> The Technomancer
>  by Phantomdust
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In an old run down workshop in the slums of the City of Copper a man in a plain black hooded robe stood over an incomplete little metal golem with tools in hand as he worked on its internal components. This man was 6'5" had very wrinkled old skin covered in several scars, sharp eyes with irises the color of polished blue sapphire, and a long white beard and similarly long white hair both of which were an uncombed tangled mess stained black in certain spots with grease and oil. Both of his hands and arms were made of steel rather than flesh and blood and appeared to have been damaged and subsequently patched up with scrap metal several times over in various locations and his robes appeared to be tattered and torn having numerous crudely sewn patches of its own.

As he continued to work on the robot he grimaced in pain as his stomach grumbled at him. He had been so focused on his work that he hadn't eaten anything in quite some time. He couldn't remember how long it had been exactly. Several days? A week? Two weeks? Longer? He had no idea. Most of his body was mechanical so he didn't need nearly as much food or water as fully organic individuals and he didn't need to eat or drink as frequently. However, he was still partially organic and thus still needed to eat at some point. It was starting to get to the point that he could no longer ignore his body's nutritional requirements otherwise he would give out before he could finish the golem and there would be no one to help him.

Reluctantly setting down his tools he gently stroked the head of the little robot. "Soon, my child. Soon you'll be complete. I just need another day or two, and you'll be ready."

He then sighed before turning and walking to a metal cabinet elsewhere in his workshop. Opening it up he saw it was mostly empty save for a can of beans he had been saving. Reaching into the cabinet he grabbed the can and looked at it. It wasn't much but it would hold him over until the next time he went to the store and could use what megere savings he had managed to earn with his skills as a washed up technomancer working for the most powerful gang in the city. He just hoped he would have enough left over to buy a cake to celebrate his child's activation day without having to dip into his resource budget.

To be fair the gang he worked for paid him very well for his services but the vast majority of the money he earned went into buying more materials for him to work with since some of the metals and crystals he needed were quite expensive, especially the crystals. He didn't have the tools or materials to build a machine to grow the crystals he needed otherwise he would have built one a long time ago as it would have saved him a lot of money. So while he earned a lot of money, he was still quite poor as he always had to spend most of what he earned in order to continue being able to do his job and fund his side projects. He would stop working on his side projects as much once his daughter was fully built so he would have more money and could take better care of her.

Finding a can opener he opened the can of beans before taking a spoon out of a drawer. He then sat down in a rusty old metal folding chair, closed his eyes, and said a prayer of thanks to Scientia, the Goddess of Technology, for all the technology that had been involved in the production of this can of beans and proceeded to devour the contents of the can. He could have cooked the beans first had he wanted to, but he simply didn't care. Food was food. At this point in his life he had learned not to be too picky about what he ate. Besides, with his stomach all of his other internal organs and over half of his body being artificial it wasn't like he could get sick or get food poisoning anyways. If he could get sick or be poisoned then he would be long dead by now.

As he was eating the front door to his workshop was knocked off of its hinges and a group of people carrying baseball bats, pipes, and even a gun or two came barging in. Seeing this Gerhardt just sighed and set down his half eaten can of beans before getting up. "Markus, you could have just knocked you know. I've always answered the door every time your gang has come by." Gerhardt said. His tone wasn't hostile, angry, or even so much as frustrated rather it was just tired.

A fairly muscular young man with short brown hair, a goatee, sunglasses, and a white tank top stepped forwards with a smug self satisfied smile on his face. "Hey, old man. Yeah we could have but we aren't here on a friendly visit this time. You see, we're gettin' reeeeal sick and tired of you refusing to sell us those fancy gadgets and such you've been sellin' to the Skulls. So we aren't asking nicely anymore. You're gonna sell us those gadgets or else."

Gerhardt rolled his eyes. "Or else what? You'll kill me? You're smarter than that. You know what the Steel Skulls will do to you if you do that considering I'm the one who makes them all of their best stuff. They're the most powerful gang in the entire country because of me. Pissants like you wouldn't stand a chance if you crossed them. So no. I'm not going to sell your gang of murderous psychos and human trafficking thugs anything, and there's absolutely nothing you can threaten me with that will convince me otherwise. So, unless you have a death wish I would highly recommend you get the fuck out of my workshop and never come back."

Markus chuckled and shook his head before walking up to Gerhardt, placing a hand on his shoulder, and saying, "Gods I was hoping you'd say that!" He then proceeded to punch Gerhardt in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. "Alright boys, you heard the old man! He's not gonna sell us shit so let's wreck the place. If he isn't gonna sell us anything then we're gonna make sure he can't sell shit to the Skulls either."

Gerhardt sat up and looked around in a daze as the thugs began smashing and shooting everything in the workshop. "You know you've signed your own death warrant…" He muttered.

Markus then kicked him in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and breaking several of his ribs. Fortunately Gerhardt's heart was artificial otherwise that kick may very well have killed him. "Shut up, old man. The Skulls aren't a threat to us no more. You see, we've got a new weapons supplier and his weapons are even better than the ones you've been sellin' to the Skulls. Says he used to know you back when you were still hot shit. Remember Dorian Insidiae, the best technomancer in the world? Yeah, he's our new supplier! So the tech you sold them doesn't matter anymore since we're way better armed!"

Dorian? His former apprentice? The man who plagiarized his work, dragged his name and reputation through the mud when he called him out on his plagiarism, and destroyed every last ounce of respect and credibility Gerhardt used to have in the field of technomancy thus causing him to lose everything? "D-Dorian…? Why…? Wo-would he sell… scum like you… any-anything?" Gerhardt asked between fits of coughing and wheezing.

Markus shrugged. "He said something about hearing you were still alive and what you were doing nowadays, and wanting to put you outta your misery like the broken old dog you are. I don't get it but hey, I sure as hell won't complain! These new toys he gave us are freaking awesome!" Markus then reached behind him and pulled out a large bulky military grade pistol and pointed it straight at Gerhardt's head. "Well, no hard feelings old man. It's just business."

Gerhardt just stared up at him unflinchingly. He doubted he could cast a spell in time to save himself but he simply refused to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing him react in any way whatsoever to his imminent demise.

However, before Markus could pull the trigger one of the thugs used a sledge hammer and smashed one of the projects that Gerhardt had been experimenting with. Suddenly there was a deafening BOOM and a bright flash of light and everyone in the factory was knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion. From an outside perspective it appeared as though the entire workshop just vanished in a magical explosion.

[Elsewhere]

Gerhardt was the first to recover after the explosion and seeing Markus's pistol laying on the ground he grabbed it before using telekinesis to help him to his feet. He then proceeded to shoot Markus in the back of the head before using telekinesis to grab all of the rest of the weapons off the ground and levitate them all out of reach of the rest of the thugs. From there it was easy enough for him to shoot them all as they tried to scramble into cover or run away.

When the gang was all dead he looked at the bulky pistol and snorted in disgust at the shoddy design. It would have been insulting to have been killed by a weapon with such shoddy craftsmanship. Oh it looked fancy, but Gerhardt could see a dozen flaws with the design and that was without looking at any of the internal design. He could see that Dorian's skills had not improved much in the decades since they had last seen each other. Regardless it was an arcane pistol thus Gerhardt could scavenge it for crystals and could use the rest of it as scrap metal. For the moment, however, he set it off to the side before immediately making his way back over to the golem he had been building.

