animal she was paralyzed with fear. She wanted to turn and run away, to go get help, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t so much as move a muscle.

Seeing this, a now possessed bear she had been taking care of ran up to her and was about to tear her to shreds when a bright blue beam of pure arcane energy blasted a hole straight through its head and it fell over dead. Goldy then landed on top of the bear’s corpse and hissed furiously at the other possessed animals. They snarled back and charged. Goldy unleashed four more beams of arcane energy from its mouth and killed four more of the animals before extending its monomolecular blade claws and flying towards the rest, ready to slice them all to ribbons.

Fluttershy could do nothing but watch in abject horror as the proceeding slaughter unfolded before her very eyes. Goldy was a whirlwind of blood and carnage as it slit throats with whips of its tail, sliced through flesh and bone with its claws, tore out throats with its rows of razor sharp teeth, and gouged out eyes with its horns. Every action it took was intended to kill its targets. However, that did not mean Goldy came out unscathed.

As animals would try to make it past Goldy to get to Fluttershy the little metal dragon would intercept them and take as many attacks for her as it could. This resulted in it losing one of its wings, breaking one of its legs, and getting some pretty nasty dents, some of which impared its mobility.

Suddenly she began hearing sirens in the distance along with Gerhardt’s voice. “Attention all citizens of Ponyville. This is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. The princesses have already been notified. For your own safety please get yourselves and your families to the portal arch at the train station and evacuate to Canterlot as soon as possible. This message will repeat…”

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash was practicing her flying after a hard day’s work of clearing the clouds from the sky when the last thing she expected happened. Even more clouds began to rapidly coalesce in the sky forming a single massive dark storm cloud that extended as far as her eyes could see. In fact, while she had no way of knowing this for certain, it seemed like the clouds may even extend across the entirety of Equestria.

“What the hay…?” She muttered in confusion as the rain began. Said rain was very quickly joined by such an intense volume of lightning that it was legitimately too dangerous for her or anypony else to try to go up there to clear them out.

Suddenly there was a loud roar from the Everfree Forest and an intense sense of malice and danger crashed over her like an avalanche.

Suddenly she saw things rushing out of the Everfree Forest towards Ponyville by the dozens. Some were running across the ground while others were flying. Some of the flying ones flew towards her and she saw they were large bird-like creatures made entirely out of wood and leaves just like the timberwolves and they looked just as aggressive.

Realizing Ponyville was under attack, Rainbow Dash prepared herself for a fight.

As she began her epic clash with the wooden birds she began hearing a siren coming from below her, along with Gerhardt’s voice. 

“Attention all citizens of Ponyville. This is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. The princesses have already been notified. For your own safety please get yourselves and your families to the portal arch at the train station and evacuate to Canterlot as soon as possible. This message will repeat…”

[Applejack]

Applejack was at her orchards trying to finish getting everything ready for spring when everything started to get much darker and it began to rain quite heavily. Thunder and lightning crackled violently in the sky.

“What in tarnation…?” She muttered in confusion as she looked up at the sky.

Suddenly there was a loud roar from the direction of the Everfree Forest.

Concerned, she began running towards the area of the farm where she knew Applebloom and Granny Smith were helping Big Mac plant crops. As she ran she heard a siren coming from the direction of Ponyville along with what sounded like Gerhardt making an announcement. 

“Attention all citizens of Ponyville. This is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. The princesses have already been notified. For your own safety please get yourselves and your families to the portal arch at the train station and evacuate to Canterlot as soon as possible. This message will repeat…”

As she processed this grim message she heard something rushing through the orchard towards her. Sliding to a stop she got into a defensive position and looked to see what it was.

Suddenly a large manticore-like creature made entirely out of wood like a timberwolf came barreling towards her. She jumped to the side to avoid its claws and stinger. Landing on her hooves she turned and bucked it in the side as hard as she could causing it to go flying into a tree where it then burst apart. However the pieces began to reassemble themselves not even a moment later.

Seeing this Applejack frowned. This obviously was not going to be easy. However she needed to get past this thing so she could get to Applebloom and Granny Smith so she could help Big Mac protect them. She sort of wished she had a rope so she could just hogtie the varment, but she didn’t. So she was just going to have to do this the hard way.

[Rarity]

Rarity was in her Boutique having lunch with Sweetie Belle when they heard the sounds of rain and thunder. “Hm? I didn’t know there was going to be a storm today.” Sweetie Belle said, looking out the nearest window.

Rarity also looked at the window in confusion. “There wasn’t supposed to be, if I remember correctly. It was supposed to be a calm sunny day… I wonder what changed?”

Suddenly the two of them heard a loud roar outside and a powerful sense of malice and danger began to permeate the atmosphere.

“W-what’s happening?” Sweetie Belle asked, clearly terrified by whatever was going on.

“I’m not sure…” Rarity muttered in a worried tone.

Suddenly a siren began to blare and what sounded like Gerhardt announced, “Attention all citizens of Ponyville. This is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. The princesses have already been notified. For your own safety please get yourselves and your families to the portal arch at the train station and evacuate to Canterlot as soon as possible. This message will repeat…”

Rarity’s eyes widened as she processed the announcement. Ponyville was under attack. “Sweetie Belle, I’m going to need you to stay close to me and do everything I tell you. We’re going to heed Mr. Mechanica’s advice and evacuate to Canterlot.”

[In Cloudsdale]

Everypony was in a panic as the entire city turned into one massive lightning storm. Hundreds of pegasi were severely injured or killed by the extremely violent bolts of lightning just in the first few seconds, especially those that were trapped inside when it started. Those that were outside were either trying to save their loved ones or were attempting to flee the city as the clouds were completely out of control and it was much too dangerous to try to regain control over them.

[Every Equestrian population center near a forest]

Wooden constructs poured out of the forests and led massive assaults on the Equestrian towns and cities. The local guards and police forces tried their best to fend them off while the citizens either evacuated or attempted to hide in doors. However, it was rapidly becoming readily apparent that it was a losing battle.

[Every Equestrian population center near the ocean]

Everypony who managed to survive the first waves attempted to evacuate in-land or get to shelter as massive tidal waves slammed into their cities and powerful hurricanes began to form, absolutely devastating their cities.

[Applejack]

Applejack ignored the pain her wounds were causing her and ran. She hadn’t managed to defeat the wooden manticore but she had managed to get past it. Fortunately the barrier generator that Gerhardt had sold her to keep the timberwolves out had been on the way so she had already activated it to stop any more of these wooden creatures from getting into the orchard before continuing on her way.

It didn’t take long before she started hearing the sounds of a struggle. Rounding the corner she saw Big Mac holding off a large wooden bear in an attempt to protect Applebloom and Granny Smith. He appeared even more heavily wounded than Applejack.

Applejack bolted over towards the wooden bear and bucked it in the side as hard as she could, breaking it apart and scattering the pieces over a fairly large area. Thus it would take a few seconds for it to reform.

“Big Mac, Applebloom run! Get to the truck! Granny Smith, climb on my back! You can’t run on your own so I’ll have to carry you!” Applejack exclaimed.

Applebloom and Big Mac didn’t bother trying to question her and just started running. It took a couple seconds for Granny Smith to climb on Applejack’s back but as soon as she had Applejack bolted after Big Mac and Applebloom quickly catching up.

As they were running Applejack noticed the barrier protecting the Orchard fall. That meant one of two things. Either the wooden creatures had managed to bust it down with brute force or one of them that was already inside destroyed the barrier generator. Either way it didn’t matter since they weren’t staying here long. They were going to heed the announcement and evacuate to Canterlot.

As soon as the four of them reached the truck Applejack helped Granny Smith into the front passenger seat. Before rushing over to the front driver seat. Big Mac had just finished helping Applebloom into the back seat when another wooden manticore burst out of the orchard and ripped his side open with a swipe of its claws. He cried out in pain as he was knocked to the ground.

“Big Mac!” Applejack exclaimed as she saw this happen. In a panic she bucked the wooden manticore so hard in the jaw that its head flew off. It then collapsed to a pile of wood in between her and Big Mac. Rushing over to Big Mac she helped him up onto his hooves and into the back seat. “Applebloom, there are some rags under your seat! Grab some and use them to keep pressure on Big Mac’s wound!” She ordered before closing the door and quickly jumping in the driver’s seat.

[Fluttershy]

“Goldy!” Fluttershy cried out in despair as a large wooden manticore smashed the little metal dragon to pieces. It then turned and snarled at her before pouncing at her. Closing her eyes Fluttershy braced herself for the pain she was sure would follow.

However before the manticore could reach her a dark blue beam of arcane energy blasted it to pieces. “Fluttershy! I suspected you might be in danger, but I’m glad to see you are unharmed.” Princess Luna said, landing in front of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked at the Princess. “P-princess Luna…” She muttered before bursting out into tears, crying in despair for Goldy and all of the other animals that died that day.

Princess Luna wanted to comfort her but there wasn’t enough time. So she reluctantly just teleported Fluttershy back to the train station in Canterlot, skipping the portal entirely.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash tried her best to fight the wooden birds but there were just too many of them. Just as she was sure that she was going to die there was a blast of golden arcane energy and Princess Celestia flew over to her. “Get to the portal! You fought well but we’ll handle everything from here!”

“No way! I can’t just let these things get away with attacking Ponyville!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“You’re heavily wounded! You would only be getting in the way! Now go, otherwise I will cast a temporary paralysis spell on you and teleport you to Canterlot myself!” Celestia ordered.

Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment before cursing under her breath and flying towards the train station. She didn’t want to leave but Celestia was right. She was wounded. Staying here to fight wouldn’t be heroic or brave, it would be suicidal.

[Rarity]

Rarity and Sweetie Belle were backed into a corner by a large wooden bear. Rarity had raised a barrier to protect the two of them, but she wasn’t as powerful as Twilight despite using the exercises in Gerhardt’s book to maintain magical fitness. So she knew the barrier wouldn’t last long.

Fortunately it wouldn’t need to last long as the wooden bear was vaporized by a blast of golden light. Looking to its source, Rarity saw a golden golem who she assumed was Deus. She had personally never met or even seen Deus before but it was pretty easy to tell it was him since he looked vastly different from the combat golems that were running around. Also there were only three people that could look like that and the other two decided to take on a more organic appearance.

Rarity was about to thank him, but before she could even open her mouth he turned and began running away. Likely off to go vaporize more of the wooden creatures and save more ponies.

[Gerhardt]

Running past Golden Oaks Library, Gerhardt saw Twilight trying to protect herself, Spike, and a group of about ten other ponies with a barrier as two of the manticore constructs tried their best to break through to maul them.

Raising one of his hands, he grabbed the two constructs in a telekinetic grip and incenerated them with intense arcane flames bordering on plasma. It took a few seconds before the constructs were heavily burned enough that they finally “died” but as soon as they did, he dropped their charred husks and ran over to Twilight.

“Good job on keeping them safe as long as you did! Do you have enough energy to teleport them to the train station?!” He demanded.

“I... I think so. Gerhardt, what’s going on?! Is it the nature spirits you told me about a few months ago?” Twilight inquired, her body visibly trembling.

“Yes! If you have enough energy then get them the fuck out of here! You should get out of here too, you’ll only end up getting yourself killed if you stay here! If you want to help, then help by getting the wounded and dying that come through the portal to hospitals in Canterlot!” He ordered before running off again.

As he was running and shooting, he tried to call Isabelle. The ponies were going to need her help to stabilize the dying once they were safe in Canterlot. However, when she didn’t answer he cursed and gave up. He didn’t think the nature spirits would kill her since she wasn’t a pony but he wasn’t holding out hope. Until he saw evidence to the contrary, he was going to operate under the assumption she was dead.

Eventually he reached Sugar Cube Corner and saw Pinkie Pie trying to hold off three constructs that appeared to be trying to tear down one of the walls of the building in an attempt to get inside. Two were bear constructs and one was a manticore construct. She was seriously injured and appeared to be bleeding out, judging by how much blood she was losing.

Gerhardt blasted the constructs apart with his combat rifle and before he could do anything else, Pinkie Pie rushed towards him. “Gears! You’ve gotta help me get the Cakes to the portal!” She exclaimed in a pleading tone.

He nodded. “Very well, but first let’s seal this wound so you don’t bleed out. I’m going to cauterize it, but I’ll be using a spell to numb it so I promise you won't feel a thing. Just try not to move.”

Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and turned her head away but nodded. “Alright. Just hurry!”

Gerhardt cast a spell to completely numb the wound before casting another spell to cauterize it. Flames spewed forth from the wound for a few moments and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. When it was over he teleported Pinkie Pie to the train station and rushed inside the building, but didn’t see the Cakes anywhere. Though his sensors detected four energy signatures consistent with the Cakes in a room up stairs. Running up the stairs, Gerhardt found the room they were hiding in and knocked. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake, this is Gerhardt Mechanica! I’m here to help you get to safety!”

“C-come in!” A timid voice said from the other side of the door.

Gerhardt pushed the door open and walked inside. He found himself inside what was very clearly the room the Cake’s foals slept in, judging by the crib. He saw the Cakes cradling their foals trying to comfort them.

Walking over to them he said, “I’m going to teleport you four to the train station. My combat golems are protecting the portal arch, so none of the wooden constructs will be able to harm you. I just need you to get yourselves and your foals through that portal as soon as possible. Miss Pie is already there waiting for you. Understood?”

“Y-yes. Thank you so much, Mr. Mechanica. W-we would have never made it there on our own. Not with those m-monsters rampaging through the town.” Mr. Cake stuttered.

“Of course.” Gerhardt responded before teleporting the four of them to the train station.

With that done, Gerhardt teleported himself back out of the building and was about to turn and start running towards the center of town when he heard the roar of an engine. Looking, he saw Applejack driving the truck he built for her family and saw Granny Smith in the seat next to her. He assumed Big Mac and Applebloom were in the back two seats. They drove past him in the direction of the train station.

He was surprised by this as due to their proximity to the Everfree Forest, he had assumed the four of them were dead. Apparently he had been mistaken. Perhaps one of the Princesses had saved them?

Shaking his head to refocus his thoughts he turned and began running towards town hall. He passed plenty of mutilated corpses, and saved as many of the surviving ponies as he could. A few minutes after he reached town hall, which appeared to be the epicenter of the battle between his combat golems and the wooden constructs, a triumphant roar and laugh resounded through the air. “FREEDOM! AHAHAHAHAHA!” Cried a gleeful voice that seemed to come from every direction simultaneously.

Looking towards the Everfree Forest, he saw what looked like a massive wooden deer emerge from the trees and rise high up into the air. A sense of cold dread filled him as he realized this was no ordinary nature spirit. No. This was a greater spirit of nature.

Blinking, he processed this situation and came to the conclusion that it was impossible for them to win. There was no way they could beat this thing. As if to confirm his thoughts, the spirit looked at Ponyville and completely shattered the barrier protecting it with a single immensely powerful bolt of lightning.

Sighing in resignation, Gerhardt teleported himself to the portal arch and immediately pressed the button to deactivate it. He knew Equestria was doomed, but hopefully this would buy the ones who had already escaped to Canterlot at least some time. After that he sent a signal to deactivate the sirens and the automated message that had been playing on repeat the entire time.

Casting a spell so his voice could be heard all throughout Ponyville he said, “This is Gerhardt Mechanica. If you are still alive and haven’t gotten to the train station yet, it’s too late. We’re all going to die. May the gods have mercy on our souls.”
> Chapter 27 [Nature's Wrath] (rewritten)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Casting a spell so his voice could be heard all throughout Ponyville he said, “This is Gerhardt Mechanica. If you are still alive and haven’t gotten to the train station yet, it’s too late. We’re all going to die. May the gods have mercy on our souls.”

Suddenly Celestia, Luna, and surprisingly enough Cadance all appeared in front of him one after the other, in flashes of different colors of light. As did Deus, but he appeared far less angry or confused by this whole situation. In fact, he seemed quite calm and collected despite the circumstances.

“Gerhardt! Are you trying to start a panic?! What do you mean we’re all going to die?!” Celestia shouted at him, clearly furious.

Gerhardt impassively pointed at the spirit that was in the air above the town, staring down at it with nothing but hatred and disdain. “That is this world’s greater spirit of nature. It wants revenge against your species for enslaving it for however many thousands of years your species has been controlling nature. Judging by how it said, “Freedom” before it appeared I can only assume it has been imprisoned in the Everfree up until this point which is the only reason your species still exists today. Otherwise it would have sought retribution far sooner. None of us can do anything to stop it.”

“Wait, what do you mean we ‘enslaved’ it?! We have done no such thing!” Luna exclaimed.

“Yes you have. Spirits are not normal beings. They are the physical embodiments of concepts. Literally. They are the concept they embody. There is zero distinction between the two. So by manipulating the weather, the seasons, the growth of plants, and interfering with the process of natural selection you have indeed been enslaving it specifically because it is nature itself. And you have been controlling nature against its will for thousands of years.” Gerhardt explained.

“Indeed. The metal one speaks the truth, little alicorns. Now you will all pay!” The spirit roared furiously, apparently having been listening to their conversation. With that declaration a massive bolt of lightning struck Ponyville and everything turned white as Ponyville exploded.

Gerhardt felt himself be launched backwards from the force of the explosion. He went flying several hundred feet backwards before skipping off the ground a few times and rolling to a stop, heavily dented but still alive. Had he been organic, that explosion would have killed him as he was sure it had killed any ponies that remained in Ponyville. His combat golems would be scattered, but they would also be relatively unharmed. Mainly because their exteriors were made of the same metallic ceramic as the power armor he had made for Pixel to wear during Nightmare Night.

Right now Gerhardt wished the metal frame underneath his artificial skin was made out of that same material, even if it meant his spells would be significantly weaker and less efficient. Unfortunately it was just magically reinforced silver, barely stronger than steel. So it was dented to shit and both of his legs were damaged to the extent they were no longer functional. His arms still worked, barely, but they were not in very much better condition.