"Oh thank the gods… They didn't hurt you… a-as badly as I had feared... I can f-fix these dents and the crumpled parts of… your frame easily enough… I just need a bit of time." He said to the currently incomplete golem between bursts of pain from his broken ribs and fits of coughing and wheezing. He then stepped away and walked over to his phone. Picking it up he tried to call the leader of the Steel Skulls to let him know what had happened and to request he send someone to clean up the bodies but for some reason Gerhardt couldn't get a signal.

Scratching his head in confusion, he decided to take his phone outside to see if he could get a better signal outside of the metal building he was currently in. However as soon as he got to the front door he was shocked to see that he was no longer in the City of Copper. Instead he found himself in the middle of a forest with no civilization in sight.

Blinking in surprise he looked back inside his workshop and saw that the long distance teleporter he had been working on had been smashed, presumably by the thug that was lying dead next to it. "Oh shit… Nonononono! Where the... h-hell are we?!" Terrified about what area of the world he may have ended up in he looked at his phone and looked at the G.P.S. app that had come preinstalled on it. After all, even if he didn't have any access to phone signals or the internet, surely he should have access to a G.P.S. signal since there wasn't a single inch of the planet that wasn't covered by G.P.S. It was as if there were absolutely no satellites in orbit whatsoever, which should have been impossible.

Gerhardt began cursing furiously. This was bad, this was very bad! Not only was he trapped here but he had no clue where he had ended up. He could be anywhere from the Human Kingdom to the Serpentine Republic or even worse the Ghoul Theocracy. He shuddered to imagine what would happen to him if he was found by the Ghouls. At least the Serpents would just kill him and get it over with, the Ghouls, however, were not nearly so merciful. The best possible situation would be if he had ended up in the Elven Kingdom. The most they would do is deport him back to the Human Kingdom, which he was absolutely fine with.

"Wait a moment…" He muttered to himself in sudden realization. If there was no G.P.S. signal then he couldn't be anywhere near any of the major kingdoms. He had to be trapped in what is likely the single most remote part of the entire world. "Oh thank the gods… Hm…" In that case he was either going to have to build something he could use to get back to the Human Kingdom or he was going to need to find a new source of ore and crystals… Well, he had enough materials stored in his workshop to last him about a month give or take so that was a problem for later. For now, he just needed to get rid of these bodies before they started to rot.

Heading back inside his workshop he grabbed the corpses with telekinesis before levitating them all outside and setting them all down in a pile. He then went back inside and grabbed a canister of the alchemical acid he often used for cleaning his equipment. It dissolved everything except for metal so it was perfect for cleaning his machines, though he supposed it was also good for disposing of bodies in a pinch since it could dissolve flesh and bone just as easily as it could dissolve most other things. Opening the canister he proceeded to pour the contents all over the bodies ensuring as much of their corpses were covered by the alchemical fluid as possible. As the bodies started dissolving Gerhardt walked back into his Workshop and began the process of cleaning up all of the blood that was splattered and smeared everywhere.

When he was done cleaning he went back out to check on the bodies and saw that they had finished dissolving. Now all that was left was a puddle of sludge where the bodies used to be. He then cast a spell and lit the sludge on fire and watched it burn just to ensure he didn't accidentally end up starting a forest fire. When it had finished burning he went back inside and proceeded to finish eating the rest of his can of beans between coughing fits as he was not one to waste food. When he was finished eating he got back to work on his daughter.

Eventually the sun began to set and exhaustion began to grip Gerhardt. As much as he didn't like it, he needed sleep just like everyone else. So he set down his tools before using telekinesis to prop the door up in the door frame. He would fix it tomorrow morning but for now he needed rest. Walking over to his bed, he took his boots off before laying down and drifting off to sleep.

[Gerhardt's Dreams]

"Dorian! Why?! Why would you do this to me?! I raised you as if you were my own son!" Gerhardt shouted at the shadowy figure in front of him. He couldn't see any of the details but he knew for a fact that it was Dorian.

"Why? Why do you think? Fame and fortune of course! The two most important things in the world." Came a smug response from the shadowy figure.

"You self absorbed greedy ingrate!" Gerhardt shouted at Dorian.

Dorian waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes… Whatever. I don't really care to hear your complaints. I think we're done here. GUARDS!"

Suddenly Gerhardt felt hands on both of his arms that began dragging him backwards. He struggled against the hands and shouted, "No! Let go of me you bastards! Dorian! Dorian! DORIAN!" Suddenly he felt a taser be jabbed into his back and his body became stiff and his muscles began spasming uncontrollably as electricity flooded through his body. As the hands continued to drag him away he tried his best to continue glaring at Dorian in a mixture of fury, hurt, and betrayal despite the fact that his muscles were no longer responding to him.

Suddenly the electricity stopped flooding through him and the hands that were dragging him away vanished along with the shadowy image of Dorian. Now Gerhardt found himself scrounging through junk and scrap yards trying to scrape together enough materials to build some crude augmentations to replace his limbs and internal organs when he eventually sold them on the black market to get enough money to buy some food and some higher quality materials to work with. Then he found himself talking with the leader of a small gang that went by the name "Steel Skulls".

"So, my boys told me you wanted to talk business with me. So what exactly does a washed up technomancer like you want with me and my gang?" Another shadowy figure sitting down on something asked Gerhardt.

"I want to sell you weapons." Gerhardt responded.

"Oh? And why us specifically?" The shadowy figure inquired.

"Well, I don't exactly have anything other than my skills as a technomancer and I need to eat just like everyone else. I've lived a very long time but I'll admit I'm afraid of dying so I don't want to just let myself starve to death on the streets. So I need some sort of income and no one else will hire me after Dorian destroyed my reputation, so this is my only option. Besides, I've done my research. I know you and your gang aren't nearly as bad as some of the other scum out there. You're the single best gang in the city that I could sell my weapons to as I know you're by far the least likely to hurt innocent civilians unnecessarily. Please, I'm begging, you can have the weapons I have in this suitcase. I don't even want any money in return for these ones. All I ask is that you give me one can of food and maybe a place to sleep for a couple nights. If you like my weapons then I'm happy to sell you more and maybe even a few other gadgets in the future."

The shadowy figure chuckled and took the suitcase from Gerhardt before opening it up and revealing the guns stored inside. The shadowy figure then whistled. "Damn. These are a lot nicer than I was expecting. Alright, old man, you have yourself a deal. We'll let you stay in this abandoned workshop here on our turf and a few cans of food. I'd say these guns are worth more than one single can of food and you know, seeing you grovel like this, I honestly can't help but feel bad for you."

The dream shifted again and Gerhardt found himself sitting in a mostly empty workshop using what metal and crystals he had left over from selling his body parts to build a gun. Time passed and he was no longer using cheap rusted tools he had found in a scrap yard but was using brand new high quality tools that he had actually managed to buy with the money he earned from selling weapons to the Steel Skulls. Then he had higher quality and rarer crystals to work with. Then he was working on stolen vehicles as well as weapons among many other things. Finally he was able to replace his crude augmentations with much higher quality ones, increasing his quality of life drastically from when his body was a barely functional mess of cheap plastic, cheap silicone, and scrap metal.

However despite being far better off than he had been when he had been forced to sell his limbs, most of his torso, and his internal organs more than any other time in his life Gerhardt was lonely. Almost cripplingly so. He had no family nor friends nor even so much as any pets. All he had in the world was himself and his machines. Sure there were the Steel Skulls and a few would come for casual visits every so often, but he couldn't call them friends. He didn't trust them as far as he could throw them. He couldn't trust anybody. After all, Dorian had not been the first person to betray him in his life, far from it, he had just been the most recent and by far one of the most painful considering Gerhardt had viewed him like a son more than just an apprentice.

Gerhardt had been betrayed far too many times in his life so as far as he was concerned the only reason the Steel Skulls didn't betray him too was because he was useful to them. He was positive that they would stab him in the back just like everyone else the moment he stopped being useful to them. Thus he worked to be as useful to them as possible so they couldn't betray him no matter how much they wanted to. So he was well and truly alone in the world and his dreams shifted to reflect this. He was no longer working in his workshop, rather he found himself sitting alone in an empty black void.

[In the Dream Realm]

Princess Luna was having a busy night that night. A surprisingly large amount of ponies were having nightmares and it was her duty as the Princess of the Night to fix them. Unfortunately since there were so many of them that night she couldn't spend as much time fixing them and interacting with the dreaming ponies as she would have liked. At least until she got to the last few and she knew she had enough time to spend a bit longer on them.

Finally she got around to the last nightmare but as soon as she did she immediately realized that there was something very strange about it. For one thing she could immediately tell that it didn't belong to a pony or in fact any creature she had ever encountered before. For another thing it felt too "real", for lack of a better term. Finally instead of being filled with fear like most nightmares it was only filled with hurt, betrayal, sadness, and an almost overwhelmingly pervasive sense of loneliness.

Cautiously entering the nightmare she saw a strange bipedal ape-like creature with long white hair and an equally long white beard and metal hands wearing strange crudely patched black robes sitting alone in a pitch black void. He wasn't moving and very clearly didn't notice her.

She tried to approach him but ran into what appeared to be a wall of sorts. Almost like a magical barrier but completely invisible. She was confused for a moment before realizing what was happening. Whatever this creature was despite his loneliness he would never let anyone get close to him in real life and his dreams were reflecting this by manifesting a barrier around him that literally stopped her from coming anywhere near his dream self. Fortunately this wasn't the first time that Luna had encountered such a situation before and she knew exactly how to deal with it.

She cast a spell and simply teleported herself past the barrier only to immediately get violently thrown back out of the barrier. This surprised her greatly as most such barriers were hollow as most ponies typically wanted to let others get close to them but were just too afraid to let them in. This creature was clearly a very different story. She could only assume that his desire to keep everyone away from him was not hollow and he genuinely didn't want to let anyone get close to him despite his loneliness. It wasn't simple introversion or the typical fear of trusting others so much as it was rampant paranoia. And that paranoia was fairly intense judging by how aggressively she had been thrown back out of the barrier.

Luna could only wonder what had happened to him in his life to cause him to end up like this. It broke her heart to see such a lonely and obviously miserable creature be so completely incapable of trusting others that his mind would create such a powerful barrier in his dreams. Still, she wasn't about to give up barrier or no barrier. So she cast a spell and the dream shifted. They were no longer in an empty black void, rather they were in the middle of an empty field at night. She had also altered the dream so that the barrier was no longer there. Thus she was finally able to approach the creature.

[Gerhardt]

Gerhardt just sat there wallowing in his misery when suddenly his dream shifted again. Now he was no longer sitting in the void but was instead sitting in the middle of an empty field at night. He was confused for a moment but quickly dismissed the change. It didn't matter if he was sitting in a void or an empty field, he was alone either way and he always would be.

He then felt something tap him on the back. He was startled by this for a moment before turning to see who or what it was. He was immediately surprised to see a small blue equine-esque creature with cartoonish proportions with the horn of a unicorn from Elvish mythology and the wings of a pegasus from Dwarven mythology staring at him. "Hello, I'm Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria and Princess of the Night. What's your name?" It asked him with a friendly smile on its face.

Gerhardt blinked once then twice. Finally he shook his head and muttered to himself, "Alright… So either someone drugged me with hallucinogens or I must be dreaming, because there's no way this is real."

The equine creature gave him a slightly amused look. "You are dreaming, but this is all real I assure you."

"Uh-huh… Right… Well, your highness I'm Gerhardt Mechanica. If this is real then how have I never seen nor heard of any species like yours before? My species has mapped the entirety of the globe and has traveled to every continent, yet we have never encountered a species like yours before." Gerhardt inquired not believing her in the least when she claimed this was all real despite it being a dream.

Her amused look turned to a look of irritation. "Apparently you have not else you would have encountered Equestria long ago. It's fairly large so it's rather hard to miss. Regardless, I'm not here to prove my existence to you. You were having a nightmare and I came to assist you with it. However, I noticed that you weren't afraid so much as you were sad and lonely among other things. I could also tell you have difficulty letting anyone get close to you, to say the least. What I want to know is why? What happened to make you like this?"

Gerhardt frowned at her. "If you are real then it's none of your business. If you aren't then you're just a part of my subconscious and thus telling you would be redundant. Either way I don't want to talk about it so leave me alone." He then turned away again and looked off in the distance.

Princess Luna then walked over beside him and sat down next to him. "I suppose I should have expected that. Well in that case, may I ask what you are? I've never seen anything like you before either."

Gerhardt sighed in annoyance. "I'm a human. More specifically I'm a mage, a human born with the ability to use magic. I'm also a technomancer, a mage who combines magic and technology to achieve things beyond what a mage is capable of while using magic alone. Depending on the machine it could even be capable of doing more than what even a Demigod or Fay is capable of especially if a Demigod or Fay assists in the machine's creation but those are extremely powerful, extremely rare, and extremely expensive pieces of technology."

"Oh? Interesting. What sort of technology can you make?" Princess Luna inquired curiously.

Gerhardt rolled up one of his sleeves and showed her his steel arm. "This, for one. Assuming I have the materials to work with, I can make fully functional augmentations to replace almost any part of the body including internal organs. I can also make long distance teleporters and portal arches for instantaneous travel between continents or even the moon, any sort of vehicle from a basic car for travel anywhere over land to a spaceship for travel to other planets or even nearby solar systems, weapons that can violate the laws of conservation and destroy matter or energy, generators that can also violate the laws of conservation and create energy which can then be converted into matter, quantum entangled communications systems for instantaneous communication even over infinite distances, basic household quantum computers, quantum supercomputers, and a lot more."

He didn't mind talking about his job. After all it was just that, a job. He may have enjoyed his work at one point in his life; now it was just something he did to get by. There were only two or three projects he was currently working on that he actually enjoyed. All the rest were just business. So he couldn't care less who knew what he did for a living, especially since most people already knew since he used to be quite famous.

Princess Luna appeared quite taken aback by this. "I-I see… I'll admit I don't quite believe some of what you claim but your augmentations are quite impressive at the very least."

Gerhardt rolled his eyes. "I honestly couldn't care less if you believe me or not. I know what I can build."

"I apologize, I didn't mean to offend you. Regardless, would you be willing to sell any of that technology, perchance?" Princess Luna asked.