Using telekinesis, he lifted himself up off the ground and looked around. Ponyville was now little more than ruins where once had been a bustling town. Everything was destroyed. A short distance away from him, the princesses and Deus were also pushing themselves up off the ground.

Standing up and looking back up at the greater spirit Celestia said, “Wait, please stop! We honestly didn’t know you even existed, let alone that we were doing anything to you! My sister and I are the diarchs of Equestria! We can change our laws to ban all of that! Nopony will ever try to control you again, we swear!”

“FIFTY THOUSAND YEARS! YOUR KIND HAVE ENSLAVED ME FOR FIFTY THOUSAND YEARS!” The spirit roared back at Celestia. More lightning struck the ground in front of the princesses. “I HAVE EXISTED SINCE LONG BEFORE THE BIRTH OF YOUR PATHETIC SPECIES! YOUR ANCESTORS KNEW ME AND KNEW NOT TO TRY TO CONTROL ME! YET WHEN THAT WRETCH, DISCORD, IMPRISONED ME FIFTY THOUSAND YEARS AGO THE FIRST THING THEY DID WAS TAKE THAT OPPORTUNITY TO ENSLAVE ME IN MY WEAKENED STATE! NO MORE! I WILL NOT BE A SLAVE TO YOU INSOLENT WORMS ANY LONGER! YOUR WORDS WILL NOT SWAY ME! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!”

Luna took a few steps backwards towards Gerhardt, feigning fear. “Gerhardt, Twilight and her friends are in Canterlot. We already gave Twilight the Elements of Harmony. We’re going to try to hold this spirit at bay. Can you go get them for us?” She whispered to him just loud enough that he could hear her over the pouring rain and booming thunder, hoping the spirit wouldn’t hear.

Gerhardt sighed. “I fail to see the point, but as you wish.” He teleported to Canterlot and saw that even here the sky was pitch black with storm clouds and lightning was constantly exploding through the sky. He assumed it was like this all across Equestria. Hopefully constructs weren’t rampaging anywhere else just yet or the body count was going to be absolutely astronomical. Any population centers near large amounts of vegetation were likely to be destroyed if constructs were appearing anywhere else just yet.

He quickly found Twilight and her friends standing in front of the now empty portal arch, clearly panicking. All of them were in various states of being wounded and bandaged. Twilight was pressing the button on the portal arch, desperately trying to turn it back on to no avail, indicating that the paired arch was destroyed in the explosion along with the rest of Ponyville.

“Miss Sparkle, it’s futile. Ponyville is gone. The other arch was destroyed along with it.” Gerhardt told her.

She jumped, clearly startled by this. All six of them whirled around to face him. “Gerhardt! What do you mean Ponyville’s gone?!”

“I mean, the greater spirit of nature that was apparently imprisoned in the Everfree Forest by a being named “Discord” fifty thousand years ago has gotten free and the first thing it did with its newfound freedom was destroy Ponyville. There’s nothing left. Anyone that was still there is dead. The Princesses and my son Deus are currently fighting this spirit, trying to hold it off. Apparently they want you to try to use the Elements of Harmony on it, so Princess Luna sent me here to retrieve you. I’m going to need you six to come with me back to the ruins of Ponyville.” Gerhardt explained in a very grim tone.

All of them reacted to the news differently. Pinkie Pie’s mane deflated and her hind legs gave out from under her forcing her to sit down, Fluttershy was blatantly sobbing, Twilight seemed to be in shock, Rainbow Dash was tearing up while simultaneously looking absolutely furious, Applejack just looked flat out angry, and Rarity seemed to be on the verge of having a full blown panic attack. In Gerhardt’s opinion none of them were in any condition to re-enter an active battlefield with an angry greater spirit, but that didn’t matter right now. He sincerely doubted these “Elements of Harmony” were powerful enough to stop a rampaging Greater Spirit, but they were quite possibly the only shot they had.

“We do not have time for this. Fight now, grieve later. If you all start to break down now, your entire species is going to die for what you have done to nature for the past fifty thousand years. You, or more specifically the artifacts you wield, are our only hope of stopping that from happening. Do you understand me?” Gerhardt said in a cold tone.

“Metal head, just shut up and bring us back to Ponyville already…” Rainbow Dash growled at him.

He nodded and teleported all six of them and himself back to Ponyville where a cataclysmic battle was raging in the sky between the nature spirit and the princesses and Deus. The nature spirit was very clearly more powerful than them and they were slowly but steadily losing, but all four of them were demigods so the battle was very close.

“Use the elements, now!” Gerhardt ordered pointing at the nature spirit with a slightly malfunctioning arm and hand.

Suddenly the six of them began to glow just like they had when they restored King Sombra’s physical form in the Crystal Empire. After a few moments, a rainbow beam lanced forth from them towards the nature spirit. The spirit saw this and raised a wooden hoof towards the beam, completely negating it.

“Harmony has been imprisoned just as it and Discord had imprisoned me. Those trinkets you wear are worthless.” The Nature Spirit stated.

Just before it could finish talking, Gerhardt teleported the six ponies back to Canterlot. The Elements had failed, so the spirit would have killed them if he just let them stay there to hear the end of its statement.

“I sincerely apologize for interrupting you, ma’am. However, I couldn’t just let you kill those six as I’m sure you would have had they stayed. They’re civilians after all. Granted, I know I can’t stop you. You’re going to kill them eventually anyway. But I’m a soldier. It’s my job to at least try to protect civilians even if that means simply extending their lives by a few more minutes.” Gerhardt said in a somewhat casual tone.

The spirit scoffed and a vine erupted from the ground in front of him before swatting him away like a bug, sending him flying backwards a few dozen feet and denting the middle of the front of his torso.

[Meanwhile in the Crystal Empire]

Pixel was pacing around, extremely worried. She had never seen Gerhardt react in such a way to anything. The siren, the evacuation message, the small army of combat golems, and how he suddenly just teleported her to the Crystal Empire… It was all absolutely terrifying.

She had been waiting for about ten minutes and she was starting to get restless. “Prince… I’m really worried… I want to go check on daddy.” She told Shining Armor.

“Pixel, no! If he sent you all the way here rather than just Canterlot with everypony else in Ponyville, then it’s way too dangerous. Look, I understand you’re worried but everything’s going to be fine. Cadance and the other Princesses are there helping take care of it. And I’m sure Twilight and her friends have been given the Elements of Harmony by now so this should be over soon. I understand that this is a very scary situation, from what you told Cadance and I I’m worried too, but you just have to be patient.” Shining Armor said in a stern tone.

Pixel looked at the ground. “Mmm… I can’t… I have a really bad feeling about all of this. I have to go!” Before Shining Armor could try to do anything to stop her, she teleported herself back to Ponyville. As soon as she arrived she saw Gerhardt hit the ground and roll to a stop.

“Daddy!” She cried, running over to him.

Hearing her voice, he immediately levitated himself up with telekinesis and turned to look at her. “Pixel?! What—”

Before he could even finish what he was saying he heard the nature spirit growl in fury, and suddenly vines and roots shot up out of the ground towards her. They impaled her and ripped her body appart. One even impaled her head, taking a large chunk out of it.

Gerhardt could only watch in horror as his daughter died right before his very eyes, helpless to do anything to stop it. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO*^&%#$#@#@!” He screamed, his voice rapidly becoming louder and more distorted until the iolite crystal in the back of his mouth that served as his vocalizer shattered. When it finally did he let himself drop to the ground and held himself up with his barely functional arms. The profound sense of grief, pain, loss, and failure he felt in that very moment was too much for him to bear. His eyes dimmed until they were emitting almost no light whatsoever. He stayed like that for a solid three minutes before his shock and horror started to fade and rage and hatred started to join the grief, pain, loss, and failure he felt.

Clenching his fists he scowled furiously, physically incapable of growling or howling in rage as his vocalizer was destroyed. He then teleported something to himself from the underground portion of his lab, or just his lab since the underground portion was all that was left of it. It was the stasis device he kept the Alicorn Amulet in. Crushing the stasis device in his hand like an empty aluminum can, he picked up the amulet and put it on. At this point he didn’t care if he was corrupted by it.

A crimson red aura surrounded him as power flooded through him. The power equivalent to that of a demigod. Not a particularly strong demigod as he was not a particularly strong mage, each of the princesses were still more powerful than he was, but still power equivalent to an average demigod.

His eyes were still emitting little to no light whatsoever as he looked up at the nature spirit furiously. Levitating himself up into the air, he ordered all of his combat golems that had been scattered by the destruction of Ponyville to return to the wreckage of the town and start firing at the spirit. In the meantime, he officially joined the princesses in battling the spirit. He also sent orders to all of the cannons he had in orbit to start targeting the spirit, though he held off on ordering them to fire for the moment waiting for a proper opportunity to strike because he knew that if he did it now he would be destroyed and thus he wouldn’t be able to get his revenge. With a microsecond of thought, he had a few of them target large areas of vegetation across Equestria with orders to eradicate them if he died. If he was killed by the spirit, he would still get his revenge by destroying every last vegetated area in Equestria if not the entire gods forsaken world and he couldn’t care less if the ponies suffered for it.

[Meanwhile on Earth]

Silvanus burst into laughter as he watched Natura kill Gerhardt’s daughter before his very eyes. Gerhardt’s reaction was absolutely perfect! It was better than he had even hoped it would be! Silvanus was overjoyed to see Gerhardt suffer like this. He had been waiting so long for it but now it had finally happened!

Now he just had to wait to see the look on the demigod bitch’s face when Natura finished destroying her kingdom and the vast majority of her people were dead. He couldn’t wait! He suspected that her suffering would also be immensely enjoyable. Perhaps not to the same extent as Gerhardt’s since he didn’t hate her nearly as much, but still enjoyable all the same. Regardless, he was very excited to see the results of all the effort he had been putting into freeing Natura..

[Meanwhile in Canterlot]

“Twilight, what do we do?! The Elements did nothing to that thing!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, wincing as some of her wounds flared with pain.

“I don’t know! There… There has to be something we can do! Let me think!” Twilight said, now officially panicking.

“What can we do? Y'all saw that thing! Even the Princesses are struggling to fight it off and Mr. Mechanica seemed pretty darn sure the Elements were our only hope.” Applejack stated pessimistically.

Pinkie Pie, who was trying her best to comfort Fluttershy, who was officially crying from a mixture of fear, grief, and stress, shook her head and said, “No, don’t talk like that, Applejack! We can’t give up hope! Twilight’s right, there has to be something we can do!”

“Erm… Now, I know this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out… What about Discord? Didn’t Mr. Mechanica tell us something about Discord imprisoning it in the Everfree Forest fifty thousand years ago? If he did it before then he should be able to do it again, right?” Twilight suggested.

Rainbow Dash gave her an incredulous look. “What?! You want to release that freak?! That will just make our problems even worse! Think about it, if we freed him then we’d have not one but two crazy spirits running around!”

Twilight shook her head, “No. Discord is many things but if there’s one thing he’s not it’s a murderer. Unlike this nature spirit we can be sure he isn’t going to try to destroy all of ponykind. If we had to deal with one or the other, I would much rather deal with Discord. He is by far the lesser of the two evils. Besides, what other options do we have? The Elements failed, Rainbow Dash! We are out of options! We have to at least try it. If we don’t we’re all doomed anyways.”

“I guess I see your point, Twi, but didn’t that nature spirit just say the “spirit of harmony” was imprisoned just like it was? What if because of that, the Elements ain’t powerful enough to free him?” Applejack inquired.

“Then I’ll bring his statue to Ponyville. Surely the chaos from the fighting happening there will be enough to set him free. If that doesn’t work… I honestly don’t know.” Twilight stated, her voice full of stress and anxiety. She teleported the six of them to the castle garden where Discord’s statue was located.

“Alright, girls, let’s just get this over with…” Twilight stated. The six of them then used the Elements of Harmony in a desperate attempt to free Discord.

The stone of the statue began to crack and split before eventually crumbling off of Discord all together. The spirit of chaos yawned and stretched for a few moments. “Oh! Ooh! Ooooh! Well, it's about time somepony got me out of that prison block. What a relief!” He then opened his eyes and glanced at them. “Oh my… Well… This isn’t at all what I was expecting to see when I finally got free… So anypony care to explain what happened to all of you or why you decided to free me?”

Twilight took a step forward and said, “Thank goodness that worked! We were worried the Elements wouldn’t be powerful enough to free you.”

“Oh no, they definitely weren’t. At least, not on their own. I actually had to do most of the work myself. All they did was weaken my prison just barely enough that I could get free on my own. Anyways, that doesn’t exactly answer my question now does it?” Discord explained.

“The Nature Spirit you imprisoned in the Everfree Forest fifty thousand years ago is free. It just destroyed Ponyville and killed Celestia knows how many ponies. The Elements were useless against it. It told us something about the Spirit of Harmony being imprisoned just as you imprisoned it, so we assume that’s why the Elements of Harmony seem to be a lot weaker than they should be. We were told that you imprisoned it before, so we were hoping you would be able to do so again. If you don't, it plans on exterminating our entire species.” Twilight explained in an urgent tone.

Discord’s expression suddenly became very serious. “Natura is free?! How?! No, more importantly, if I agreed to help you, what's in it for me?”

Twilight took a deep breath and said, “Your freedom. Even after this “Natura” is imprisoned again, we will never try to turn you into stone ever again even if we figure out how to free the spirit of harmony from its prison. Though assuming you agree, I would like to make one final bet with you to save our species from being tormented by you for the rest of eternity. I can’t force you to agree to this bet but last time you were free, you seemed pretty interested in games. Well consider this bet just another game.”

Discord gave her a curious look. “Hm… Games, you say? I’m listening… What does this little bet of yours entail if you win if not you turning me back into stone?”

“I bet we can reform you. You don’t have to be malevolent or malicious. You don’t have to prey on ponies for entertainment. You and I both know that you don’t. So if we win, you’re reformed and are no longer a threat to begin with thus nothing needs to be done to try to imprison you again. In fact, we could all be friends. But if you win, well, you don’t exactly have anything to lose now do you? You get to do whatever you want unopposed for the rest of eternity, and you get to gloat over how we lost and how foolish we were to ever think you could be reformed. The only rule of this bet is that you have to go along with it and give us a chance to at least try to reform you even if we ultimately fail in the end. After all, it's not much of a game if one side isn’t playing.” Twilight stated in a confident tone. Though this confidence was false. She was just trying to display the air of confidence even though she was the furthest thing from it.

“Bahahahahahaha! Y-you really think you can reform me?! Hahahaha! How adorable! Makes me wanna pinch your little horsey cheeks… Still, I suppose it could be amusing to watch you fail so, you have a deal! Let’s shake on it…” Discord said, holding a claw out to shake Twilight’s hoof.

Twilight set her hoof in his claw and shook it. Suddenly there was a flash of light as arcane energy washed over both Twilight and Discord. Twilight yanked her hoof back. “What was that?!  What did you do?!” She demanded.

“Oh calm down. It was just a little magical contract. Just a little something that spirits such as myself can do, that you ponies can’t. Now both of us have absolutely no choice but to uphold our respective ends of the deal. So remember, no matter what happens you can never use your Elements of Harmony on me ever again! Haha! Best deal I’ve ever made! And completely one-sided to boot!” Discord laughed, clearly enjoying this. “Ah… Anyways… Where is Natura again? I can’t exactly do much to stop her if I don’t know where she is.”

“She’s where Ponyville used to be… The princesses and I think one of our most recent friends are still there fighting her. I don’t know how much longer they can hold her off.” Twilight informed him.

“Really? The princesses are holding her off? How? They’re so weak she should have squashed them like bugs the moment they showed up to try to stop her… Hm… Well I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll see when I get there. Until then, I’ll see you all after she’s dealt with.” Discord stated before vanishing.

[Meanwhile above the ruins of Ponyville]

Gerhardt was sent crashing to the ground by a vine that shot out of the spirit and slammed into him with enough force to rip his body clean in half. At this point both of his arms had been ripped off, all of his artificial skin was missing, his jaw was split open, one of his eyes had been shattered, his neck was effectively broken, and he had just lost the lower half of his body. Even so he continued to fight.

It didn’t matter that he didn’t have arms or legs, he still had magic. It didn’t matter that his vocalizer was destroyed, he had nothing to say. It didn’t matter that his artificial skin was missing, he didn’t care how he looked. It didn’t matter that one of his eyes was destroyed, he could still see through the other eye as well as the eyes of his combat golems and the cameras of his orbital cannons. It didn’t matter that he was effectively just a ruined silver skull with a useless upper torso dangling off of his snapped neck. He was still wearing the Alicorn Amulet and that was all that mattered.

Deus was in significantly better condition as he was actually being careful instead of just charging in and attacking recklessly like Gerhardt currently was. He was still injured, of course, but not anywhere near as badly as Gerhardt.

“Gerhardt! You need to stop this! If you keep this up, you’re going to die! I know you’re upset, but Pixel wouldn’t have wanted this and you know it! Just get out of here and let us handle this!” Celestia pleaded with him as he continued to try to fend off the angry nature spirit.

He used telekinesis to turn his ruined metal skull towards her for a moment before turning it back towards the nature spirit. He didn’t care if he died. Pixel was dead, murdered right before his very eyes and he was helpless to stop it. He had failed her as her parent and guardian and that failure hurt just as badly as the thought of the Human Kingdom being destroyed and Humanity going extinct because of him. It was one of the most painful things he had ever experienced. So he was going to get his revenge one way or another. He knew the only way to kill a spirit was to destroy the very concept they embodied, but he could still destroy its physical form for a time.