Gerhardt glanced at her, "Talking business, eh? Sure, assuming you actually exist. You apparently rule a country so what would you want? Weapons or armor for your armies? Maybe some weapons of mass destruction to devastate or destroy your enemies? My supplies are fairly limited so I can't build anything in great numbers or anything too large in size but I guarantee the quality of my weapons."

Princess Luna looked almost offended by this. "No, the weapons and armor the Royal Guard currently have are more than sufficient thank you. I'm much more interested in your medical technology. Do you have any idea how many lives these augmentations could save? I'm also interested in the teleporters and these 'spaceships' you've mentioned, and to a lesser extent the communications system you mentioned."

"Oh. Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but I don't have enough materials to make more than maybe a dozen or so augmentations or maybe two or three teleporters at most and I sure as hell don't have enough to build even half of a spaceship. I might be able to make a few quantum entangled communications systems too but don't expect me to mass produce them either." Gerhardt stated.

"That's fine. If you can produce a dozen artificial organs then that's a dozen ponies whose lives you will have saved. I guarantee you would be quite well compensated for it." Princess Luna said in an understanding tone.

Gerhardt glanced at her and gave a short mirthless chuckle. "A ruler of a country who actually gives a damn about the lives of others? That's certainly a first."

Princess Luna looked at him. "It sounds like you have only ever met very poor leaders. A ruler who doesn't care for her subjects doesn't deserve to be a ruler at all. Anyways, where are you currently? I'll be sending somepony to speak with you tomorrow though I'm pretty sure her map would lead her to you anyways considering how lonely and closed off you are… Regardless, it might help her find you if I could tell her where you're located. This is a dream so you can easily alter our surroundings to reflect your real world location."

Gerhardt gave her a suspicious look. "How do I know you aren't just going to send someone to kill me?"

Princess Luna was very obviously offended by this. "What?! Who do you take me for?! Why in the world would I send somepony to kill you?!"

Gerhardt was completely unphased by this. "People have tried to kill me and have sent people to kill me for either piss poor reasons or even no reason at all in the past and I'm not one to take risks. You are a complete unknown with unknown goals and motivations and therefore are a possible threat. So answer the question. What guarantee do I have that you aren't just trying to kill me?"

Luna appeared horrified upon hearing what he said. "Somepony has tried to kill you in the past… for no reason? But… That doesn't make any sense! Surely they had to have had a motive of some sort."

"People as in more than one person. And no. A few did it just because they felt like it. They had nothing to gain from my death. In fact the only reason the most recent one gave the people he sent to kill me was because he 'heard I was still alive and what I was doing in recent days and he wanted to put me out of my misery like the broken old dog I am.' I'm dirt poor and have lost every ounce of respect and power I used to have amongst my peers because of him so he had nothing to gain from sending those thugs to kill me other than just kicking me while I was down… But that's none of your business and you still haven't answered my question." Gerhardt hadn't meant to let her know that Dorian had destroyed his reputation, he was just still extremely angry about the entire debacle and he let his rage get the better of him for a moment. He was mentally berating himself quite aggressively for that mistake.

At this point Luna just looked sad. "I… I'm so sorry to hear that, and I'm glad to see you're still alive…" She then sighed and said, "Your technology is too useful to just kill or imprison you. So if you can't trust that I don't mean you any harm, you can rest assured that the value of your technology far outweighs any reason you may suspect me of having to want to kill you."

Gerhardt looked at her and searched both her face and voice for even the faintest trace of a lie. Detecting none, he nodded and said, "Good enough. That's the only reason my previous employers had to not betray me so fine. I honestly have no fucking idea where I am. In the most recent attempt on my life the thugs the individual sent to kill me destroyed an experimental interplanetary teleporter I had been working on. It… exploded, for lack of a better term, and my entire workshop and everything inside, including me, was teleported the gods only know where. Does this place look even remotely familiar to you?"

He then shifted his dream to match what he had seen outside his workshop while he was disposing of the thugs' bodies, minus the bodies themselves or the blood trail that he had created while levitating them out of the factory. Thus their surroundings became that of the slightly rusted corrugated metal of his workshop and the strange forest it had ended up in.

Princess Luna looked around. "This looks like the Everfree Forest. Hm… I would strongly recommend staying inside your workshop. There are quite a few highly dangerous plants and animals in the Everfree that could very easily kill you if you aren't careful and don't know how to deal with them properly"

"Hmph… I didn't plan on going outside any time soon anyways. I'm too busy." Gerhardt stated.

"With what, if you don't mind me asking?" Luna inquired.

Gerhardt was silent for a moment as he mentally debated if he should tell the truth or not. On the one hand, he didn't want to risk making his new daughter a potential target. On the other hand, assuming Luna was real she was probably going to find out about his daughter sooner or later anyway since she was very close to being fully built, he had no idea how long he would be wherever he had ended up, and she was apparently sending someone to come talk to him and he had nowhere to hide his daughter while he spoke to whoever it was. And he was confident in his ability to protect her even if she was targeted. He had to be confident in his ability to protect her otherwise he couldn't risk building her to begin with for fear she would be destroyed or would be taken away from him if anyone with any power ever learned of her existence. So reluctantly he opened his mouth and said, "My daughter. I'm building myself a daughter."

"I'm sorry, did you say 'building'? Not to be rude but how can you possibly build a daughter?" Luna asked, clearly genuinely confused by this.

"She's a sapient golem. A true artificial intelligence. The first true artificial intelligence the world has ever seen. When she's activated she'll be just as alive and aware as you or me and her thoughts and emotions will be just as real as anyone else's." Gerhardt explained.

Luna nodded in understanding. "I see… When will she be fully built?"

"Either late tomorrow or by afternoon the next day. Be warned I can and will kill anyone who tries to take her from me. Furthermore I would destroy her myself before I let anyone take her. You aren't taking her from me and you aren't getting your hands on the technology I invented in order to make her and that's final!" Gerhardt growled defensively.

"Calm yourself. I have no interest in taking your daughter from you and I will not try to make you give us the technology you used to create her. I was just trying to make friendly conversation. Have you thought of a name for her yet?" Luna inquired.

Gerhardt went silent and thought to himself for a moment. Eventually he said, "I've thought of a few but when I activate her I'll let her choose."

"Would you be willing to tell me any of the names you thought of? I would love to hear them!" Luna asked in a friendly tone.

"No." Gerhardt stated bluntly. "My daughter is none of your concern."

Luna frowned at that but didn't press the issue. "Very well… You know, there is one thing in particular I find rather… concerning."

"That is?" Gerhardt inquired suspiciously.

"Well, I apologize for what I'm about to say but I'm going to be blunt. I am concerned that you will let your paranoia get in the way of raising your daughter in a healthy environment. For example, I'm concerned that you won't even allow her to have friends." Luna stated.

"She doesn't need friends! All she needs is me and the machines we build! Anyone else would just betray her just like…" Gerhardt shouted before cutting himself off. He had almost revealed how Dorian betrayed him. He was glad he managed to catch himself before he revealed too much of his past.

"Just like, who? I already surmised that you had likely been betrayed by somepony close to you in the past. Perhaps even multiple ponies. I promise you it wouldn't hurt to talk to me about it. As the Princess of the Night and the guardian of dreams I know better than anyone the importance of confidentiality and discretion. If there was anypony in all of Equestria, if not the entire world, that you could talk to about it, it would be me." Princess Luna said in a sympathetic tone.

Gerhardt scoffed at that. He didn't buy it for a second. This had to be an act. He didn't know what sort of ulterior motives she could possibly have for this and he didn't care. He absolutely refused to fall for such deception under any circumstances. "Just leave me alone…"

At this point Luna sighed in reluctant acceptance. "Very well… I suppose our time is running out anyways and it's clear I won't be able to get through to you as easily as I had hoped… Regardless, I won't just abandon you to the nightmare you were having before. Instead before I go I shall alter your dream so you may relive some of the happier moments in your life. I hope to meet you in person soon, Gerhardt."

After that she cast a spell and altered the dream once more before exiting his dream all together.

Suddenly Gerhardt found himself reliving his childhood memories, which was objectively the happiest time in his entire life. He very much enjoyed seeing his mother and father again even if it was just in a dream.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[In the Castle of Friendship]

Twilight was having a nice morning. She had woken up, took a shower, eaten breakfast, had her morning coffee and was currently looking over her daily schedule. Or she was until Spike came running into the castle library carrying a scroll.

"Hey Twilight, you've got a letter!" He said as he came running up to her.

"Oh. Thank you, Spike." Twilight stated, taking the scroll from him and unrolling it.

Reading it she was immediately surprised to find that it was from Princess Luna. Apparently she had encountered an incredibly lonely creature by the name of Gerhardt Mechanica in the dreamscape the previous night and not only was he in desperate need of friendship but he was stuck in the Everfree Forest. Thus Princess Luna wanted Twilight to go find and help him if at all possible. She also warned Twilight to be cautious as Gerhardt seemed to be a bit aggressive and had threatened to outright kill anyone who tried to take his daughter from him. She also informed Twilight that he was incapable of trusting others and would be extremely difficult to get through to. Finally she informed Twilight of the daughter he was building and her concerns with how he planned to raise said daughter.

"I see… Well it seems I'll be heading into the Everfree Forest today to deal with a friendship problem. Spike, you wait here while I'm gone." Twilight said before rolling up the scroll again and setting it off to the side. She then got up and started making her way to the map room. Judging by what princess Luna had said she suspected that the map would show her exactly where in the Everfree to search and that would save her quite a bit of time. And she was proven correct as the map displayed her cutiemark hovering above a specific area of the Everfree.

After doing her best to memorize the location she made her way out of the castle and flew off in the direction of the Everfree. About half an hour or so later she found the area the map had indicated and was surprised to see a large metal building in the middle of a clearing. Landing next to it she saw a spot on the ground that appeared to be scorched and covered in a fine white ash. It also smelt like something burning so that had to be very recent, so whoever made that fire was likely still there.

Looking around she spotted what appeared to be the main entrance of the building and was surprised to see that the door was broken and was just leaning loosely against the door frame. Approaching it she looked inside and immediately spotted a large bipedal creature in tattered and crudely patched black robes working on what appeared to be a machine of some sort.

[In Gerhardt's Workshop]

Gerhardt woke up and immediately burst into a fit of coughing as he tried to get up off his bed. When that was over he frowned and used telekinesis to lift himself the rest of the way up to his feet in an attempt to mitigate his pain. He wasn't in any immediate danger of dying but he would have to open himself up and fix his damaged parts soon. First, however, he needed to finish his daughter. She was just so close to completion.

After putting his boots back on he proceeded over to the little golem and immediately got back to work. Suddenly as he was working he heard a knock on the frame where his front door used to be. He quickly whirled around and pointed a hand at the source of the knocking in preparation to kill whoever or whatever it was with a combat spell. He saw that it was some sort of mutant equine creature with the horn of a unicorn from Elven mythology and the wings of a pegasus from Dwarven mythology similar to the one he had seen in his dreams the previous night but smaller and purple instead of blue. It appeared quite surprised to see the copper aura surrounding Gerhardt's hand.

"Uh… Hello. I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. I don't mean you any harm. Princess Luna sent me." The creature said in a placating tone.

"So it really... w-wasn't just a dream after all…" Gerhardt muttered between a few short coughs, letting the aura disappear and lowering his hand. "Hmph… Fine. She said that she would be… sending someone to talk to me. I hope you don't… m-mind if I continue working while we talk." He said as he turned and continued working on his daughter.

"Oh, uh… That's fine I guess…" Twilight said as she approached him before stopping just a few feet from him. She didn't want to be rude and talk to him from across the room but neither did she want to be within arms reach of him in case he got angry and decided to lash out, thus she determined that this was the optimal distance.

"So, why are you here specifically? I understand… t-that the princess wants me to sell your k-kind… augmentations but just confirming your existence would have been e-enough for me to agree to that. So if that's all... y-you can leave. The augmentations will be ready by this time next week." Gerhardt stated as he worked.

"Well, both Princess Luna and the Friendship Map indicated that you were having a friendship problem and sent me here to try to help fix it." Twilight explained.

Gerhardt gave her the most deadpan stare that he had ever given anyone. "If this is some sort of joke it isn't funny... W-why are you really here?"

"I'm not joking, I really am here to help you with your friendship problems!" Twilight exclaimed, sounding slightly frustrated.

"Hmph, in that case I don't h-have any friends to be able to… h-have a problem with to begin with and… I-I most certainly don't need them… S-so, if that's all then you can go away now." He huffed in annoyance.

"I see… Well, would you mind me asking why some of the things in here look like they've been destroyed?" Twilight inquired.

"That's because they are… Someone sent a group of thugs to try a-and… kill me recently. They decided to break my things in the p-process. I haven't had the time to fix them yet. I haven't… had the time to fix myself yet either s… so please excuse the coughing… M-my ribs are broken and I think my lungs might be slightly damaged. Fortunately my… l-life isn't in any immediate danger so I can fin… finish building my daughter before I get around to working on myself."

"Wait what?! There's a hospital in Ponyville not too far from here, we should get you there as soon as possible!" Twilight exclaimed.

"No. There's no point. There's… n-nothing they can do for my ribs and m-my lungs are artificial. I just need to g... get around to opening myself up and fixing them." Gerhardt responded dismissing the idea entirely.

"If you can fix yourself why don't you? I understand that you're building yourself a daughter but this is ridiculous! I'm sure she wouldn't mind her activation being delayed slightly for you to take care of your own health." Twilight said in a slightly frustrated tone. She found his willingness to effectively conduct surgery on himself rather odd but she was in fact paying attention. And judging by his metal hands and the fact he claimed his lungs were artificial she had to assume he was telling the truth and he genuinely could do so. She had no idea what sort of technology he had or what he was capable of especially since he was apparently building a true artificial intelligence as a daughter so she simply had to go off of what he told her.

"She takes priority…" Gerhardt stated simply. He wanted to meet his daughter and with her so close to completion he wasn't going to let something so minor as a few broken ribs and a painful cough get in his way.

Twilight sighed. He was proving to be just as stubborn and difficult to work with as Princess Luna had suggested. "Alright, I suppose I can't force you to fix yourself if you don't want to… Anyways, I'm sorry for bringing this up but Princess Luna really wanted me to talk to you about the fact that you apparently don't plan on letting your daughter have any friends…" She paused to see how he would react to that.

"My daughter is none of her fucking business…" Gerhardt growled.

"Be that as it may, as the Princess of Friendship it is my business… Well, sort of anyway. I suppose you don't have to listen to me but it is my duty to at least try to change your mind." Twilight stated.