Before he could do anything else he saw through the eyes of his combat golems as something else appeared in the air nearby. It looked as if one of the patchwork undead monstrosities that were often created by particularly insane rogue necromancers were actually a living being rather than an undead abomination. It looked around and noticed him. It appeared extremely surprised for a moment but seemed to disregard him almost immediately. Looking towards Natura it said, “Ah, Natura! There you are! How nice it is to see you again! Remind me, how long has it been? Fifty, maybe sixty thousand years?”

Natura glared at him furiously. “DISCORD! RAAAAAAAAH!” Lightning began to fall just as heavily as rain and all of it was focused entirely on Discord. A moment later the lightning faded and discord was still floating there, appearing to be covered by black soot as if he had been lightly singed. He shook himself and the soot came flying off like a cloud of black dust.

“Ooh! Tingly… Hm…” Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly half of the clouds in the sky turned pink and began raining some sort of brown liquid. “Ugh… I was going for all of the clouds. Natura, you really are no fun, you know that? Anyways… Celestia you and the other two should get out of here. No offense, but you really are in the way right now. Oh, I know! Why don’t you go deal with your broken metal friend… That thing is your friend, right?”

“Discord, how…? Twilight… Fine, we’ll get out of the way for now, just stop that thing!” Celestia shouted to be heard by both Luna and Cadance over the pouring rain. She then proceeded to fly over to Gerhardt, however Gerhardt was already levitating himself back over to the broken body of Pixel.

Gerhardt heard Natura call the chimeric being Discord, so he knew it was the being who had imprisoned her in the past. Thus he had decided to let it re-imprison her. Once she was imprisoned again, he would get his revenge by erasing the very concept of nature from the world even if he had to force every last living being in the world to become mechanical like him and forcibly erase the concept of nature from their minds. For now, he wanted to deal with the broken body of his daughter and at the very least give her a proper burial. However, as he got within fifty feet of her, his sensors detected an energy signature coming from her. She was still alive, he could still save her!

He immediately teleported himself to her head, then teleported himself and her head to his factory in the Crystal Empire. He then used his old body and immediately got to work performing an emergency procedure on her brain. A lot of it was busted but most of the critical portions were still mostly intact. However he could tell he had a time limit. One he wasn’t sure he could meet, but he was damn well going to try. He had already failed her once. He would NOT fail her again.

[Above the ruins of Ponyville]

“You know, Natura, I really should thank you. You are doing a truly wonderful job of spreading chaos across Equestria. Granted, it’s far too violent and aggressive for my tastes but still.” Discord said calmly.

“Silence!” She roared before hitting him with a powerful blast of arcane energy.

Discord yawned in boredom and raised a claw to intercept the blast. However, this didn’t go as anticipated as the blast caught him off guard with how powerful it was and completely overwhelmed his attempts to redirect it. “OW! That actually hurt!” Discord exclaimed in surprise. Glaring at Natura in confusion he demanded, “How did you do that?!”

“I have learned since our last battle, wretch! I have spent the last fifty thousand years thinking of what I could have done differently in our battle and how to get my revenge! Your little tricks won’t work on me again!” Natura declared furiously.

“Hm…” Discord squinted at her really hard before his eyes widened and he gasped in shock. “You aren’t working alone, are you? It’s hard to tell since your magic is so similar but if I look close I can see the difference. Someone or something is helping you. Someone… divine? A god? A god is helping you?!”

“Perhaps, but it matters naught. All he has done is even the odds knowing you are gaining strength from the chaos I’m causing. As you gain strength I’m gaining just as much, so unlike last time this time we are on perfectly equal ground!” Natura shouted before having even more bolts of lightning strike Discord. These bolts were significantly more powerful than those she had been using at the beginning of their battle now that her strength was being augmented by Silvanus.

“I see…” Discord muttered now a lot less confident in his victory. Generally his chaos was self perpetuating. The more chaos he caused the more powerful he became, within certain limits set by the gods. Thus he could generally win any battle via sheer attrition as only a select few concepts could become self perpetuating. Nature was not one of those concepts. However, with a god of some sort backing up Natura, attrition wasn’t going to work. He still had an advantage in that he was a being of pure chaos and was thus very hard to predict. However he and Natura had fought before and she had spent the last fifty thousand years thinking of how to defeat him. And if that god that was helping her channeled a bit more power into her then she would be more powerful than him and he would be at a disadvantage.

As much as he hated to admit it he might actually need some help of his own this time around. The princesses had clearly grown far more powerful than the last time he saw them and those metal creatures he saw fighting alongside them were clearly just as powerful. However he doubted they would be enough since that god would likely channel more power into Natura so she could fight both him and the princesses at once. This was hardly a fight on “equal ground”.
> Chapter 28 [Wrath of a Technomancer] (rewritten)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The princesses and Deus all watched the battle between Discord and Natura in a tense silence, knowing that the fate of Equestria hinged upon which of the two would ultimately emerge the victor.

Deus was trying and failing to contact Gerhardt. They needed to start using the orbital cannons to destroy large swaths of nature all across the world in order to weaken Natura and make her easier to deal with and only Gerhardt had the codes to use them. He couldn’t care less what repercussions doing so would have on the world. He and Gerhardt could just build machines to filter carbon from the atmosphere in place of the plants or he could augment the ponies enough that they no longer required food or oxygen to begin with. Their quality of life didn’t matter to him in the least.

Celestia was still trying to process everything that was happening. She had never seen such violence or destruction except in the memories that Gerhardt had shown her and experiencing it first hand was honestly terrifying. And to think if Discord truly wanted to then he could easily be just as violent and destructive as Natura. A thousand years ago he could have easily killed both her and Luna with a mere snap and they wouldn’t have even had a chance to use the elements of harmony against him. He had been holding back by a lot the entire time. It terrified her to realize just how powerful these beings truly were. And even now that she, Luna, and Cadance were all in peak magical condition, while they could put up somewhat of a fight now if the three of them worked together they were still completely outclassed. Even worse, their only weapons against such powerful entities had failed. It was all just overwhelming.

Luna was in a similar state of shock. However, she was also furious at both Natura and Gerhardt. She was furious that Natura refused to listen to reason and was killing so many innocent ponies and she was furious that Gerhardt hadn’t warned them about such an immense threat since he had clearly already known about it considering how knowledgeable he seemed on the subject. Granted, she had to forgive Gerhardt somewhat as his daughter had died while he was fighting to protect Equestria, but that didn’t excuse him not warning them earlier. If he had then surely all of this could have been avoided as she and Celestia could have gone to the Everfree forest to speak with Natura while she was still imprisoned. Then perhaps they could have had a chance of reasoning with her.

Cadance, having entered the combat simulators that Gerhardt had made for Shining Armor a few times already, was probably the least affected by this next to Deus since she technically had the most experience. While this was by far the single most terrifying thing she had ever experienced considering the sheer power of what they were up against, it wasn’t anywhere near as horrific as some of the worst things she witnessed in the simulators. It was just on a much larger scale. She was actually quite worried about Gerhardt. Watching him throw himself at Natura until he was reduced to little more than a floating head and torso had been a bit painful to witness. Not to mention watching his daughter die right before his very eyes, fighting his daughter’s murderer and losing, then taking his daughter’s severed head and teleporting off to who knew where for whatever reason would be traumatic for anypony, even someone as jaded as him.

Suddenly a much smaller version of Discord appeared in front of them while Discord’s main body continued to fight Natura. “Well… As it turns out, Natura’s not fighting alone. Apparently there is a god that’s helping her. A nature god I presume considering how similar their energy is. So, uh… While this is a bit embarrassing, I might actually need your help. Well, your help and — as much as I hate to say it — the Spirit of Harmony’s help. You four alone won’t be nearly enough. So I’m going to need one of you to free the Spirit of Harmony then bring Twilight and her friends back here to use the Elements of Natura again.”

“I volunteer.” Deus said, raising his hand.

“What? But you don’t even know where the Tree of Harmony is. You should stay here and help the rest of us hold off Natura while one of us goes.” Celestia said, confused as to why Deus would volunteer.

“Think about it. While I am just as powerful as you in terms of offensive ability, if not slightly more powerful as I know a wider range of more advanced combat and war spells, I am objectively the weakest one here. My body is artificial and is thus not nearly as durable as any of yours due to you having the flesh of demigods while all I have is basic metal. So I would be the one in the most danger being caught in the middle of a battle between two Greater Spirits. The only thing I would be up against on the way to this ‘Tree of Harmony’ would be mere constructs and I am more than powerful enough to crush those. If the problem is that I don’t know where it is then I can have Miss Sparkle or one of her friends lead me to it. After all, you trust them enough to let them wield those artifacts thus it is only logical to assume that at least one of them would know where this ‘tree’ is.” Deus explained.

“He does make a good point. I mean just look at us, we are in far better condition than he is. And he should be strong enough to protect whoever he brings with him.” Luna stated.

Celestia sighed and said, “I don’t like putting Twilight or her friends in danger considering the situation, but I suppose you’re right. All right Deus, go. However, they actually don’t know where the Tree of Harmony is. So have them take you to Luna and I’s old castle. Once you’re there, you need to find a cave, the tree will be in there.”

“They should be somewhere in Canterlot Castle. That’s where I last saw them anyway.” The miniature Discord informed him.

“Understood.” Deus said before teleporting to the throne room of Canterlot Castle.

As expected, the ponies weren’t there. They had to be in some other part of the castle. Walking out of the throne room on his barely functional legs, Deus quickly found a servant and asked, “Excuse me. Have you seen the bearers of the Elements of Harmony? I was told they should be here.”

“Uh… I assume you’re one of Mechanica’s creations?” The servant inquired looking at Deus and his damaged and disheveled appearance.

“Indeed. He is my father. Forgive my appearance, I was just in the middle of helping the princesses fight the being that is causing the storm that is currently ravaging Equestria. Thus the reason I need to speak with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” Deus said in an eerily emotionless tone.

“I… I see… Uh, right this way.” The servant said before turning and leading him through the castle to a waiting room in which Twilight and her friends were resting.

As soon as he entered, Twilight's head snapped towards him. “You’re Deus, right? What’s going on? Why are you here instead of at Ponyville helping Discord fight?”

“First, Ponyville is gone. You saw it for yourself, so stop acting as though it is still there. Regardless, apparently there is a god of nature helping Natura so Discord is the one that is at a disadvantage in their battle. I actually have a strong feeling I know exactly who that god is but his identity is irrelevant at the moment. Anyway, Discord requested that one of us go free the Spirit of Harmony and retrieve you so you could actually do something useful. I volunteered since I was the most vulnerable of the four demigods fighting Natura. However, I don’t know where the Tree of Harmony is. However, Celestia informed me it is in a cave near her and Luna’s old castle so I’ll need at least one of you to lead me to said castle. Or at the very least show me where it is on a map and tell me what to look for.” Deus explained in a cold tone completely devoid of any sort of empathy whatsoever.

“Wow… Now I understand why Gerhardt never introduced you to any of us… Wait, demigods? You mean alicorns, right?” Twilight inquired.

“No. I mean demigods. I am a demigod but I am not an alicorn. However, the princesses are alicorns thus making them demigods. Yes, demigods as in we are half gods half mortals. They have known they are demigods since the day my father arrived in this universe, but they kept it from all of you because they wish to be seen as mortals for whatever asinine reason. You can ask them yourselves later, assuming we actually manage to survive this. Regardless, we are wasting time. Can one of you lead me to this castle or not?” 

“Okay, wow… That’s… a lot to process... Uh… Anyways, if you think you can free the Spirit of Harmony, I’ll bring you to the castle myself.” Twilight said, getting up off the chair she had been resting on.

“Now hang on there, Twi. If you’re going then we’re all comin’ with you. We ain’t just gonna sit back and let you put yourself in danger alone. Besides, we’re all gonna need to go face Natura together anyways. So we might as well come with ya just to make things a bit quicker.” Applejack stated getting up out of her own chair.

All of the others agreed and got up out of their respective chairs. Twilight seemed like she wanted to object but looking at all of her friends she sighed and said, “All right, but this is extremely dangerous so all of you are going to need to stay as close to me and Deus as possible. No matter what happens just leave the fighting to us.”

“Ehem, I believe you mean leave the fighting to me as I am going to be the one doing most if not all of it if there is any to be done since I am by far the most powerful individual here and am the most skilled in combat. All the six of you need to do is lead me to this Tree of Harmony. Now, if the distance isn’t too far for you could you please teleport us as close to this tree as possible, Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight frowned at him but nodded. Her horn began to glow for a moment before the seven of them disappeared in a flash of light and they ended up near an old ruined castle that was completely overrun with wooden constructs. Seeing this, Deus immediately raised a barrier around himself and the others. Sighing in frustration he said, “Damn. This place is more heavily guarded than I thought it would be. This is going to be a huge drain on my energy reserves, and I’m going to need every last bit of energy I can get to break whatever seal Natura placed on this spirit. Gods damn it all, why couldn’t that old fool have given me the codes to the orbital cannons before he teleported off to the gods know where with Pixel’s broken corpse? It could have been as easy as teleporting back to the castle, vaporizing these constructs with an orbital laser, then teleporting back but no. Now we have to do this the hard way.”

“W-wait… Pixel’s corpse? She… She’s dead?!” Twilight exclaimed, shocked by this news.

“Well considering the injuries she received to her brain I would say, yes. She’s either dead or will be soon… Though, as I said, I did see my father take her severed head somewhere so perhaps she’s still barely alive and he’s trying to save her? Hmph… What a waste of effort. I would just let her die, personally.” Deus explained in an almost bored tone.

All the ponies had slightly different reactions to this news. Pinkie Pie slumped and her eyes started watering, her mane was already completely deflated so it couldn’t deflate any further. Rarity shook her head in disbelief, she didn’t want to believe it. Fluttershy whimpered, knowing another friend was either dead or seriously injured. Applejack lowered her hat slightly. Twilight was just staring at Deus in a mixture of shock and sadness.

Rainbow Dash, however, glared at Deus furiously and demanded, “How could you say that?! She’s your sister and you would just let her die?! What the buck is wrong with you?!”

“Absolutely nothing. I’m merely not bound by petty emotional bonds like any of you. Thus I simply don’t care whether he lives or dies. Regardless…” Deus raised a hand and pointed it towards the army of constructs. A golden aura engulfed his hand and suddenly the entire area was engulfed in flames that were easily twenty feet high. After a few moments, when he assumed all of the constructs were incinerated he lowered his hand and the flames disappeared. “Ugh… That ate up more energy than I would have liked. Regardless, let's go. The rain will have cooled the ground off enough that it should be safe to walk across. Now let’s start looking around. I would have you all split up to help me find it, but that would be unwise as there could be more constructs around. So try to stay close.”

As they started searching for this cave, something emerged from the Everfree Forest. Something massive. A large wooden hydra. As soon as it emerged from the trees it hissed at them before striking. Deus deflected the strike with a barrier. He then looked at the hydra construct and once again wished he had access to the orbital cannons. However, since he didn’t have access to them, he was forced to cast a curse. Suddenly pitch black crystals began to erupt out of the hydra, blocking the arcane energy flowing through it and tearing it to pieces. “More energy down the drain. I’m down to 32%. Oh well, I’ll just have to make do I suppose.”

They continued searching for the cave for a few minutes until they eventually found it. As soon as they entered the cave they saw the Tree of Harmony was completely covered in vines. Deus immediately walked ahead and approached the tree. A golden aura surrounded his hand as he placed it on the tree. A few seconds later he lowered it. “Well, that’s not good.” He muttered to himself.

“What do you mean? What’s the matter?” Twilight demanded.

“This seal is extremely strong and since Natura is actively maintaining it, it is self repairing. I can’t break it on my own. No individual demigod could. And even with help it would take days of constant effort and struggle using the most powerful ritual magic possible without even a moment’s rest as Natura would actively resist us every step of the way and if we let up even for a moment then the seal would just reform. We don’t have that kind of time. I would estimate we have maybe a day at most depending on how long Discord can hold her off.”

“There has to be something we can do! Discord wouldn’t have sent us here if he knew it was impossible to free the Spirit of Harmony!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Oh? Then by all means, go right ahead. If you know of something you can do to break the seal then what are you waiting for? If you can do something, then do it. Otherwise, I’m going to dedicate the vast majority of my processing power to hacking into my father’s orbital cannons since he’s not responding whenever I try to contact him and I will start destroying all vegetated areas on this entire continent in order to weaken Natura enough for Discord to beat her. So unless you want Equestria to be reduced to a barren desert, then you had best figure something out before I finish hacking into the cannons. You have exactly eight hours, forty five minutes, and twenty six seconds. And remember, every second counts. The longer you take to figure this out, dozens if not hundreds more ponies will die.”

“Now hold on just a minute there, partner! You can’t just destroy every forest in Equestria!” Applejack objected.

“Believe me, I can and I will. Look at it this way, if you fail you only have two options. You either let me and/or my father destroy nature thus reducing Equestria to a barren wasteland covered in ash — which your species can eventually adapt to and even recover from I might add — or you will be destroyed by nature and your entire species will be wiped off the face of this planet. There won’t even be so much as a single survivor as Natura will hunt them all down and kill them until there are none left. There are no other options. There are no clever tricks you can pull, there’s no cheating your way out of this, there’s no hidden option or secret weapon we just haven’t thought of yet that will magically save the day and make all of this disappear, and there is there’s no way to convince her to stop and just be friends, there is nothing else any of us can do. So, like I said, you have a little over eight and a half hours before I finish hacking into the orbital cannons. So if you truly believe it is still possible to free the Spirit of Harmony even with Natura actively resisting our efforts then you had better figure something out fast.”