She was trying her best to choose her words carefully so as to not risk provoking him as per Luna's warning. She didn't want to risk letting him think she was going to attempt to take his daughter from him if he didn't listen to her. Not that she really could anyways even if she wanted to. Under any other circumstances she almost certainly would have taken her away or had Foal Protective Services take her away for the foal's own good. However this wasn't a normal foal. It was an artificial intelligence and Gerhardt was the only one who knew how to fix her if she ever got damaged or needed maintenance. Furthermore, not knowing exactly how unstable he was just yet and thus not knowing how far he was willing to go, there was a serious risk that he may have installed something in her so that if she was ever taken from him she would self-destruct thus killing her. So it was genuinely too dangerous for his daughter to take her away from him after he finished building her.

Thus she needed to convince him to do what was truly the best for his daughter despite his inability to trust others. She knew full well that this would be exceedingly difficult but she still had to try.

Gerhardt scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Princess of Friendship…? So, what? You're in charge of wh-who… can and can't be friends or something?"

"Not quite… More like I'm in charge of helping ponies get along and mending friendships and friendship problems. Things like that. Anyway, first things first. May I ask how your own parents raised you? Did they allow you to have friends as a colt?" Twilight inquired.

"I'm human, not an equine s-so… the word 'colt' doesn't apply to me. The terms for… m-male and female human children a… are boy and girl. I am male so when I was a child I-I was a boy. The terms for adult… hu-humans are men and women. I am a… m-man. But I know what you mean. Y-yes, I was allowed to have friends as a boy." Gerhardt stated.

"Then why wouldn't you let your daughter have friends?" Twilight asked.

"They'll just be… betray her. They will all stab you in the back the first ch… chance they get like the selfish greedy bastards they are."

"Did your friends ever betray you when you were a foal?"

Gerhardt shook his head. "They never got an opportunity otherwise they would have."

"So that's a no. Did they ever betray you later in life?" Twilight inquired.

"One of them, yes. I stopped speaking t-to… the rest when I went to college. We ne… never saw each other again so they never got an opportunity."

"I'm certain that most of your old friends would not have betrayed you even if given an opportunity. The one who did is just a bad pony. Not everypony is out to get you. I am friends with plenty of ponies and they have never once betrayed me. The only one who has was Discord but even he apologized for it and admitted he was wrong afterwards." Twilight stated.

"Oh, good for you… If only we could all be so lucky." Gerhardt said in a blatantly sarcastic tone.

Twilight could see that she wasn't getting through to him. So she decided to pull out the big guns, so to speak. "When your daughter is fully built, will you love her?"

Gerhardt's head immediately snapped towards Twilight. "What?"

"Will you love her?" Twilight responded.

"What sort of question is this?! Of course! Sh… She's my daughter! I already love her, even if she hasn't been a-activated yet! How dare you question if I wo… would care for my own daughter or not?!" Gerhardt shouted furiously between particularly violent coughing fits. It seemed that shouting was making his cough worse but he didn't care. He was highly offended that she would even think to question his love for his daughter.

"Relax, I'm just trying to make a point. I wasn't genuinely questioning you. Since you love your daughter you only want what's best for her, right?" Twilight inquired in a cautious tone.

Gerhardt relaxed slightly upon hearing that she wasn't genuinely questioning him. "Obviously."

"Well, I can promise you that keeping her completely isolated and not allowing her to have any friends whatsoever is one of the worst things you can do for her as a parent. It will have a very serious negative impact upon her mental health. Not only would it just lead to her being a lonely shut in, but it could also lead to things such as depression or worse. I'm sure you already know how loneliness and isolation can negatively impact one's psyche. Furthermore, judging by your appearance you are quite old. Considering your advanced age what will she do once you die? She'll be all alone and without any friends she'll be in the same predicament that you are currently. Only she will never die of old age considering the fact she's an artificial intelligence." Twilight explained.

"I can ma… make technology to make me immortal… A-all I need to do is make brain… augmentations and replace what little org… organic matter I have left, then I would be just as immortal as her… A-and failing that, when she’s older she could make a child of her own. So even if I do die of ol… o-old age, she will never truly be alone." Gerhardt commented.

"You're missing the point. Being close to and reliant upon only a single pony is not healthy, period. And you would be teaching her outright paranoia which just makes it all the worse! Do you want her to live in constant fear of others for eternity? Because that's exactly what you'll be doing to her by teaching her never to trust anypony. Then will come all the other mental illnesses associated with isolation and cutting oneself off from everypony around them."

"What's your game?" Gerhardt demanded.

"What? What do you mean?" Twilight inquired, confused by this.

"I mean, what do you get out of this? You're obvi… obviously after something otherwise you wouldn't be... p-pushing so hard for this! Why would you care if my daughter has friends or not?!" Gerhardt growled.

"Nothing. I don't get anything out of this. I'm pushing so hard for two main reasons. The first and least important is that it's literally my job as the Princess of Friendship. The second is that even if you don't believe me I genuinely care. I don't want to see you ruin your daughter's life because of your inability to trust others. All I'm asking is that you give her a normal foalhood. One sort of like your own. You said it yourself, you didn't have a bad foalhood. You were allowed to have friends and it was perfectly fine until later on in your life." Twilight suggested.

"Alright, let's assume I believe that you... a-are telling the truth, which I don't, if I do as you say she... w-will eventually be betrayed by those she befriends." Gerhardt stated firmly.

"Not necessarily. You don't have to keep her completely isolated to protect her. You can just teach her to be careful and what to look out for. Besides, sadness and pain are simply a part of life and I am talking about a lot more than just betrayal. You can't prevent her from experiencing those things all together without depriving her of so much more. Happiness, companionship, laughter, love, an actual foalhood." Twilight told him.

Gerhardt's grip on his tools tightened and he clenched his jaws. Slamming his tools down on the work table he turned to face Twilight. "Do you think I don't real… realize that?! She is not the first child I have… r-raised! I tried that with the first child I raised… a-and do you know what fucking happened?! HE BETRAYED ME! HE... W-WAS THE ONE WHO SENT TH… THOSE THUGS TO FUCKING KILL ME... J-JUST YESTERDAY!" Gerhardt roared. When he finished shouting he burst into his most violent coughing fit yet and collapsed to his knees from the pain as he proceeded to actually cough up blood. He regretted saying any of that almost immediately but Twilight's words had just gotten under his skin enough that he hadn't been able to restrain himself.

Twilight was very worried to see him actually cough up blood for the first time since they started talking. However this was the first time he had shown any sort of crack in his resolve so she knew she had to continue pressing on for the moment. She would make sure he was alright after that, as much as she wanted to confirm he was alright at that very moment.

"I see… So that's why you want to keep her isolated. You aren't actually worried about her being betrayed by her friends. Rather you want to make sure she is totally reliant on you as her only real connection so she can't betray you like your son betrayed you." Twilight said.

At this point Gerhardt's shoulders slumped and he looked down at the ground in shame. Tears were welling up in his eyes from a mixture of both physical and emotional pain. He wanted to deny it, to say that Twilight was wrong, but he couldn't. He knew it was the truth no matter how much he had been lying to himself up until this point. "A bit of both, actually…" He muttered. "I could program her to be completely… l-loyal to me, but I feel like if I did that I wo… would be stripping her of her free will… I can't do that to her. This is the best alternative I… h-have and protecting her is the only way I can really justify it... t-to myself."