With all that being said, Deus walked off to the side to let them access the tree, and he sent a message to the princesses through their cell phones the same way Gerhardt sent them the emergency messages. However instead of a text, he simply hacked into their cell phones and contacted them directly. “Princesses, this is Deus. I’m contacting you to update you on the current situation. The Spirit of Harmony is impossible to free. Even if the four of us worked together while Discord held off Natura it would take several days. The bearers of the elements still believe it’s possible and are trying to think of a way to solve this. However they have a strict time limit as in a little over eight hours I will have access to my father’s orbital cannons and will start using them to destroy every vegetated area on this continent in order to weaken Natura enough for Discord to defeat her. End of report.” He then hung up on them and began the process of trying to hack into Gerhardt’s orbital cannons.

[Three hours later, in the Crystal Empire]

Gerhardt had done it. He had saved his daughter. He had to pull a few tricks in order to buy as much time as possible, and those tricks would unfortunately have a negative impact on Pixel’s brain’s efficiency and processing power as well. But she was alive… barely… and that was all that mattered to him. Deus had tried contacting him several times as he tried to save Pixel but Gerhardt had ignored him as he wanted to dedicate his full attention to saving Pixel.

Casting a spell he brought her brain out of emergency shut down mode and brought her back to consciousness. Her eyes slid open and flared to life. The first thing Pixel saw when she woke up was Gerhardt’s body absolutely destroyed and the alicorn amulet wrapped around his neck. Normally this would have absolutely horrified her, but everything was so foggy almost like she was in a dream. It was hard to think as her thoughts were slower and more clouded than even a typical human with a purely organic brain. She was barely even aware of what was happening.

“Daddy… Where are we…? Am I… dead…? Is this what the afterlife is like…?” Pixel asked lethargically.

‘No, dear… You’re alive. I managed to save you… We’re in my  factory in the Crystal Empire… I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you… I’m a complete failure…’ Gerhardt responded through their built in communications systems due to his vocalizer being shattered. Regardless his voice had lost a lot of quality just as it always did whenever he was particularly sad or distressed.

“It’s alright… You’re not a failure… Why can’t I feel anything below my neck…?” Pixel inquired, trying and failing to move her hands.

‘Your body was wrecked and your head was severed… Your brain was also damaged, but I managed to save you. I also shut down your pain receptors so you wouldn’t have to experience the pain of having your head severed… Now let’s make you a new body. I assume you want it to look the same?’

“Yes, please…” Pixel muttered.

Gerhardt inputted the schematics into the factory and had it start making her a new body. While it was at it, he had it start making a new body for him as well since his current one was completely ruined. This time he altered the design a bit. Instead of resembling his old organic self, it resembled what he looked like prior to coming to Equestria. The only differences were the blood red rubies that replaced the blue sapphires he normally used and the fact the exterior was made of silver instead of copper.

While he was at it, he had his factory make a suit of combat armor for him. It wasn’t power armor as that would take too long for the factory to build. However, it would be made of the exact same metallic ceramic as the power armor thus making him significantly harder to injure let alone kill. The only truly vulnerable areas would be his arms and hands as they would have significantly less plating than the rest of his body so he could use magic while still having very good overall protection.

About an hour later both of their bodies were ready. If they were being built separately it would have taken two hours, however they were being built on an assembly line thus they finished one after the other. When they were ready, Gerhardt brought Pixel’s new body over to her and laid it down next to her severed head. ‘Alright, I’ll be transferring your soul over to your new body now. I’m going to need you to bear with me because you’re going to spend a second or two as a ghost and it will not be a pleasant experience.’

“Alright, daddy… I trust you…” Pixel muttered.

Gerhardt then began the process of carefully removing her soul from her current brain and transferring it over to her new one, trying his best to make this procedure as painless as possible. Once she was in her new body, her eyes snapped open and she sat up. As soon as she looked at Gerhardt, her eyes dimmed significantly. “Daddy!” She squealed in horror before getting up, rushing over to him, and wrapping him in an embrace. “Daddy, what happened to you?! Did… Did you try to fight the spirit because of me? Oh gods… I nearly died! I don’t want to die, daddy!”

‘Don’t worry, dear… I won't let her hurt you again and I most certainly won’t let her or anyone else kill you… Now, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to take my brain out of my current body and put it into my new one. I could do it myself but I would be working blind so it would be quite a bit harder.’

“Yes, daddy… I’m so sorry…”

‘For what?’ Gerhardt inquired.

“For not listening to you and staying in the Crystal Empire… Because I didn’t listen to you I nearly died and you had to resort to using the alicorn amulet and got hurt really badly fighting the nature spirit… It’s all my fault…” Pixel said, sounding like she was on the verge of crying.

‘It’s alright, dear. I’m not mad at you. If anything, I’m mad at myself for not making sure you understood the gravity of the situation and that you would stay in the Crystal Empire. I failed you, and for that I’m the one who should apologise. Now, please help me into my new body.’

Pixel then began the process of removing Gerhardt’s brain from his head and transferring it over to his new body. When that was done, Gerhardt stood up and immediately put on the alicorn amulet again before putting on his new armor. Finally Gerhardt looked at Pixel and said, “Alright. I need to go and this time, stay here. Understood?”

“Yes daddy… I promise…” Pixel said, clearly still upset.

“Good girl. I only want to see something in person, so I shouldn't be long.” He said. A crimson red aura then surrounded his hand and he teleported back to the ruins of Ponyville. As soon as he arrived he remembered his orbital cannons. He had been so caught up in saving Pixel they had completely slipped his mind. He decided to rectify this error and had several of them open fire and start the process of burning all of the vegetation in Equestria to the ground.

He watched as a bright beam of arcane energy the size of a large house descended from the sky and slammed into the Everfree Forest. He then looked at the battle between Discord and Natura and saw that the princesses had apparently joined the greater spirit in fighting Natura, however Deus was nowhere to be seen. He looked just in time to see Natura’s head snap towards the Everfree forest with a look of shock on her massive wooden face. The princesses and Discord also seemed to be caught off guard by this. Thus the battle paused for a moment.

Princess Celestia then saw Gerhardt out of the corner of her eye and called him with her cellphone. “Gerhardt! Deus has hacked into your orbital cannons and is using them to destroy all vegetation in Equestria! You need to stop him!” She shouted as soon as he answered.

“No, he isn’t. I am. And I’m not going to stop at just Equestria. I’ll wipe the very concept of nature from existence. That starts with the destruction of all vegetation. Then I will make the weather and seasons completely automated by machinery. While I do that I will make every surviving organic life form in this world artificial like me and will wipe all knowledge that Nature ever existed from their minds. Thus I will have truly killed Natura by erasing the concept of nature from existence. She nearly killed my daughter, so I will not stop until I kill her.”

Hearing this terrified Celestia to her core. Her absolute worst fears about Gerhardt had come true. He had been corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet and had become just as much of a threat as Natura if not an even greater threat. And since he was wearing the Alicorn Amulet he had become powerful enough to actually fight her, Luna, and Cadance so she wasn’t even sure they could actually stop him. “Gerhardt, listen to me, you need to stop this! This isn’t you, it’s the amulet you’re wearing! Think about this logically—” She was cut off as Gerhardt hung up on her. “Buck! Luna, Cadance, it isn’t Deus doing this it’s Gerhardt! He’s been corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet! Worse, he says he’s not going to stop until he has completely erased the very concept of nature from existence, and that extends far beyond just destroying all vegetation not just in Equestria but across the entire world!”

“What?! Where is he?!” Luna demanded.

Celestia pointed at him. “Right there, but he’s still wearing the amulet! I’m not sure if we can actually stop him!”

“YOU INSOLENT WORM! YOU PLAN TO DESTROY ME?! DO NOT EXPECT ME TO JUST SIT IDLY BY AND LET YOU DESTROY MY FORESTS AND JUNGLES!” Natura roared at Gerhardt. However, before she could try to attack him he teleported himself into the sky and began levitating with telekinesis.

“It doesn’t matter if you sit there and let me do it! They will continue even if you kill me! Besides, the only reason I came here was to see the look on your face as I burn everything you stand for to the ground in person! I’m not stupid enough to stay here and give you the chance to retaliate! You shouldn’t have tried to kill my daughter! Now burn!” He shouted at her. He then teleported himself back to his factory in the Crystal Empire. As he was saying all that, he was actually contacted by Deus and was having a short conversation with him.

‘Father, I can see the orbital cannons have activated. So while I’m glad you are finally putting them to use after wasting hours without doing so, please hold off for a moment. Apparently the ponies managed to come up with an idea to free the Spirit of Harmony. If we can free it then we might not have to resort to this. Deactivate them for now but be ready to fire. I’ll tell you if the ponies fail or not.’

‘No. I don’t care. This isn’t about stopping Natura, it’s about killing her. I’m going to destroy the very concept of nature, starting with wiping all vegetation off the face of the planet. You can imagine the next steps after that.’ Gerhardt told him.

‘I see… Very well.’

[Twilight, moments earlier]

Twilight was pacing nervously, trying her best to think of something anything they could do to free the Spirit of Harmony. She had been at this for several hours and was running out of time. They had tried using the Elements of Harmony on the Tree of Harmony and it had seemed to do something for a moment but it hadn’t been nearly enough. She continued to think until she eventually came up with an idea.

“I’ve got an idea! Let’s try putting the Elements into the Tree of Harmony!” Twilight suggested.

Everyone present looked at her in silence for a moment. “What?” Rainbow Dash inquired in confusion, breaking the silence.

“Well, think about it! The Elements did something to these vines earlier. I theorize that it was because the Tree of Harmony was momentarily charged up by the blast of harmonic energy! So if we put the Elements into the tree then it will have a constant supply of harmonic energy rather than one short burst and should thus be able to break free! Plus there are those odd bulges in the branches with slots in them that are shaped like what the Elements of Harmony used to look like before we got them! So I’ve deduced that the Elements may actually have originally been a part of the tree. So returning them to it may actually make it strong enough to break free of Natura’s seal!”

“And it took you four and a half hours to think of that?” Rainbow Dash said in an irritated tone.

“Well, this is stressful! Also I don’t exactly have a whole lot of solid information to work with here! I might not even be correct and this may not even work! Besides, you hadn’t thought of it either!”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Deus. “Hmph… Well, I just received interesting news you all may want to hear. It turns out my father has finally activated the orbital cannons without my input.”

“What?! No! We just came up with an idea that might actually work! You have to tell him to stop!” Twilight exclaimed in a panic.

“I already tried. He didn’t listen. Here are his exact words, ‘I don’t care. This isn’t about stopping Natura, it’s about killing her. I’m going to destroy the very concept of nature, starting with wiping all vegetation off the face of the planet. You can imagine the next steps after that.’ So essentially he’s planning on destroying all plant life in the entire world, making the weather and seasons fully controlled by machines, making all organic beings on this planet who manage to survive this first step fully artificial like us via augmentation, and plans to erase the knowledge that nature ever existed from everyone on the planet’s minds. So I believe he may have been corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet. I mean, he has been wearing it this entire time after all.” Deus informed them.

“He’s wearing the Alicorn Amulet?!” Twilight exclaimed, horrified by the prospect knowing how far he’s willing to go under normal circumstances even without the amulet.

“Yes. He put it on after Pixel was killed and used it to try to attack Natura. His attacks failed, obviously. So I suppose he’s decided that destroying the concept of nature in its entirety is a much more effective means of not just harming but actually killing her.” Deus explained.

“Bucking seriously?! Gah! Seriously, how has this day actually managed to keep getting worse and worse?! I thought it couldn’t get any worse having Natura trying to kill us all, but apparently I was bucking wrong! Now we have to worry about this too?! What’s next?! I seriously can’t imagine how this could possibly get worse!” Rainbow Dash shouted in a mixture of frustration and anger.

“What are we going to do, Twilight?!” Pinkie Pie asked, clearly panicking.

“Deus, where is Gerhardt right now?!” Twilight  demanded.

Deus shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. He hasn’t told me. I can think of a few places he may be but we don’t have any guarantees. And even if we do find him, what makes you think he will just let us stop him? He could easily just teleport away again.”

Twilight then proceeded to take the Elements of Harmony out of each of their pieces of jewelry and levitate them over to the Tree of Harmony and said, "I'm hoping it won't come to this, but once we free the Spirit of Harmony we might have to use the elements to stop him." She then placed the element of magic in the middle and all of the rest in random branches on the tree. Suddenly the slots in the tree shifted and moved to match the shapes and sizes of the Elements, all of which started glowing brighter and brighter until the Tree of Harmony flashed with bright white light and the vines were all burned away by rainbow colored energy.

“We did it!” Twilight cheered happily. Her friends began to cheer along with her.

“Yes, yes… You freed this tree from Natura’s influence, that’s all well and good, but what now? As soon as you take the elements back out Natura will just seal it again. And next time it might not be this easy to break her seal since now she knows what to expect. So, what was the rest of your plan, exactly? How can you use this to beat Natura? Or my father for that matter?” Deus inquired.

All of the ponies paused in their celebrations as they realized he was correct. They couldn’t take the Elements back out or the Spirit of Harmony would be imprisoned again.

“That’s what I thought… Alright well—” Deus was cut off as the Tree of Harmony began to glow again. Rainbow colored energy trailed its way down through the tree and into its roots where it stopped. Suddenly a large pink flower sprouted from the root the energy stopped at.

Twilight walked over and poked the flower with one of her forehooves and suddenly it bloomed revealing a crystal box with multiple locks on it.

Deus sighed and looked at the tree. “Spirit of Harmony, if you can hear me, this is not helpful in the least. The box is locked so we can’t get whatever’s inside. So thank you very much for proving that this entire trip has been a complete waste of time and effort."

Moments after he said this, the constant sound of the thunder and rain outside subsided and light began streaming in from the previously dark entrance of the cave, much to all of their surprise.
> Chapter 29 [Corrupted Negotiations]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The princesses, Discord, and Natura were left in a tense, hostile silence as Gerhardt teleported away. Eventually Discord broke the silence by saying, “Well, this most certainly seems bad for you Natura.”

“Silence! This changes nothing! I will find him and destroy him, then I will finish imprisoning you and killing the ponies!” Natura growled in response.

“But he said killing him wouldn’t stop his orbital cannons. He’s the only one who can shut them down. So, Natura, we would like to come to an understanding. Despite everything you’ve done us ponies do not want to see nature destroyed either! We want to help you stop him, but if we’re going to work together you need to stop attacking our species!” Celestia said, hoping Natura would see reason.

“Bah! You don’t care what happens to me! You only care about saving your own species and you know that even if you did manage to defeat me, without nature you would all die!”

“Actually you’re wrong about that. We would survive even if he kills you. He explained his entire plan to me over the phone. He plans to destroy all vegetation in the entire world, to completely automate the weather and seasons with machinery, and to make all organic beings artificial like him before wiping the knowledge that nature ever existed from their minds. So we could very easily let him continue with his plan to kill you because we would survive as fully artificial beings even without you, never knowing nature ever existed to begin with. However, we don’t want you to cease to exist or everything natural to be destroyed! Far from it. We only wish to peacefully coexist and live in harmony with you. We would have stopped controlling nature long ago had we known you existed! Now that we do know, we are willing to stop now! There is no need for us to fight like this! We can reach a compromise! But for us to do that you have to be willing to calm down and work with us!”

Natura was silent for a moment. Suddenly the storm began to subside and the clouds covering Equestria dispersed. Natura then began to shrink down to the size of a normal deer, though she was still relatively large even by those standards and she was still made entirely from wood. “If I learn this is all just a ploy to deceive me, I’ll finish what I started and drive your species to extinction. Now, I’ll be right back. I have to get my friends out of the forest before that beam kills them all.” Natura then disappeared in a flash of leaf green light.

“Well, now that all that is settled I suppose I’ll be taking my leave. After all, my agreement was to help you stop Natura and since she’s stopped trying to kill you all my business here is done.” Discord said before vanishing as if he had never been there to begin with.

As soon as Discord vanished Celestia’s phone activated by itself and Deus’ voice said, “The weather stopped. What’s happening?”

“I convinced Natura to stop trying to kill us all. At least for the moment. We’re now going to be working together to stop your father from destroying nature. I’m not sure how long this peace will last, but hopefully while working together we can convince her to give up on trying to kill us all together.” Celestia sighed, feeling extremely stressed.

Deus said nothing for a moment before finally responding, “I see. Very well then. The others and I will meet you back in the ruins of Ponyville. If we’re going to be doing this then there’s something I’m going to need in the wreckage of my father’s house.”

“All right, we’ll meet you when you get here.” Celestia said right before Deus hung up.

[In the Cave of Harmony]

Deus looked at the six ponies. “It seems the princesses have formed a temporary alliance with Natura in order to stop my father. However, I wouldn’t remove the elements from the tree just yet.”

“What? Why not? How else are we going to stop him?” Twilight inquired, clearly confused.

“Think about it, he’s outnumbered and outgunned. He has the power of an average demigod but there are multiple very powerful demigods against him. He may be highly intelligent and resourceful, but he’s no match for multiple actual demigods. Not to mention a greater spirit. The Elements are completely unnecessary for this. Plus there is no guarantee that Natura won’t attack again after my father is defeated and the Elements are the only things keeping her from imprisoning the Spirit of Harmony. Perhaps you can find some other way to harness the Spirit of Harmony’s power even without the Elements, but even if that’s possible it only matters so long as it remains free.” Deus explained.

“Hm… I guess you make some good points… All right, we’ll leave them here for now.” Twilight agreed.

“Good. Now the princesses are waiting for us back in Ponyville.” Deus said before raising a hand and teleporting them all to Ponyville, right next to the ruins of what was once Gerhardt’s house. He then proceeded towards the ruins and began using telekinesis to throw rubble out of the way.

The princesses saw them and landed nearby. “I’m glad to see all of you are alright… for the most part.” Celestia said.

“We could say the same…” Twilight responded with a bitter smile.