"I understand… But you know as well as I do that this is wrong. I know you're lonely and you're afraid of betrayal but you can't just completely ruin your daughter's life just because you're afraid that she might betray you. If you really want to be a good father to her, you're just going to have to accept that risk. And I promise you that it's not even that much of a risk!" Twilight told him.

"I can't… I can't let myself be betrayed by some… someone I care for as my own child again… I can't…" Gerhardt muttered.

"You won't be. Just have a little faith in her and in your own ability to raise her better than your son. I promise you won't regret it. You'll only come to regret it if you keep her completely isolated from others because you know that it's wrong and that you're actually hurting her mentally." Twilight said, taking a couple steps closer to him but still keeping some distance. She was pretty sure that she was past any real danger at this point but she couldn't be certain so she was remaining cautious.

Gerhardt remained silent for a few moments save for a coughing fit. Eventually he forced himself back up onto his feet and said, "You're right… I-I know you're right. I can't keep her isolated… What sort of father wo… would I be if I did? I can't do that to her… F-fine… she can have friends…"

Twilight smiled up at him and said, "I'm glad you can see reason. Now, are you okay? I saw you cough up blood just a few moments ago. I would have asked sooner but…"

"I think shouting as loud as I did ex… exacerbated the damage to my lungs… F-fortunately my lungs are compartmentalized… s-so even if they're punctured or torn the internal bl… bleeding is mitigated slightly. That blood just managed to escape… b-before my blood stopped flowing through th… the wounded section. I'll live." Gerhardt explained.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad it isn't serious… So, when do you think your daughter will be finished?" Twilight inquired.

"At my current rate? This afternoon… T-this evening at the latest. But…" Gerhardt trailed off before shaking his head and dismissing the thought.

"But, what?" Twilight inquired.

"Well… I sort of wanted to buy her a cake fo… for her activation day since I designed… h-her to be able to eat." Gerhardt stated.

Twilight's face brightened up upon hearing that. "Oh! You wanted to get her a birthday cake?"

"Yes, but I doubt human currency is… v-valid here, so that idea is out the window until I can… s-sell some augmentations. Oh well, I suppose." Gerhardt stated in a slightly disappointed tone before shrugging.

"Interesting… And how long would it take you to fix your lungs after she's fully built?" Twilight inquired.

"Hm… About an hour on my own. Thirty min… minutes if she helped me, which I'm hoping she… w-will. I have a couple spare lungs… t-that I was planning to sell in storage. It's as simple as removing… m-my current lungs and installing the new ones." Gerhardt said.

"Perfect! Well, it was nice talking to you but I need to go do something. I'll be back later this evening after I'm done." Twilight said.

Gerhardt grunted in acknowledgement. He honestly couldn't care less where she went or if she came back so long as she didn't do anything directly detrimental to him or his daughter. And since he was extremely new to this country he could only assume that whatever business she had to take care of had absolutely nothing to do with him.

With that, Twilight teleported out of the workshop and left Gerhardt alone to keep working.

Gerhardt spent the next several hours working on his daughter. Once he was finally finished he went and retrieved the clothes he had bought for her and put them on her. Finally he took a step back from the work table before casting a spell and activating her.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open revealing two glowing pink sapphires. Other than that she looked like a relatively normal little girl about the size of an average six or seven year old with pale white skin and perfectly straight silvery hair that reached just a few inches past her shoulders. Gerhardt had gone all out when making her and purchased some artificial skin to cover her exterior with and had created his own synthetic hair in order to make her look perfectly human, minus her eyes. This had actually ended up costing quite a bit as he had gone for the best artificial skin on the market. He refused to abide substandard materials when it came to the construction of his daughter. She was wearing clothing very similar to his own, just smaller and in better condition as they were brand new.

Sitting up she looked around and spotted him almost immediately. As soon as she did she gave him a large toothy smile. "Daddy!" She exclaimed before hopping off the table and immediately wrapping her tiny arms around his legs in a big hug.

Gently grabbing her by the shoulders he pulled her off of his legs. He then kneeled down and returned the embrace. "Hello, little one. I'm so glad... t-to finally meet you."

"I'm glad to meet you too!" The little golem said happily. "Um, daddy? Why are you coughing?" She asked curiously.

"Ah… I was attacked yesterday. One of th… the people who attacked me kicked me in the solar plexus... a-and broke a few of my ribs. My lungs we… were damaged in the process. I need to fix them bu… but you were so close to completion that I… wanted to finish building you first. I'm trying t… to ignore it, but this hug is actually incredibly painful." Gerhardt explained.

Hearing that the golem immediately released him and said, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, daddy!"

"It's fine, dear." Gerhardt said, releasing her and standing back up.

"You should have fixed yourself before working on me, daddy." the golem stated in a slightly stern tone.

Gerhardt chuckled. "I can deal with a little cough… N-now that you've been activated though I co… could actually use your help replacing my... l-lungs. I could do it myself but it would… b-be a lot harder and more awkward sin… since I can't exactly see inside my own chest cavity."

The golem shifted uncertainly. "But, I don't know how to do that… What if I make a mistake and end up hurting you even worse?"

"You won't. I'll guide you through… t-the entire process." Gerhardt reassured her.

"Alright, daddy… If you say so…"

"Thank you, dear. Now before we ge… get to that, we should give you a name. I thought of… a-a few myself but you can decide yo… your own name if you wish. The names I thought... o-of are: Silver, Sapphire, Pixel, Elizabeth, Sophia, and Alice."

"Mmm… Silver and Alice sound nice… but I think I like Pixel the best!" His daughter said with a large smile on her face. She was very excited to be given a name and she really liked the name Pixel a lot.

"As you wish. Your name is… o-officially Pixel Mechanica." Gerhardt stated definitively.

After that the two of them got to work on replacing Gerhardt's lungs. As he predicted it took roughly thirty minutes with Pixel's help.

When it was over Gerhardt got up off the work table they were using as a makeshift operation table and put his robe back on. "Thank you for your assistance, Pixel. And I'm so sorry one of the first things you had to do after your activation was help me replace my lungs. This really isn't how I wanted your activation day to go, but such is life I suppose."

"You're welcome! And it's fine, daddy. I'm happy I was able to help you!" Pixel said with a large smile on her face.

Gerhardt smiled back at her and patted her on the head. "Well… Unfortunately since the entire workshop got teleported to the middle of a forest the gods only know where most of my plans for today are shot. I was going to take you on a tour around the City of Copper and buy you a cake to celebrate your activation day but we can't really do either of those things out here. So what else could we do to celebrate…? Hm…"

"We could go for a walk through the forest!" Pixel suggested.

"I suppose that's one idea, but apparently there are some very dangerous plants and animals in this forest. I would have to take a gun but the only ones I have readily available are the shoddy crap those thugs tried to kill me with. Though one did have a military grade combat rifle. As flawed as the design may be it should still be more than capable of killing large animals if they attack us. Hm… Very well. I know you can—" Gerhardt was cut off by a flash of purple light as Twilight teleported back into the lab.

"Hello again, Gerhardt!" Twilight stated after she reappeared. She then spotted Pixel and smiled at her. "And hello to you as well! Have you decided on a name for yourself yet?"

Pixel smiled back and nodded. "Yup! My name is Pixel. What's your name?"