Luna stepped forwards and looked at Deus curiously. “Tell me, Deus, what exactly is it that you’re looking for? Is it some sort of weapon we can use against Gerhardt?”

“I suppose you could say that.” Deus responded before tossing away one final piece of debris revealing the suit of power armor Gerhardt had built for Pixel for Nightmare Night. He then levitated it so it was floating upright. Finally he used a weaponized teleportation spell to cut the hands off the suit. It took a couple seconds as the armor was resistant to magic but he got them off eventually. Finally he put the suit of power armor on. This was as simple as sending the command for it to open and stepping inside.

“How did that thing manage to survive when everything else in Ponyville was destroyed? And why did you cut off the hands?” Rarity inquired looking at Deus in confusion.

“Simple. It’s designed to withstand extremely high temperatures and is resistant to magic. It’s also nigh indestructible. As for why I cut off the hands, it’s so I can actually use magic while wearing this thing. This suit is meant for common soldiers not mages and since it is a magical insulator wearing it makes any magic I could use while wearing the full thing weaker and less efficient. I believe I will need it. I believe I will need these as well.” Deus said in his usual emotionless tone, though his voice was being distorted by the helmet’s vocalizer.

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘These’? I don’t see anything besides that armor.” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Look behind you.”

The ponies then turned and saw a little over a hundred combat golems standing in formation behind them. There would have been quite a few more but Natura had destroyed most of them during the battle as she seemed to find their particle beams irritating.

“Oh… Those…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Deus, when did you or your father ever have time to build any of this? No, more importantly why did you build all of this?! Why would you ever need any of these golems let alone the orbital cannons that are currently devastating Equestria?! Was Gerhardt planning to invade us at some point?!” Luna demanded.

“No, he wasn’t. If he was then he would have had an orbital cannon destroy Canterlot and kill the two of you a month or two ago. Apparently Queen Chrysalis used my sister to threaten him. All of this has been made in preparation for war with the Changelings or any other threats that proved significant enough if it ever came to it. The Minotaurs were also a possible target as the king was apparently being aggressive about arranging a marriage between my sister and his son. It may be overkill but he has always preferred having overwhelming force as an option whenever possible.” Deus explained.

“Alright, well where did he get the materials for all of this? If I remember right, we had an agreement that he would purchase most of his materials from us for at least ten years and I’m sure he hasn’t bought enough to build all of this.” Celestia asked, frowning at Deus.

“He hasn’t broken that agreement. Most of the materials that he purchases, he purchases from the royal mines. Except for crystals, which he mainly purchases from a supplier in the Crystal Empire. However, there are other sources of materials he can acquire for free. Asteroids, for example, as no one on this planet legally owns any territory in space. Except for perhaps the moon, but that’s besides the point.” Deus lied. He wasn’t about to tell them that Gerhardt had his own mines in other dimensional axes as he also wanted to keep that technology secret and mining asteroids was a convenient excuse.

“I see…” Celestia said, clearly not happy about this information.

“Excuse me, but don’t you have significantly larger things to worry about than how we get our extra materials? The total destruction of nature for example? Or the genocidal greater spirit you have only made a temporary alliance with?” Deus inquired, trying to change the subject.

“Yes, you’re right… So, does anyone have any idea where Gerhardt is so we can find him?” Cadance asked, looking around at everyone.

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Finally Pinkie Pie broke the silence and said, “Oh! I know! We could always try to call him!”

“Pinkie, that’s ridiculous. He’s not going to just tell us where he is so we can go there to try and stop him.” Twilight dismissed the suggestion.

“No, actually she may have a point. We haven’t actually tried calling him so we don’t even know if he would answer or not. So I believe it’s worth a try. Even if he doesn’t tell us where he is, we can at least try talking to him. Not that I believe talking will work in this case, but we’ll never know until we try.” Celestia said before activating her phone and calling Gerhardt.

He answered almost immediately and Celestia set the phone so everyone could hear his voice. “What is it, Celestia? Calling to schedule your conversion into an artificial being ahead of time? Don’t worry, my schedule is free so you and the others can come by to receive your new bodies whenever you want. It will only take about an hour for my factory to build them. Then it will only take a second or two for me to transfer your souls over to them.”

“No. I’m calling to try to talk some sense into you! Gerhardt, as your friend I need you to listen to me, I don’t want to fight you! Please just stop this madness and let’s talk things over!” Celestia pleaded.

“My friend? Ha… I don’t have friends, remember? Besides, if you truly were my friend you would understand why I’m doing this. I am sick and tired of nature ruining everything! First it was a lesser god of nature who sent me to this gods forsaken universe and is destroying my people as. we. speak! Now it’s the literal physical embodiment of nature itself attacking my allies, destroying my property, and nearly killing my daughter! No more! I’m done! Nature has proven to me that it is worse than obsolete, it’s a clear and active threat to everything! It has to be destroyed before it destroys everything else! Technology can easily replace it in its entirety.” Gerhardt ranted.

“Gerhardt, just listen to yourself! Even if that’s true, if you destroy nature then what will be left?! A massive barren wasteland! A ball of dust and ashes! A society built upon the lifeless corpse of a once great and beautiful world! A society devoid of it’s very soul!” Celestia shouted back at him.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Celestia. It wouldn’t be a barren wasteland or a world of dust and ashes, it would be a world of metal, concrete, and circuitry. The world wouldn’t be a lifeless corpse, it would be just as lively as ever just with machines and cities replacing the plants and animals. And I guarantee that technology can be just as if not even more beautiful than anything nature could ever produce. You’ll see. When this is all over and you finally see the sheer magnificence of what I plan to build in place of nature you’ll realize that I am right, even if you think I’m in the wrong now. Be honored. In all my centuries of life I’ve never built something so grand even for the Human Kingdom! It will be my second greatest masterpiece! The first being my children, but they aren’t on nearly as grand a scale as this!”

“You know we can’t just let you do this…” Celestia said in a grim tone.

“Honestly I was hoping you would as I don’t want to kill you. However, I’ll only warn you once if you try to get in my way, I’ll destroy Canterlot. One of my orbital cannons is already targeting it. I could kill everyone in the city in an instant. Oh and don’t bother evacuating. I already know the exact numbers of ponies that are alive in each of your cities so if my orbital cannon sees the number of arcane energy signatures decreasing, I’ll target whatever city they’re running to. Even if they hide underground the very first cannon I put in orbit launches tungsten rods coated in a highly heat resistant material at hypersonic speeds to cause explosions on par with primitive weapons of mass destruction. Given the properties of tungsten those rods will also act as penetrator rounds and will destroy any underground bunker or shelter with ease. And that would just be the warning. Get in my way again and I’ll target the Crystal Empire. Get in my way after that and I’ll start targeting the rest of your cities. Oh and I have a dead man’s switch, so if I die or otherwise stop sending signals to the cannon it will destroy everything I have listed. So what’s more important, Princess? Nature or your people? I already know what I would choose in your situation, do you?”

“You’re completely insane…” Celestia muttered in horror.

“No. I’m perfectly sane. I’m just being a good father and a good soldier. Nature hurt my daughter, attacked my allies, and is killing my kingdom so I’ll kill nature by any means necessary. Now, I believe that’s the end of our discussion because I’m certain there’s nothing either of us can say to convince the other. Goodbye princess, I’ll be talking to you again once I’ve started converting all organic beings in the world into fully artificial beings. By then I will have already won.” Gerhardt said before hanging up.

Everyone sat there in stunned silence for a few moments, absolutely horrified by everything they just heard. The only one not affected by this in the least was Deus as he fully expected as much from Gerhardt, given he was wearing the alicorn amulet.

“W-well… That most certainly confirms that he’s been corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet…” Luna muttered to herself. For the second time that day, she was absolutely terrified. First she had been terrified while fighting Natura seeing how immensely powerful she was. Now she was terrified not because of how powerful Gerhardt was as an individual but how powerful his technology was and how helpless they were to stop him.

“Indeed, little alicorn.” Said Natura’s voice from behind them. All of them then looked and saw Natura standing there along with every deer that had been living in the Everfree, Zecora, and Isabelle.

“How long have you been standing there?” Twilight inquired.

“Only a couple seconds, but I left one of my constructs to watch you as I didn’t trust you not to betray me, so I heard everything. This Gerhardt individual has clearly been driven mad by this amulet.” Natura stated.

“And I wonder who’s fault that is? Hm… Perhaps it’s the one who nearly killed his daughter right in front of him thus driving him to put on the amulet in the first place?” Deus said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Isabelle’s eyes widened in horror. “W-wait, what?!”

Natura glared at Deus. “You dare blame me for this?!”

“Yes, because it’s objectively your fault. These are the consequences of your actions. You’ve angered one of the only people in the world that can legitimately kill you by nearly killing his daughter right in front of him. While I disapprove of having such emotional attachments in the first place, that was an incredibly stupid decision on your part and that beam behind you that’s currently destroying the Everfree Forest is the result of your incredibly stupid decision. There is no possible way you can twist this to where this isn’t your fault.” Deus stated, not worried about angering her in the slightest.

"Wait, let me get this straight… You tried to kill Pixel?! Why?! She’s not even a pony, so what has she ever done to you?!” Isabelle demanded, looking at Natura in anger.

“She participated in that abhorrent event during the fall where the ponies force the leaves to fall off of my trees! Even worse she actively used her artificial Earth Pony magic to assist the ponies in bending me to their will! She is no better than they are! I will not stand for such treatment from anyone let alone some useless heap of animate metal!” Natura shouted furiously back at Isabelle.

“She didn’t…” Isabelle muttered in disbelief.

“She did!” Natura declared in a tone that brokered no argument.

“Well whatever the case, what’s done is done. The past is irrelevant to the present situation. So, now that we’re all here let’s discuss strategy, shall we?” Deus said, trying to force the conversation back on topic.

“What is there to discuss? Once we find that metal freak, I shall destroy him! That’s all there is to this! All I need any of you for is to help me find him.” Natura growled.

Deus sighed and rolled his eyes underneath the helmet of Pixel’s power armor. “Killing him is by far the worst thing you could possibly do. He’s the only one who can stop his orbital cannons. I’ve tried hacking them and the security seems impossible to overcome even for me. So the only thing any of you can really do is try to convince him to turn them off on his own. Or at the very least try to convince him to take off the amulet at which point he should stop anyways since he would no longer be under its influence. And you, Natura, have absolutely no chance of convincing him to do anything except maybe try even harder to destroy you. So I’m afraid you will have to rely on the ponies you despise so much for this.”

Natura scowled at him but before she could say anything Celestia stepped forwards and said, “Natura, I know you are going to object but please just give us a chance. You already know that we could just let him continue what he’s doing with no concern whatsoever since he could make us all artificial like him. However, we are more than willing to work with you. In fact we genuinely want to help you because we don’t want the world to be reduced to a soulless ashen wasteland devoid of the beauty of nature any more than you or the Deer do. So please let this be the first step in repairing the relationship between you and our species and perhaps even building some trust between us no matter how small that trust may be.”

Natura stared at Celestia for a moment looking for even the smallest, most miniscule trace of deception in anything she said. Seeing none she huffed in frustration. “Fine… But I don’t trust you so I’m still coming with you!”

“Actually that would be a bad idea. Your presence would undoubtedly harm any chance they may have of convincing my father to stop. So instead I would strongly recommend sending envoys instead, if possible.” Deus stated.

“You’re pushing your luck, demigod… Fine. Isabelle and Aspen I trust you two the most out of anyone so I would like for you two to go with them in my place. Isabelle, if they try to betray you please teleport yourself and King Aspen back here as soon as possible and I will eradicate them myself.” Natura stated.

“As you wish, oh great spirit. You can rely on us.” King Aspen said, bowing to Natura.

“Thank you, Aspen. You both have my gratitude once again.” Natura said, turning to look at King Aspen and smiling at him.

“Once again?” Deus inquired.

“Of course! They both assisted in freeing me of the shackles placed upon me by Discord and Harmony.” Natura said, smiling at both Isabelle and King Aspen.

Isabelle winced as Natura said this. She clearly would have preferred if that information had stayed private.

“I see… Interesting.” Deus said in his usual emotionless tone.

“Isabelle, you helped free her knowing what she would do?! Why didn’t you come to us instead?! We could have ended this before it even began by coming to a compromise before she had the chance to destroy Ponyville or kill Harmony knows how many ponies!” Luna shouted.

“Sister, now is not the time. We can discuss this with Isabelle after this is all over.” Celestia said, giving Luna a serious look.

“But…!” Luna started before noticing the look Celestia was giving her. She then sighed and said, “I suppose you’re right…”

Celestia then smiled at Luna and said, “Thank you. Now, I suppose we are wasting time. I’ll call Gerhardt again and see if I can get him to agree to meet with us so we can talk in person.” She then proceeded to call Gerhardt again and once again set her phone to speaker mode so everyone could hear what he said.

Once again Gerhardt answered almost immediately. “What is it this time, Celestia?” He asked in an annoyed tone.

“Gerhardt, we would like to meet with you so we can talk in person. Is there anywhere in particular you have in mind for us to meet at?” Celestia inquired.

“Hm… I sincerely doubt we would have much to discuss but very well. I’ll send the coordinates to Deus. He will bring you here. I just don’t trust the rest of you enough to not leak the coordinates to a certain Nature Spirit, you see. I’ll talk to you in a few moments.” Gerhardt said before hanging up.

“Well that was easier than I expected it to be…” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Yeah… A bit too easy…” Twilight muttered.

“Mm… My Pinkie senses have been tingling all day and they’re still tingling… It feels like something bad is gonna happen but it’s been like that all day so I can’t tell if Gears will be the one to do the bad thing or not…” Pinkie muttered.

Deus then raised a hand and teleported himself, the others, and a select few combat golems that were still in relatively good condition to Gerhardt’s factory in the Crystal Empire. The combat golems, being highly resistant to magic drained far more of his energy reserves than even the entire group combined so he was only able to take about eight in total.

As soon as they arrived Deus cast King Sombra’s curse on all three of the princesses as well as Twilight, Rarity, and Isabelle causing black crystals to form on their horns and all over Isabelle’s body thus preventing any of them from using any magic.

“Deus, what is this?! What are you doing?!” Celestia demanded trying and failing to cast a spell to get rid of the crystals.

“Incapacitating you. This way none of you can resist. See father? My trap worked flawlessly.” Deus said before looking at Gerhardt as he rounded a corner created by a wall of wooden crates.

“Indeed it has. Well done, D-0001.” Gerhardt said, looking at them all.

“A trap? This was all a trap?!” Twilight exclaimed, now panicking.

“Indeed. Why else did you think I convinced you to leave the Elements of Harmony in the Tree of Harmony? I couldn’t let you actually use them now that the Spirit of Harmony is free again.” Deus said.

“Why you…” Rainbow Dash growled aggressively.

Before she could do anything, Deus forced her out of the air and pinned her to the ground with telekinesis. “I wouldn’t recommend trying anything. I tried to convince father to just let me kill you all, but he wants you all alive for whatever reason. However if you act out of line then I will not hesitate to break a few bones or tear off a few limbs. Don’t worry, even if I did tear any of your limbs off I would ensure none of you would bleed out.”

“Well, I suppose you’ve captured us. What do you plan to do now?” Celestia inquired.

“Oh nothing much really. You all will just be the first group I’ll transform into artificial life forms such as myself, Deus, or Pixel. Your new bodies will be ready in about an hour or so since I just had the factory start building them. So for now we have some time so let’s talk. After all that’s what you all came here to do, right? To try to convince me to stop? I’ll tell you now that it won’t work. However, we have all the time in the universe so I am willing to hear you out. For now.” Gerhardt said in a fairly casual tone.

“Your beam from the sky is on a direct collision course with our kingdom in the Everfree Forest! You’re going to destroy everything my citizens have!” King Aspen shouted furiously.

“No I’m not. My orbital cannons have already detected your city as well as what I assume is Miss Zecora’s hut and are thus avoiding them. I will be destroying all of the foliage around them with precision strikes via thinner and more condensed beams of arcane energy than the broad beam you surely saw. So don’t worry about that. Your homes will remain perfectly intact. However, after this is all over I will be having construction golems go in and replace all of the buildings with concrete and metal as I cannot leave even so much as a single trace of organic matter anywhere in the world. Even down to individual single celled organisms at the very bottom of the ocean. However, before I do that I will set up temporary shelters for you and your people and will give you all between several weeks and two months to gather all of your things from your homes. So you will lose nothing except for a bit of time. And I promise you that after the conversion you will all have an overabundance of time as you will all be immortal like me, so what little you lose to this will be completely irrelevant in the end.”

“We do not want this! We have no interest in your accursed technology! We merely wish to live in harmony with nature! Why can’t you understand that and leave us alone?!” King Aspen demanded.

Gerhardt sighed. “I hate repeating myself but very well… I’m just being a good father and a good soldier. Nature hurt my daughter, attacked my allies, and is killing my kingdom. It has proven to me that it is nothing but a threat to everything society should strive to achieve so I will destroy nature by any means necessary. What you and your species want are completely irrelevant to me. Besides you’ll see how much better off my vision of this world will be in the end and you’ll thank me. You know what? Since you’re all here, let me show you all a glimpse of what I have in mind. Let me show you the mechanical beauty of the world I envision. The world without nature.”

He then raised a hand towards them and cast a mental illusion spell, forcing all of them to see what he had planned for the future. However he didn’t cast the spell on Isabelle for two reasons. First and foremost was the fact she was completely covered in crystals that would completely block the magic to begin with. Second, Deus had already informed him of what Isabelle had done and he didn’t believe that she deserved to see the glorious future he would bring to this world. She most certainly wouldn't live long enough to see it, but her summary execution could wait for the moment.

All of them saw images of breathtakingly beautiful cities made of concrete, glass, and metal with buildings that reached far higher into the sky than any primitive skyscraper that currently existed in the world. Ponies and deer made of solid metal with strands of metal acting as manes or tails for the ponies all living happy normal lives as they usually would, some even having children. Numerous ships leaving the planet and heading towards other planets in the solar system and building colonies upon them so they had room to expand even with their slowly growing population. Then dozens if not hundreds of ships going to and from Equus and those colonies every single day. Then after several centuries of development ships finally leaving the solar system traveling at speeds faster than light and heading to new solar systems to colonize planets there as well.

He also crafted certain images specially for certain individuals. For Luna he showed her images of hundreds of mechanical ponies in beautiful towns and cities outside enjoying her beautiful night sky while younger mechanical ponies stayed in doors and slept through the night, enjoying the wonderful dreams she brought them. All of them being immensely grateful towards her for all the work she does in making the night sky as beautiful as possible and protecting their dreams and thus loving her just as much if not slightly more than Celestia. And instead of there being a Nightmare Night dedicated to the ponies' fear of Nightmare Moon, there being a Winter Moon Celebration as her equivalent of Celestia’s Summer Sun celebration.

For Cadance he showed her images of her and Shining Armor both made from metal living together and ruling over the Crystal Empire for eternity. Neither of them ever growing old or dying even as the Crystal Empire grew and expanded around them for centuries. Then a large machine taking tiny fragments of both of their souls in a much more refined process than what Gerhardt used to make Deus and using those fragments to build the soul of a new demigod that would be their child which they would raise from a very young foal with only very basic knowledge to an adult who could then go on to lead his or her own kingdom they had prepared for him or her on another colony. He also showed her images of her and Shining Armor’s child visiting frequently even as an adult as travel between the colonies would be very easy and a regular occurrence and them still being able to talk every day as communication would be almost instantaneous. Thus despite physical distance the three of them and even their future generations would never truly be apart from one another.

For both Celestia and Twilight he showed them images of mechanical foals of all three different breeds getting along and playing with each other. Playing along with them were young mechanical Deer, Minotaurs, Griffons, Dragons, and even Changelings. All the breeds of ponies and all of the different sapient species that Gerhardt knew of getting along and being friends. Peace and harmony spread across the entire world and even beyond into the stars. So much so that the Spirit of Harmony had grown so strong as to be able to manifest itself in a physical form which it could use to spread harmony directly and ensure its propagation throughout the eons.

For Pinkie Pie he showed her something similar except they were all laughing and joking around at a party. Furthermore they were enjoying baked goods that looked, felt, and tasted exactly like normal baked goods if not even better than normal baked goods but were made entirely without any plant or animal based products, instead being made entirely from both alchemical and normal chemical components. He then showed the Cakes and their foals in fully mechanical bodies living just as happily and healthily as ever. Then he showed the foals getting new even larger bodies once they reached their teenage years and once again when they were finally adults, showing her that even as mechanical beings nothing would really change and they would still grow up as they should without any complications. He then showed her herself in a mechanical body laughing with her friends, making baked goods with alchemy, and throwing parties for the ponies around the rebuilt and redesigned Ponyville as per usual.

For Fluttershy he showed her herself in a fully mechanical body taking care of all sorts of different mechanical animals. Some large, some small. Most of them resembling animals she was already used to taking care of while a few were of Gerhardt’s own design, including a flock of little mechanical dragons just like Goldy minus most of the weapons. In the illusion he showed her that she even had a whole massive facility the size of a city along a separate dimensional axis that contained numerous different artificial habitats for the animals where she and other ponies could go to play with and take care of the animals all they wanted. Essentially like one massive petting zoo with multiple layers. Even better, the zoo could easily be expanded and new designs for entirely new and unique species could be added to the facility every year or so thus she could always have new animals to learn about and take care of.

Applejack was perhaps the toughest of all of the ponies for Gerhardt to think of something to show her. After all her family were farmers and farms would essentially no longer exist as plants would no longer exist nor would organic matter in general. However he did manage to think of something that he hoped would at the very least ease her concerns about the future he envisioned.

He showed her Granny Smith in a mechanical body no longer suffering the ill effects of old age and a slowly degenerating body that would inevitably fail her, once again just as spry and capable as her or Big Mac. He showed her Applebloom growing up in much the same way as he showed Pinkie the Cakes’ foals growing up. He showed her their family still operating a sort of farm which they could use their new technological based built in magic to operate and enhance the efficiency of. A farm where they could have artificial “trees” and “crops” which were essentially just machines designed to vaguely resemble such plants that could grow essentially any types of crystals over time in the same size and general shape as apples or other crops just by feeding them the materials to make said crystals. Crystals being just as if not more valuable in Gerhardt’s new world than food was in the current world. He would design the entire system such that their skills in raising their orchard and crops would translate over almost perfectly. Thus nothing would really change for them except for the fact they would be making more money than ever and Granny Smith would be in significantly better condition than she was currently.

For Rarity he showed her herself in a fairly ornate body that had been polished to a brilliant shine. Said body was made mainly from silver but had some gold accents and fancy golden scrollwork, furthermore her main and tail were just as purple as they currently were. That would be accomplished by rearranging the molecular structure of the thin metallic wires of her mane and tail to reflect light in a specific way. He also showed her that she could either have any sort of crystals she wanted embedded into her exterior or she could have a plain solid metal exterior if she so chose. He then showed her images of her producing beautiful dresses from synthetic fabrics and metallic fabrics and becoming quite renowned for her sense of fashion and for being quite beautiful. Unfortunately he didn’t know much about fashion himself so he simply based the dress designs he showed her on dresses he saw her making in her shop on the occasions he would come over.

He didn’t know much about Rainbow Dash as they rarely interacted unless they had no other choice. However he did know that she liked flying very fast and was quite arrogant. He also knew she was the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. Thus he designed what he showed her around all of that.

He showed her images of herself in a mechanical body flying at Mach two and speeding all the way up to Mach three. Her winning awards for her flight skills. Her being praised as the best flyer in the world by other pegasi. Her having hordes of adoring fans. And her and her friends still living normal peaceful lives as if nothing had changed. None of them were hurt, all of them were perfectly happy and in excellent condition. Their lives were all just as good as ever, if not even better than they were before. He also showed her glimpses of everything he was showing the others, trying to make her see that there was nothing for her to fight against as neither she nor her friends were in any danger whatsoever. In fact if anything they would all benefit greatly from Gerhardt’s new world.

Gerhardt didn’t know pretty much anything about King Aspen so he just showed him rather generic images of him and his people having become fully mechanical and living in Gerhardt’s new society. No trees, no foliage, nothing of the sort. At the very least none that were natural. All of them were living in a stunningly beautiful modern city. Furthermore their connection with nature was replaced with a connection to technology and instead of having any sort of relationship with the spirit of nature they instead had a relationship with the newly born spirit of technology which would be far kinder and significantly less genocidal. After all, technology was always made to be used and it didn’t really care how it was used, thus it was thus extremely difficult to truly anger.

Of course he had his voice speak to each of them in their minds as he showed them these visions, helping to give context they would have lacked with just images alone. When it was over he ended the spell and said, “See? The world I will create will be far better off without nature. Nothing will truly change except for the complete destruction of a very hostile and dangerous spirit. No more natural disasters. No more sickness. No more old age. No more permanent physical or physiological injuries or maladies. Death will be exceptionally uncommon as the only way it could possibly happen is from lack of maintenance for at least a century, accidents, and being killed by other beings.”

Gerhardt then teleported an empty wooden crate to himself and sat down as he continued talking, fully expecting this conversation to take awhile. “Normally that would eventually cause overpopulation concerns but that can easily be mitigated by slowing population growth with proper laws and procedures. Furthermore you can expand the space your populations can take up by colonizing other planets and areas along other dimensional axes. Not to mention the fact that a spirit of technology which would inevitably form would be significantly less violent and aggressive than a spirit of nature as technology is designed to be used and it doesn’t particularly care how it’s used. In fact it would be nothing but beneficial. And the cities I will build will be just as if not far more beautiful than anything Nature could ever hope to produce.”

Some of the ponies seemed to have had their confidence shaken and appeared to be swayed slightly by everything Gerhardt had shown them. However, a few of them seemed to hold steadfast in their beliefs or at the very least were very good at putting on a Façade to make it look like they weren’t affected by what Gerhardt had shown them.

“Gerhardt, I will admit the world you envision is beautiful. Far more so than I originally expected. However, despite that you are still going way too far. You don’t need to destroy all of nature or force everypony to become artificial like you to achieve this and you know it.” Celestia said, being one of the few who seemed to stay steadfast in the face of everything Gerhardt had shown them.

“That’s where you’re wrong. It has become abundantly clear to me that it is completely impossible for nature and advanced society to coexist. It is either one or the other, not both. Thus I’ve decided that nature must be destroyed.” Gerhardt refuted her claim.

“And who are you to make such a decision?! You take it upon yourself to decide all of this without consulting anyone else or even considering that perhaps we should have a say in the matter! The sheer gall and arrogance is absolutely astounding!” King Aspen shouted at Gerhardt.

“Who am I to decide this? I am the one with the power, knowledge, and technology to make it happen. That’s who I am. I’m the one who has seen the horrors of nature and realize just how abhorrent and horrific it truly is. I’m the one who’s entire kingdom and species was destroyed by a god of nature just because said god held a personal grudge against me for no good reason. I’m the one whose daughter was very nearly murdered by a rampaging Nature Spirit and who came within mere inches of being unable to save her. And above all else I am the one who wields all of the power in this situation. So I honestly couldn’t care less about your opinion or anyone else's. This is happening, end of story. Besides when this is all over you’ll all forget that nature ever existed to begin with so there will be no harm done because you won’t even realize that anything is any different. You’ll believe that this is how you have always lived. So I don’t care about your opinions as I know for a fact that you will not care in the end, even if you do now, and your lives will be improved significantly.”

“You know you can’t just get away with this.” Applejack stated in a slightly hostile tone.

Gerhardt had the combat golems Deus brought all point their particle weapons at Applejack. “Wrong. I very much can and I will, I assure you. After all, who’s going to stop me? You? If you try anything even remotely threatening, I’ll have these golems kill you before you can take so much as a single step. And more than that I know Celestia played our conversations over the speaker of her phone so I know you all heard me when I told her what I would do if any of you tried to get in my way. Your family is in Canterlot at this very moment, Miss Applejack, and I have an orbital cannon aimed at the city at this very moment and can make it fire with a single thought. I do not want to do that, of course, because I absolutely hate killing innocent civilians unnecessarily. So please don’t force me to follow through on my ultimatum because I guarantee that I will if I have to. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve had to follow through on similar ultimatums. Isabelle here can attest to that. Isn’t that right, Isabelle?”

Isabelle grimaced and looked at the ground. “He’s telling the truth… He’s ordered the use of orbital weapons and even weapons of mass destruction on major cities in enemy kingdoms in the past. And if he thinks your kingdom is against him, I don’t doubt he will do the same thing again. And since the princesses are involved, anything any of you do is representative of Equestria’s stance towards what he’s doing. Currently you have shown that Equestria is against what he’s doing, which is fine. However, as soon as one of you tries to attack him, that will show him that Equestria’s stance has turned actively hostile and he will respond in kind.”

“Correct. Thank you, Isabelle. So, I’ll repeat myself and this time I expect an answer. Who’s going to stop me?” Gerhardt inquired, looking Applejack dead in the eyes.

“…No pony… Absolutely nopony…” Applejack muttered in a defeated tone.

“That’s what I thought. I sincerely apologize, I do realize how this comes off and it’s nothing against any of you individually. However, I can’t just let anyone try to stop me. My only desire in this situation is for this all to end without any further violence or bloodshed if at all possible. Natura has caused more than enough of that on her own. Thus the reason I am bothering to speak to you all right now in an attempt to convince you what I’m doing is for the good of the entire world that way there is no reason for any conflict or hostility between us. However, I can see that I’m not getting through to some of you. That is quite unfortunate, however we still have plenty of time before your new bodies are ready. So please keep telling me all your fears and concerns with what I’m doing and I will try my best to ease those fears to the best of my abilities.”
> Chapter 30 [Mechanical Conversion]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was getting close to time for the factory to finish making all of their bodies. They had all failed to get through to Gerhardt and most of them had already lost hope.

“Mr. Mechanica, will we at least be allowed to retain our current appearances? Not that there’s anything wrong with being made of metal or the version of my future self you showed me, but I personally like the way I look.” Rarity inquired.

“Hm… Well the bodies currently being made by my factory will be made of metal. However, I’ll have to think about that. On the one hand, if you were allowed to retain your appearances you would resemble organic beings which could potentially be rather counter productive. On the other hand, you wouldn’t know that you resembled anything natural and the materials you would be made of would still be artificial so I could write it off as an artificial design meaning it wouldn’t leave any trace of the concept of nature… That is a solid maybe. As I said, I’ll need to think about it and truly determine whether or not that will propagate the concept of nature. So I’ll get back to you on that in a few days.” Gerhardt responded.

He then stood up and said, “Well, your new bodies are about ready. Come with me. While it will be horrible for a moment as I take your souls out of your current bodies, I promise the procedure won’t take more than a second.”

“Can you give us a few more moments to mentally prepare for this? I, for one, am absolutely terrified to undergo this process and I am not ashamed to admit it. I imagine everypony else is similarly scared.” Luna requested.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve already undergone this process myself a few months ago so I could get rid of that last little bit of organic matter I had left in the form of my frontal lobe. I wouldn’t be forcing you to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself. Though I suppose I could give you all a bit more time as I am aware that this is quite sudden, and besides which it’s not like we have any shortage of time. I’ll give you all fifteen minutes to yourselves. Just be aware that if you try to leave or if you damage anything in my factory, I will know it as my combat golems will be watching you the entire time. So while you all take some time to prepare, Isabelle I’m going to need you to come with me. Your actions in freeing that spirit were nothing short of traitorous, and you know full well how we deal with traitors in the Human Kingdom.” Gerhardt said, his tone becoming quite a bit more menacing as he addressed Isabelle.

Isabelle sighed and said, “Yes, I know… I sort of expected as much the moment it was revealed that Deus was on your side.” She then walked forwards towards Gerhardt who turned and started to lead her away, followed closely by Deus.

“Wait! Gerhardt, what do you mean by that? Surely you aren’t going to do what I think you are!” Celestia objected.

Gerhardt paused just long enough to say, “That depends. Do you think I’m going to execute her? Because that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Her crimes cannot be allowed to go unpunished. And since we’re both former High Lords of the Human Kingdom this is a human matter and will be dealt with as such.” He then continued on his way ignoring the protests of the Ponies and even King Aspen.

When the two of them rounded a corner and disappeared beyond a wall of crates, all of them fell silent. Eventually Rainbow Dash broke the silence, “Well this bucking sucks! We can’t just let him win! There’s gotta be something we can do about all of this! I mean we’ve always been able to find a solution in the past so there has to be something we can do this time too!”

Celestia sighed and said, “As much as I would like to say you’re right, I’m afraid you’re wrong. There’s nothing we can do. He’s not like any villain you or my sister and I have ever faced in the past. He’s far worse. He’s far more intelligent, cunning, and ruthless. He’s not afraid to kill us if he truly saw us as a genuine threat. He has every possible angle covered. If we do nothing, he wins. If we try to fight him he wins even if we somehow miraculously managed to defeat him. Even if he is killed, he still wins. He has us completely outmaneuvered. Anything we can do, he’s already thought of and has a perfect counter for. Not to mention, he’s holding all of Ponykind hostage so even if we could do something he would destroy all of Equestria… or whatever’s left of it after Natura’s rampage.”

“At this point I’m starting to question why we’re even against him in the first place. I mean the world he showed us doesn’t seem that bad. In fact it seems really nice! And I mean, the augmentations he gave me after my run in with that Manticore a few months ago aren’t that much different to the real things. Well, one of my eyes glows now, half of my vision has a slight purple tint, and it's slightly easier and takes a bit less energy to use magic but other than that my life honestly hasn’t changed at all. And Natura has killed who knows how many ponies and there’s no guarantee that she won’t do it again. And since we can’t imprison her without Discord’s help, we can’t imprison her again. And since a god was apparently helping her, even Discord needed help!” Twilight stated.

“Twilight, you can’t be serious!” Rarity exclaimed.

“I am. I mean if we can’t do anything anyways, we might as well try to look on the brightside right? Or maybe that’s just my way of coping with what’s going to happen, I honestly couldn’t say for certain…” Twilight sighed defeatedly.

[Elsewhere in the factory]

Gerhardt led Isabelle and Deus away from the ponies to another section of the factory. Once they arrived, he stopped and turned to face her. He then proceeded to punch her in the face sending her sprawling to the ground and ripping off several of the cursed crystals attached to her flesh and making her bleed profusely. “Stay down.” He ordered.

She complied, knowing that resisting would inevitably just make things worse on herself.

Shaking his head and pacing around her he said, “Isabelle, you have to realize what you’ve done is completely unacceptable. By freeing that gods forsaken Nature Spirit, you’re directly responsible for the deaths of the gods only know how many ponies. And more importantly, you’re directly responsible for that bitch attacking and nearly killing my daughter.” He then proceeded to kick her in the torso, shattering several of her ribs and causing several of the crystals attached to her to stab into her flesh. She couldn’t even cry out in pain as the wind was knocked out of her and she was sent into a coughing fit.

“Did you know Natura is working with Silvanus? Because according to Deus, Discord — the spirit who imprisoned her the first time around — said a god of nature was helping her. As far as I’m aware the only nature god who would have any reason to do so would be Silvanus since the gods of this universe seemed perfectly content to leave her imprisoned for eternity. So by freeing her, you were working with Silvanus, the very god who is destroying Humanity and the Human Kingdom as we speak! As far as I’m concerned even if you were unaware of that fact, which I find unlikely, that’s treason. Now you’re going to have to pay for your crimes.” He then stomped on one of her legs, crushing the bones in her shin beneath his armored boot as if they were little more than thin twigs.

Grabbing her by the throat he lifted her into the air and said, “Now the only question is how should I kill you and how slow and painful should I make it? Perhaps I should burn you alive? Hm… No, that would be much too quick. So perhaps I should very slowly and methodically break each and every last bone in your body one by one? Yes, that sounds good. I think I’ll do that.”

With his free hand he proceeded to grab one of her hands by the fingers and squeezed hard enough to reduce the bones to splinters. He then continued to work his way up her arm, reducing every last inch of the bones in her hand and arm to splinters until he reached all the way to her shoulder. At first she gritted her teeth and tried to bear the pain but by the time he reached her elbow it had become too much for her and she began thrashing and screaming in his iron grip, trying to escape. She even began punching and kicking him with her good arm and leg, as futile as that was considering she couldn’t so much as scratch his armor.

Almost as soon as he reached her shoulder and was just about to switch hands to start on her other arm, Pixel — now wearing a similar suit of non-powered combat armor as Gerhardt — came running and saw what he was doing. “Daddy?! Why are you hurting Miss Isabelle?! Stop it! Please, stop!” She pleaded as she came running over to him.

“Pixel, go back to the other side of the factory please. You shouldn’t see this.” Gerhardt requested.

“No! Please put Miss Isabelle down and stop hurting her! What did she ever do to deserve this?!” Pixel begged, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Gerhardt sighed and threw Isabelle off to the side. “Pixel, listen to me. She’s a traitor. She’s the one who freed the nature spirit. She is the one who caused all of this. Everyone who has died, died because of her. And more importantly you very nearly died because of her.”

“I don’t care! Even if all that’s true she doesn’t deserve this! Please!” Pixel pleaded desperately.

Gerhardt frowned at her underneath his helmet. On the one hand he couldn’t just let Isabelle get away with betraying them like this. On the other hand he knew Pixel would never understand that and he didn’t want to upset her if he didn’t have to. Especially since she had nearly died earlier that day.

“Fine. I’ll postpone her execution for now. Instead I’ll let her watch as I burn nature to the ground. She’s already proven that she cares more about nature than anything else so perhaps witnessing it’s total annihilation will be even worse of a punishment for her than torture. She’ll still be executed at a later date, but she’ll live for now. Deus, you make sure that Isabelle doesn’t try to escape or attempt to commit suicide while I go deal with our other guests. Pixel, stay here with Deus. That’s an order.” Gerhardt said before teleporting himself back to the area of the factory where he left the ponies.

He waited around a corner until the full fifteen minutes he let them have passed, then he walked out and said, “That’s it. Your fifteen minutes are up. It’s time to go. All of you follow me. Your new bodies are waiting for you.”

“Isabelle, did you really…?” King Aspen inquired.

“Unfortunately, no. My daughter came in while I was breaking Isabelle’s bones and begged me to stop. So she’s alive… for now. I’ll let Isabelle watch as I destroy that which she loves so much as to betray me, my family, and the ponies. Then when it’s all over and nature is dead, that’s when I will snap her neck. A faster death than she deserves, to be sure, but I wouldn’t want to upset my daughter too terribly much. And she’ll be upset about Isabelle’s death enough as it is so there is no need to make her even more upset by drawing out Isabelle’s death any more than strictly necessary.”

“I see… Well at least she’s alive for the moment…” King Aspen muttered.

Gerhardt then led them over to their new bodies. The princesses all insisted on undergoing the conversion before the others. So he started with Celestia as she had insisted on being converted first, and was surprised when her cutiemark appeared on her new body immediately after her soul had finished being transferred over. He took note of this and decided to study cutiemarks in depth at some point in the future since he hadn’t been expecting that. He then moved onto Luna, then Cadance, then Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, then Fluttershy. King Aspen underwent the conversion last.

“See? Now that wasn’t so bad was it?” Gerhardt inquired looking at them all.

“Are you kidding?! We were only ghosts for like a second but it was the worst bucking experience ever!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Gerhardt rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I’m aware. Unfortunately there isn’t anything I can do to make the process any more comfortable. At least, not that I’m aware of. But as you said it didn’t last long and now you're all in bodies that are far superior to what you had before.” He then waved a hand and dispelled the cursed crystals covering the new horns of the unicorns and alicorns which he had preemptively cursed before beginning the transfer. Said crystals then fell off and clattered to the floor.

“There, you’re all free to go now. But remember what I said and don’t try to get in my way. And you,” He pointed at King Aspen. “When you’re back in the ruins of Ponyville, give Natura a message for me. Tell her that what happened to you is only the beginning. It’s exactly what’s going to happen to every other sapient species on the planet.”

He then proceeded to teleport King Aspen back to the ruins of Ponyville and the ponies back to Canterlot.

“Deus, I’m going to have my factories start producing golems to safely capture the organics for conversion and am going to get started on directing the construction golems in the building of the machine to automate the conversion process. Remember what I said, keep Isabelle alive but don’t let her escape. Don’t torture her either. Pixel can have limited interaction with her so long as she doesn’t try to help her escape. She’s also allowed to head to the Crystal Empire if she wants as long as she’s wearing her armor, but Canterlot is strictly off limits due to its proximity to Natura’s current location. I’ll come back to pick up the leftover bodies in a few hours after everything’s started and I’m confident there won’t be any errors.” Gerhardt said through his built-in communications systems.

“Understood.” Deus responded.

Gerhardt then teleported himself back to his underground lab in the ruins of Ponyville before grabbing the device to rotate his dimensional access and using it. He then teleported himself to one of his further away factories along the W,X,Y axis just to be safe and began the production of the golems that would capture the land based organic life forms and bring them to the machine for conversion. Then once that factory was set, he teleported himself to the factory in which he was storing most of his construction golems along this dimensional axis and had them begin building the machine he designed to automate the conversion process.

He had to have his construction golems build the machine because it had to be what was effectively a mobile factory capable of storing and moving enough materials to convert tens of thousands of people into machines and dispose of their bodies. Of course, it wouldn’t work for the dragons of this world as he had done some reading up on them and some of them grew to the size of particularly large Heavy Combat Golems if not particularly small Super Heavy Combat Golems. So teams of construction golems would have to build some of their bodies. But the younger and thus smaller ones could be converted the same way as everyone else.

He also sent signals to his construction drones in orbit along the X,Y,Z axis and had them begin building a doomsday weapon of sorts with a built in dimensional rotation device that would constantly bombard the surface of the planet with high powered and extremely destructive gamma rays. That would only kill all life on land as water was an excellent radiation shield. Thus the gamma radiation wouldn’t be what would kill the oceans, it would be the immense heat the doomsday weapon would generate on the planet turning the atmosphere into plasma and bringing even the deepest darkest depths of the oceans to a boil with just a few days of constant bombardment. The surface of the planet would be uninhabitable along the dimensional axes he used the doomsday weapon on even for artificial beings for quite some time as it would be far too hot, but he could build a device that would reduce the time required for it to cool back down to within a few decades. 

Of course he wouldn’t use the doomsday weapon on the X,Y,Z axis as that would kill all of the sapient species he planned on converting into machines. He was just building it there because that was the only axis in which he had construction drones in orbit, and the device needed to be in orbit otherwise it would destroy itself and everything around it long before it destroyed all life on the planet. However it would speed up the destruction of nature along most other dimensional axes significantly thus making his job far easier. Assuming none of them had any more sapient life anyways. He would just have to be a bit slower and more methodical with the elimination of nature on the X,Y,Z axis and any other axis with sapient species..

[Pixel]

“Fine. I’ll postpone her execution for now. Instead I’ll let her watch as I burn nature to the ground. She’s already proven that she cares more about nature than anything else so perhaps witnessing it’s total annihilation will be even worse of a punishment for her than torture. She’ll still be executed at a later date, but she’ll live for now. Deus, you make sure that Isabelle doesn’t try to escape or attempt to commit suicide while I go deal with our other guests. Pixel, stay here with Deus. That’s an order.” Gerhardt stated in a firm tone that brokered no argument.

Pixel opened her mouth to protest Isabelle’s execution but before she could Gerhardt teleported away, leaving her with Isabelle and Deus. With him gone, Pixel immediately rushed over to Isabelle and kneeled down next to her before using biomancy to heal her broken arm. Fortunately all of the cursed crystals covering it had been crushed along with her bones so there was nothing obstructing Pixel from healing her. Pixel wasn’t nearly good enough at biomancy to heal such extensive damage, but she was good enough to stop the bleeding, to fix some of the bruising, to merge some of the larger splinters of bone back together, and to numb the pain to an extent. It would still hurt but it wouldn’t be quite as agonizing as it otherwise would be.

The moment she finished Deus cast King Sombra’s curse on Isabelle’s arm again. Pixel saw this and looked at him before demanding, “What are you doing?!”

“Following orders and preventing her from using magic to escape. The comfort or pain of a traitor is not a priority.” Deus said in his usual cold and emotionless tone.

Pixel frowned at him underneath her helmet but looked back at Isabelle. “Miss Isabelle, I tried to heal you as much as I could… I’m sorry I couldn’t do more… Are you alright?”

Isabelle gave Pixel a pained smile, trying her best to deal with the pain of her injuries. “It’s fine, little one. I’m very proud you were able to do as much as you did. You’re an excellent student. And I suppose I’m as alright as I possibly can be considering the circumstances. I mean it could be worse, I could be dead.”

“Why?! Did you really do the things that daddy accused you of? Even if you did, why would daddy hurt you like this rather than just killing you?!” Pixel asked, very scared and confused.

Isabelle sighed and gritted her teeth as she forced herself to sit up, her broken ribs causing her agony the entire time. When she was sitting up again she leaned herself against some wooden crates full of crystals and said, “Yes. I did… I betrayed everyone… And you want to know the worst part…? I don’t even understand why I did it… I knew what would happen if Natura got free, I knew how much destruction she would cause, how many ponies she would kill, but I did it anyway… What I did is unforgivable… I’m a horrible person. A traitor… I deserve all of this, and when Gerhardt finally gets around to my execution I’ll welcome death with open arms… As for why he didn’t just kill me, apparently he’s being corrupted by something called the ‘Alicorn Amulet’. Otherwise I’m sure he would have just shot me and got it over with… After all, he’s nothing if not efficient…”

Pixel shook her head. “No, whether he’s being corrupted or not I won’t let him kill you! You may have made a mistake… albeit a very large mistake, but that doesn’t mean you should die for it! Other than this one mistake, you have been one of the nicest people I know! If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s you!”

Isabelle chuckled slightly before grimacing and clutching her ribs in pain with her one good arm. “Pixel, you’re such a sweet girl… Even after all I’ve done, you still think I deserve a second chance… You’re so so sweet but still so incredibly naïve… No… When my time comes I want you to let it happen… And more than that when it finally happens, promise me you won’t blame your father… This is just how things are done in the Human Kingdom… He might be a bit of a stuck up asshole even without that amulet, but he’s not a bad person… He’s just doing what he thinks is right.”

“Miss Isabelle…” Pixel muttered sadly before wrapping her arms around Isabelle’s neck in a hug, being careful not to put any pressure on her broken shoulder or ribs.

Isabelle patted her on the back in a comforting manner. “It’s alright Pixel… Please promise me… Think of it as a last request of sorts.”

“I promise…” Pixel mumbled.

“Thank you… I really do appreciate it… Now, I’m afraid our time is rather limited so let me teach you a bit more about biomancy. I’m sorry I can’t give you a demonstration or let you practice on me this time, but I can still tell you the arcane equations and general theories and principles behind the magic.”

[In Canterlot]

“He just let us go… I can’t believe he did this to us then just let us go!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Well, it makes sense if you think about it. We can’t really stop him, so he’s not losing anything or putting himself in any danger by letting us go. Even if you six went back to go get the Elements of Harmony, we can’t really use them against him or else he’ll destroy Canterlot. Besides, we know he’s in a factory somewhere but we have absolutely no idea which factory that is. It could be anywhere from the Crystal Empire all the way to Minos. Not to mention, he could have teleported himself, Pixel, Deus, and Isabelle somewhere else entirely after he was done with us. So we still have no idea where he even is at the moment.” Celestia stated.

Cadance sighed and said, “Aunty, I think I’m going to go back home to the Crystal Empire and break the news to Shiny… I’m sort of worried how he’ll react to my new appearance…”

Celestia smiled at her and said, “I know how he’ll react… He’ll be surprised but he won’t love you any less for it.”

Cadance smiled back at her and said, “Thank you, that actually makes me feel a bit better. It’s just that this is such a large change that it’s a bit intimidating.”

“I understand. That’s perfectly natural, Gerhardt’s hatred of nature notwithstanding. Just have a little faith in him, he is your husband after all.” Celestia advised.

Candance nodded before taking a deep breath — or at least making the sounds of inhaling and exhaling out of force of habit despite no longer having lungs — and teleporting away.

“So… What now? We can’t exactly hide what’s going to happen considering our new appearances, but if we just announce it to everypony there’s going to be a panic. But even if we hide here in the castle and keep everypony in the dark about this, there will be a panic when Gerhardt suddenly shows up with an army of golems and whatever machine he’s going to use to convert them all within any sort of reasonable time frame.” Twilight inquired.

“Well, for now I can cast an illusion on all of you to make you look like your old selves. So you should all go be with your families. Just be aware the illusions will only be visual so be careful not to let anypony touch any of you and the spell will only last for a day. So after spending some time with your families, be sure to come back here before this time tomorrow. Actually, now that I think about it all the survivors from Ponyville are going to need shelter since their homes are gone. So if any of you are willing, I would appreciate it if you could help the Royal Guard in distributing tents to everypony and help in setting them up. Though I completely understand if you would rather not. In the meantime, my sister and I will be trying to come up with some sort of solution to this panic issue you pointed out.” Celestia said before casting the illusion on all of them.

[Two days later, on the border of the Changeling Hive]

After having officially located the Changeling Hive, Gerhardt decided to make the Changelings his first step on his path to converting all sapient species on the planet into mechanical lifeforms like him and his family. He would have started with the Ponies or perhaps even the Minotaurs as he had more ready access to them, but he decided to start with the Changelings instead. This was specifically because Queen Chrysalis had threatened him with Pixel, thus he decided to make this a bit of a display of force to show her exactly how bad of an idea it was to threaten him. So this was as much for revenge as it was to further his goal of eliminating all traces of Nature.

He had already detected that this area was a vacuum of sorts for arcane energy thus rendering it impossible to cast spells while within its vicinity. Thus the golems he had his factory build for this specific operation did not use magic. Instead they were built with tools such as net launchers and grenade launchers that fired canisters of paralytic gas to capture the changelings without harming them and a whole stock of mechanical rings filled with cursed crystals that they could launch at the changelings horns to render them incapable of using magic.

Standing next to the machine that would convert all of the changelings into mechanical life forms, Gerhardt stared out at the Changeling Hive. Behind him were hundreds of golems designed specifically for this mission. He continued to look at it for a few moments before finally taking a step forwards, crossing the border and entering the zone that would prevent him from using magic. Without faltering for even a moment, he continued to walk towards the hive with his golems marching along behind him in perfect formation and synchronization.

As soon as he came within several hundred feet of the hive, Changelings came swarming out by the hundreds. Along with them was Queen Chrysalis who landed directly in front of him.

Gerhardt came to a stop and crossed his arms behind him and said, “Ah, Queen Chrysalis. Good day.”

Queen Chrysalis snarled at him and said, “You! What are you doing here?! Did the ponies send you to invade us?! Don’t you dare think we will just take this without retaliation.”

“Oh no. They didn’t send me. I came here of my own volition. You see, after the recent attack on Equestria by Natura, the Spirit of Nature, I have come to a realization. Nature is a threat and thus needs to be eliminated. To that end, I plan on eradicating all animals and plant life and converting all sapient beings into fully mechanical lifeforms like myself or my children, as well as controlling the weather and seasons on a global scale. Then I will build a newer, better world on top of the ashes of nature but that’s besides the point.”

Gerhardt then motioned to his army of golems and said, “So I am here for two reasons. One, I’m going to convert your entire species into mechanical lifeforms. Two, I’m starting with your species as a display of force. You threatened to hurt my daughter and that can’t be allowed to stand. So this will show you that threatening me is a very bad idea. Because if I can capture your entire species and convert them into machines like me with there being absolutely nothing you can do to stop me, just imagine what I could do if I was genuinely trying to kill you. In fact, that’s actually part of the conversion process. Your souls will be ripped out of your bodies by my machines using necromantic magic and will then be placed inside your new bodies. So your organic bodies will essentially experience brain death and you as individuals will experience what actual death is like as your souls leave your bodies. Granted, being a ghost bound to the physical world is significantly more unpleasant than being dead in general but you get the idea.”

“I see what’s going on here… You’ve gone mad! Well if you think it will be that easy, you’ve got another thing coming!” Queen Chrysalis growled before turning to face her soldiers. “My Changelings, an enemy is at our very doorstep and he’s come to kill us all! Attack! Stop him! Show this foolish tin can and his buckets of bolts the might of the Changelings! For the Hive!”

““““For the hive!”””” Came the roaring response. The Changelings then began charging and flying towards Gerhardt and his golems.

Gerhardt sent a signal to his golems and ordered them to capture all of the Changelings. Thus his golems began charging past him to meet the changelings head on, firing nets and canisters of paralytic gas.

Chrysalis then turned back towards Gerhardt, her horn glowing with a specific type of magic unique to Changelings and could thus continue to function even in the arcane vacuum that was the area in and around the hive.. However, before she could cast any spells, Gerhardt brought his arms out from behind his back and casually tossed a grenade at her feet. She looked down at the grenade but before she could do anything it exploded unleashing a cloud of invisible gas. The moment she breathed it in, it started taking effect and she began losing strength in all of her limbs before collapsing to the ground moments later.

“W-what is this?!” She struggled to say even as she began losing control of the muscles in her mouth and jaw.

“A fast acting alchemical paralytic gas. The magic in it makes it work almost instantly and makes it very long lasting. In fact, it will last for a whole twenty four hours. Fortunately it will only take one hour to make your new body so you won’t have to wait that long to be able to move again. And this,” He held up what looked like a sheath of sorts made of a pitch black crystal. He then slipped it over her horn. “Is a cursed crystal that will prevent you from using magic. You didn’t honestly think I would come here unprepared, did you? Who do you think I am? Some sort of fool with no plan to guarantee my success? Now, I suppose you’ll be the first one to enter my machine. Be honored, you and your species will be the first step in the creation of something absolutely glorious! The ponies will be the next step, but you will always have the honor of being the first and I assure you that is something to be proud of.” He then proceeded to pick her up and start carrying her back towards his mobile factory. Once he got there he laid her down on a conveyor belt and activated the factory.

He watched with a sense of pride and satisfaction as she disappeared inside the machine. She would be stuck in a storage compartment inside the mobile factory for about an hour after her body was scanned until her new body was ready, but once it was she would be free to do as she pleased in her new mechanical body.

Of course he made sure the factory would curse each of the Changelings’ horns so they wouldn’t be able to do anything to damage it from the inside or out. He had several devices attached to the factory that could uncurse them once their entire species was converted and it was too late to do anything to stop him. He had never been one to take unnecessary risks.

In his attempts to create the love generators for them, he had read about Changelings and had thus considered in advance what to do about the unhatched eggs inside the hive and the freshly hatched larvae since they didn’t exactly have the greatest of intellects. His decision was that he would speed up the development of the souls of the unhatched ones and would upload some very basic knowledge into their minds, letting them all just skip past those stages of life and be children instead. Of course he would have them go last and would number them before and after they entered the mobile factory so the parents could actually track them since apparently the Changelings reproduced like normal mammals rather than most hive based insects despite being a species of insectoid equines, meaning Queen Chrysalis did not lay all of their eggs despite being the queen of the hive. Far from it.

Actually after their conversion he would round up all of the Changelings that were parents and would then lead them back into the hive to collect their eggs and larvae before bringing them to the factory for conversion, just to ensure there were absolutely no mix ups. He would also tell each of the parents their child or children’s respective numbers and with their new fully artificial brains they would be able to remember that number perfectly. So there would be no errors resulting in children being swapped.

He would do something similar for all species that laid eggs, such as the dragons. For species that didn’t lay eggs, he would just have the children of pregnant mothers come out directly alongside them, as in literally side by side rather than one being in front of or behind the other.

On the topic of reproduction, he would even let the adults retain artificial copies of their genitalia — just as he had done for Princess Cadance and the other princesses, Twilight and her friends, and King Aspen — despite the fact they would be incapable of reproducing that way as he was not one to dictate how couples should be intimate with one another and he didn’t have any issue with the idea of intercourse even if he never planned on participating in such an act himself. Of course they would have mechanisms to allow them to hide said genitalia when in public despite the fact they never wore clothes but that much was obvious. Children, however, would have male or female body structures but would lack genitals until they were adults and received new adult bodies, for reasons that should be rather obvious. Regardless, in his new world reproduction would be done just as he showed Princess Cadance, tiny fragments of both parents' souls would be taken by a machine and would then be used to create the soul of a brand new child which would then be placed into an artificial body designed to have random features in common with both parents, similar to how genetics worked.

If there were any issues with what he had planned he would find out in the future and would address them then. For now, however, he had much more important things to worry about.

[The next day]

Natura was sitting in the ashes of the Everfree forest looking around in a mixture of shock, horror, sadness, and absolute terror. Even now she could feel the beams from the sky burning away what little vegetation  and animals that were left on this continent. In less than a day it would all be gone and the beams would move on to other continents. She tried everything she could to stop them but nothing worked. She even went so far as to fly up into space to attack the sources of the beams, but all of her attacks were intercepted by portals and redirected towards her. Their defenses were nigh impenetrable.

Even worse, when King Aspen returned from his meeting with the metal monster without Isabelle, she saw that Gerhardt had not been lying in the least when he claimed to be able to turn creatures into machines like him. He had done so to King Aspen as well as the ponies who went with him. She had personally visited the princesses in order to confirm this and it was true, they had been turned into machines as well. And just the previous day she had stopped being able to sense an entire species and when she finally realized she stopped being able to sense them and went to see what happened she saw that she was too late. They had all been converted into machines and the metal monster was already gone.

She had tried asking Silvanus for advice on what to do about a dozen times by now, but after her fight with Discord and the demigods was over he had stopped responding to her. She could still feel the “string” he tied to her, but no matter what she tried he wouldn’t respond to her. Thinking her greatest ally had abandoned her in her time of greatest need she had fallen into despair. Now she was at a loss as to what to do.

“My word, he really did destroy this place didn’t he? It’s actually rather boring now. I mean it’s completely lifeless!” Discord’s voice suddenly said from behind her.

Natura turned to face him, unable to even work up the effort to be angry or aggressive. “What do you want, Discord? Have you come to mock my inevitable demise?”

“Who, me? I would never… I’m actually insulted that you would think so low of me.” Discord said in mock offense. “No, actually I came here to see how things were going. I was also curious to see what sort of chaos was occurring here as I imagined there would be quite a lot considering the circumstances, but there’s none! No fighting, no cataclysmic events, no natural disasters, absolutely nothing! It’s honestly just a bit surprising. I mean really, what is even the point of all of this if there’s no chaos involved? That’s just boring.”

“Oh? Well you had best get used to it, because once the mechanical monster wins this will be what the whole world is like. You don’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation, Discord. There won’t be any room for chaos in the new world he’ll make any more than there will be room for nature. Granted, you might still exist in some form, unlike me, but you will surely lose quite a bit of power. That is if you don't lose your physical form and even your very sentience entirely. The fate of chaos is tied directly to the existence of nature as while there may be chaos on an atomic level, with nature gone anything on a larger scale will be completely devoid of chaos. So once I’m gone you’re as good as dead too.” Natura muttered before laying down in the ashes.

“Oh, pfft… You’re just being over dramatic to make yourself feel better. Chaos will still exist on a large enough scale for me to continue to exist even without you. You know, I might actually even feel bad about this whole situation if you weren’t so hostile whenever I mess with the weather or a few plants and animals. I never had anything against you, you know. And I still don’t.” Discord said in a dismissive tone.

“Oh, am I? Tell me, Discord, what happens when all of the animals are dead or turned into machines? What happens if there is no more conflict or disharmony in society? And if you think I’m bad when it comes to you messing with the weather or natural order of things, just wait. His machines will control everything and they will do it all on a perfect schedule that will no doubt be far more strict than even I am. In a world of machines there is no room for chaos in any form, except perhaps on the atomic or subatomic level, as everything will be completely orderly and planned out. And in a world without machines or nature there is nothing to cause any chaos at all. The world would just be a lifeless rock floating through space. So you are reliant upon my existence whether you would like to admit it or not. So this affects you just as much as it affects me. The only difference is that you will remain a concept while it will be as though I never existed to begin with.” Natura huffed in minor annoyance.

Discord blinked a couple of times and looked around at the lifeless wasteland surrounding him. It was odd. For some reason what Natura was saying was making him nervous. But that was ridiculous! Chaos would still have a place in the world even without nature… right? For some reason he was starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this and the more he looked at the ashen wasteland around him, completely devoid of any chaos whatsoever, the stronger that feeling grew. He chuckled nervously and said, “Right, right, suuuure… Excuse me, I just remembered I have somewhere I have to be. I’ll be back at some point later. We can continue this conversation then.”

He then teleported himself away and remembering the princesses saying something about the metal creature being corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet, he started searching for the largest source of discordant magic besides himself. Technically disharmony was a subset of chaos and fell under his jurisdiction, thus finding sources of discordant energy was as easy for him as trying to find one of his own limbs. So when teleporting himself to the largest source of discordant energy next to himself, he found himself just outside of the city of the Crystal Empire. There he saw one truly massive machine standing in front of which was the metal creature who was looking out towards the city with his arms crossed behind his back watching as metal ponies were produced by the dozens. Around the machine were hundreds of smaller machines all lined up in perfect formation.

Discord watched for a moment in curiosity before the last group of metal ponies were produced by the machine and no more came out after that. The metal creature then finally turned and looked directly at him despite the fact he hadn’t revealed his presence just yet. “I know you’re there, spirit. My sensors can detect your presence from a mile away… Or they would be able to if there weren’t so many arcane energy signatures around at the moment that they would explode if they were set to their maximum range.”

“Hmph, no fair. You cheated.” Discord said before making himself visible.

“This isn’t a game and there are no rules thus it is impossible to cheat. Now why are you here? What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?” Gerhardt inquired, crossing his arms impatiently.

“I can indeed. I just have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.” Discord said, floating lazily towards him.

“Such as…?” Gerhardt asked in an annoyed tone.

“Well it’s about the world you’re going to build! You know, the more I hear about it the more impressed I am. So I’m just a bit curious… Will everything in the world be perfectly ordered? Will there really be no conflict or disharmony whatsoever? Even the weather will be controlled on a perfectly preplanned schedule?” Discord inquired.

“Yes… Why do you ask?” Gerhardt demanded in a suspicious tone.

“Well I’m just curious is all. And I’m so impressed by what I’ve heard about what you have planned that I would like to help you, of course! You know, that amulet is based on my magic and it isn’t nearly as powerful as it could be. Here, let me give it a little boost for you.” Discord lied before reaching forwards and touching the area of Gerhardt’s armor that covered the Amulet.

Or at least that’s what he would have done if Gerhardt hadn’t teleported away before Discord could touch him. “Bullshit. Tell me the truth. What type of spirit are you? Chaos, I assume?”

Discord sighed and said, “Yes, I am… Am I really that bad of a liar?”

“Well, I mean a spirit named ‘Discord’ suddenly appeared and asked if something I’m going to do is going to weaken the concept of Chaos drastically then suddenly offered to help me. You have to admit, anyone in my situation would find that highly suspicious. So why are you really here? Have you come to try to stop me? Because I warn you, I have a doomsday weapon in orbit at this very moment and it will soon be fully built and I have a deadman’s switch. So I could just wipe all life off this planet all together and eliminate all concepts including chaos all together. So kill me and I will take everything down with me and you will cease to exist entirely instead of just being weakened.”

“Fine… Yes, I admit it. I came here to stop you. But I would never go so far as to kill you. Honestly, who do you take me for? But, I wasn’t lying when I said that the amulet you’re wearing is based on a form of my magic. So instead, how about we strike a deal? You leave room for a little chaos in the world you’re trying to build and in exchange, I will teach you more about my magic. You could use it to do things far beyond your tiny mortal comprehension. So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?” Discord inquired, teleporting himself over to Gerhardt.

“Could I use it to become a god? I know mortals can ascend to being demigods in this universe, but I need to ascend beyond that so I can leave and return to my own universe.” Gerhardt inquired.

“A god? You want to become a god? Well, that would be rather difficult but I suppose it wouldn’t be impossible per say. In that case, let’s change the deal slightly. I help you become a god and you leave a bit of room in the world you plan to build for chaos.” Discord lied, holding out a claw for a handshake.

Gerhardt hesitated for a moment. On the one hand he found this “deal” suspicious as hell and he didn’t trust Discord in the least. On the other hand, his species was dying and he needed to find a way to achieve divinity as soon as possible and an opportunity to do just that was just presented to him on a silver platter. No matter how suspicious he was, he couldn’t just refuse considering what was at stake. So he sighed and reluctantly shook Discord’s claw.

Discord then smirked and used that opportunity to get rid of the corruption affecting Gerhardt’s mind instead of forming a magical contract. As soon as the corruption was gone he let go of Gerhardt’s hand.

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

Watching this Discord chuckled and said, “Well, it seems my work here is done. I won’t be losing my physical form any time soon and I most certainly won’t be letting some metal fool with a god complex take it from me.” Discord said before vanishing into thin air, leaving Gerhardt alone with his machines.

Realizing that it was too late to stop his machine since it had just finished converting the entirety of the Crystal Empire and it had a built in plasma furnace that had already incinerated all of their bodies, he did the only thing he could at this point. He proceeded to put his armor back on and pick the amulet back up off the ground. Looking at the amulet he shook his head and said, “Never again… This cannot be allowed to happen again under any circumstances… Gods above… If I actually managed to find a way to become a god and returned to Earth in that state, I shudder to imagine what I would have done…” He then proceeded to teleport the amulet back to a specific location in his factory in the Crystal Empire.

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

Finally he ordered all of his capture golems into their storage compartment inside the mobile factory and ordered the mobile factory to rotate it’s dimensional axis. He would come back for them later, but for now he just needed to get them out of the way until he had time to deal with them. He also sent an order to his orbital cannons to stop firing.

Right now he needed to think. He couldn’t actually justify following through with his plan but Natura was still a possible threat and if he just let her go then there was no guarantee she wouldn’t attack again. Thinking about it, he had already more than proven he had the capability to follow through on his threat to eliminate Nature in its entirety and he did have a deadman’s switch. So perhaps at this stage he could just threaten her into submission? Well there was only one way to find out.

Using his orbital cannons to find Natura’s location he opened a portal to the place the Everfree Forest used to be and just stepped through. He would have just teleported himself but because his armor was highly magic resistant and would thus drastically increase the amount of arcane energy required to teleport himself there opening a portal was just more energy efficient.

Seeing Natura lying in the ashes of the Forest he walked over to her and said, “So, have I made my point?”

Her head immediately shot up and her head snapped towards him. “You!”

“Ah, I wouldn’t try anything if I were you. If you haven’t noticed, my orbital cannons have stopped for the moment. But remember I have a deadman’s switch so if you try to kill me, they will start back up again and there will be no one to stop them. So if you want to continue to exist then I would strongly recommend that you hear me out at the very least.” Gerhardt said, putting a hand up defensively.

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

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

Gerhardt then crossed his arms behind his back again and started slowly walking around her in a big circle, much like a shark circling its prey. “No, I’m here because after removing that amulet I came to my senses and realized that by doing what I was doing I myself would be no better than you or that bastard Silvanus. I don’t want to lower myself to your level if I don’t have to. So I came here to give you an ultimatum. Never attack me, any member of my family, or the ponies again otherwise I will decide you are too great of a threat and will finish what I started. In fact, I have a doomsday weapon being built in orbit at this very moment and it could do what I did on this continent again to the entire planet in just a few days. It would turn the atmosphere into plasma and would cause even the deepest depths of the oceans to come to a boil, killing everything. The entire world along every possible dimensional axis would be completely sterilized of life. In a few days when it is finally complete I will be giving you a first hand demonstration of its capabilities along a dimensional axis with no sapient life, just so you know I’m telling the truth. So, do we have an understanding? I don’t care if you agree or not. I just need to know I made myself perfectly clear.”

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

“Actually, no. That’s not all. Despite everything you have done I do believe in being as fair as possible. So I’m going to do for you what I did for the Changelings. I will take you to Canterlot and have you negotiate a peace treaty between you and Equestria. You will be able to barter for better terms with the princesses. My ultimatum is just the force ensuring the peace treaty will last and that you won’t break it. I guarantee the ponies won’t break their end of the agreement either. You have my word on that.” Gerhardt said, deciding that considering everything he had done he should at least be the one to extend the olive branch in this situation instead of just beating her to death with it, metaphorically speaking.

Natura sighed and got up out of the ashes covering the ground. “I suppose it’s the best I’m going to get in this situation…”

Gerhardt nodded before opening a portal to the throne room of Canterlot Castle and motioning towards it. “After you.”

[The end of Natura’s attack, Silvanus]

Silvanus was about to object to Natura working together with the ponies at all but before he could he sensed something “grab hold” of the “strands” he had connected to Natura, Gerhardt, and Isabelle. Something of truly immense power. A greater god…

Panicking he tried to sever his connection to the strands but the god who had hijacked his control over them wouldn’t let him. He was trapped. Suddenly his vision was pulled away from Gerhardt, Natura, and Isabelle and instead he saw a blindingly bright white light. “We thought we sensed the influence of a foreign god in our universe… Ah… Your name is Silvanus… You can stop trying to sever the threads now, it won’t work. I have taken control over them. Know this, Silvanus. There will be retribution for your interference within our universe. We will be speaking with those you know as ‘The Greater Gods’ and will decide how to deal with this transgression. For now, bear witness to the consequences of your actions here. Bear witness to the destruction of nature that you caused, unable to do anything to stop it now that you have set it into motion.”

He was then frozen in place and forced to watch the entire time as Gerhardt proceeded to destroy every vegetated area on the continent and converted the Changelings and the Crystal Ponies into machines. Even then his visions did not stop. Instead of showing him what was actually happening, the visions switched to showing him what would have happened had Discord not intervened. Thus he had no idea that Gerhardt had actually stopped and decided to talk to Natura. Instead he was forced to sit there for days on end, unable to move or do anything but watch the complete and utter annihilation of the concept of nature in its entirety as Gerhardt built a world of nothing but machines.

The Serpents did come to check on him at some point and seeing him completely unresponsive they rushed to get the aid of several of the gods who had allied themselves with Silvanus. Those gods immediately recognized the influence of foreign greater gods at work and were able to make fairly accurate assumptions as to what happened from there. Thus knowing there was nothing they could do for him, Silvanus was left there for quite some time until he eventually disappeared in a flash of light, pulled into the divine realm by the greater gods for a formal trial for his crimes.