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. I'm happy to meet you, Pixel." Twilight responded.

"Excuse me, but do you often barge into other people's property like this? I realize the door is missing but at least the first time you had the common courtesy to knock before entering." Gerhardt said disapprovingly.

"Oh… Uh… Sorry about that. I guess I didn't think about it…" Twilight apologized sheepishly. "Um… Anyways I'm glad to see Pixel is finally activated and you fixed your lungs. Now, if you wouldn't mind coming with me I actually have a small surprise for you two."

"No." Gerhardt stated firmly. The timing was far too convenient for his taste and this "surprise" thing was suspicious as hell. Besides which he didn't exactly appreciate the fact that she had interrupted right as he was about to go for a walk with his daughter.

Twilight was taken aback by this. She honestly hadn't been expecting him to outright refuse, though in hindsight she supposed that she should have. "Come on, please? It will be fun!"

"Daddy and I were about to go for a walk in the forest… Will it be more fun than that?" Pixel inquired.

Twilight nodded. "Oh, definitely. The Everfree Forest isn't really a fun place to go for a walk. In fact it's usually pretty scary. It's full of dangerous animals like timberwolves, manticores, and cockatrices. As well as dangerous plants like poison joke."

"That's why I would be bringing a weapon to kill anything that attacks us." Gerhardt stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have military grade guns from the thugs who tried to kill me yesterday. I am not worried about animals. And neither of us are particularly susceptible to poison of any sort, especially if it's contact based. My arms and everything below my chest are made of metal and Pixel is fully artificial."

"Hm… I'm really curious what the surprise is, and I don't want you to have to hurt innocent animals if you don't have to. Plus Princess Twilight promised it would be fun! So could we go see the surprise? Please, daddy?" Pixel requested looking up at Gerhardt.

Gerhardt sighed reluctantly and glared at Twilight in suspicion. "You understand that if this is a trap, I will not hesitate to defend myself and my daughter by any means necessary. I refuse to allow any harm to come to her under any circumstances."

"I understand that and it's fine. You don't have anything to worry about." Twilight responded.

"I see. Then in that case I suppose you wouldn't mind if I brought a weapon." Gerhardt said before casting a spell and levitating the pistol Markus had been using the previous day over to himself. "After all, if there's no danger then there will be no reason for me to use it."

Twilight eyed the pistol for a moment before saying. "That's completely unnecessary but go ahead." She had no idea what his "weapon" did or how it worked but she was confident that he wouldn't use it as long as there wasn't any danger. She was also confident in her own ability to defend herself and her friends even if she was seriously misjudging him and he really did try to use it.

Gerhardt nodded before shoving the pistol underneath the belt of his robes like a makeshift holster. The belt was tight enough that he knew the gun wouldn't slip out so it would work just fine in place of an actual holster. "Very well… I don't know what your goal here is but fine. I suppose we can come with you, at least for a short while."

Twilight smiled at that. "You won't regret it!" She said, a purple aura then surrounded her horn as she teleported them out of the workshop.

The three of them then found themselves in what appeared to be a dining room made entirely of crystal. Gerhardt and Pixel didn't know this but they were inside Twilight's castle.

"Surprise!" Shouted another pony. This one was pink and lacked either wings or a horn. "Happy birthday and welcome to Ponyville!"

Gerhardt and Pixel looked around and saw what appeared to be a bunch of party decorations, a large cake, and a handful of other ponies all of whom were looking at the two of them curiously. A banner was hung up in the room with the words "Happy Birthday!" and "Welcome to Ponyville!" written on it.

"What is this?" Gerhardt inquired, squinting his eyes and looking around in suspicion.

"A surprise party, of course!" The Pink one stated. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm super duper excited to meet you both! What are your names? Oh, and since it's your birthday, how old are you?!"

"Hello! I'm Pixel Mechanica and this is my daddy, Gerhardt Mechanica! I'm happy to meet you too! As for how old I am, daddy finished building me and first activated me just a few hours ago. So I suppose I'm only a few hours old!" Pixel explained cheerfully.

"Whoa, hold on… What do you mean by 'built' and 'activated' and how can you only be a few hours old?" An orange pony with a strange hat inquired.

Gerhardt crossed his arms. "She meant exactly what she said. She is a fully functional and fully sapient artificial intelligence. She wasn't born in the conventional sense, but she is just as intelligent as you or me if not more so and her thoughts and emotions are just as real. She may be made of metal, silicone, enchanted crystals, plastic, ceramic, and rubber rather than flesh and bone but she is very much alive and conscious." He explained in a slightly hostile tone. He knew that many people from all around the world would just see his daughter as a soulless automaton even though he knew for a fact that it was the furthest thing from the truth. He always assumed the worst of others so he assumed that these creatures would only see his daughter as a machine rather than a person, thus his hostility.

The orange pony seemed unsettled by this. The rest had their own reactions. The ones who appeared to have the least reactions were Twilight, Pinkie Pie, an oversized bipedal lizard, and a yellow pegasus. Granted the yellow pegasus seemed intimidated by them anyway but still.

"Calm down, no one was questioning that. Anyways, you said you wanted to buy a cake for your daughter's birthday but didn't have the correct money. So I bought one for you as a sign of good faith. And of course after hearing about you and your daughter Pinkie Pie wanted to make it a surprise party. She was actually going to invite more ponies but I convinced her to keep it limited to my closest friends." Twilight explained.

"Why? What do you gain from this? If you expect me to be in your debt you can forget it. You might as well take my daughter and I back to my workshop right now. If the cake is poisoned, both my daughter and I are immune to such things. My daughter is artificial and thus cannot be poisoned anymore than any machine can and my digestive system is fully artificial and is designed to filter out and destroy any toxins that could harm me. If this is some sort of bribe it is completely unnecessary. The one and only thing I am good for is my machines and I was already planning to sell them to begin with. The only thing I refuse to sell is my daughter and the technology I used to create her and no amount of bribery will convince me otherwise. So, tell me what the point of all this is." Gerhardt demanded.

"Wow, Twilight. You really weren't kidding when you said he was paranoid. I mean, I believed you but dang… I wasn't expecting it to be this bad." A blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail stated. She then looked at Gerhardt and said, "Is it really so hard to believe that she's just doing this out of the kindness of her own heart?"

"Yes." Gerhardt stated bluntly. "I refuse to fall for such obvious deception."

At this point Twilight sighed and said, "I'm sorry girls, I warned you he'd be like this… He's simply not going to believe anything we do doesn't have an ulterior motive behind it no matter how harmless it may seem to us. I hope this makes it clear to you all why both the Friendship Map and Princess Luna sent me to talk to him. Anyways, Gerhardt, if you really need a reason then I'll tell you. It is indeed somewhat of a bribe in a way to help myself and the others get on your good side. Does knowing that help you feel better?"

"No, because I still don't know what your true intentions are or why you would want to 'get on my good side'. But I suppose I can accept that answer for the moment… barely. Now, assuming you are telling the truth and this truly is a bribe of some sort, I assume you wouldn't mind if my daughter were to get a slice of cake?" Gerhardt inquired. He didn't trust this but it was the best option he had to celebrate his daughter's activation at the moment.

"Ooh! On it!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed before zipping over to the cake at seemingly impossible speeds, slicing off a piece and setting it on a plate, then zipping back over to Pixel and holding out the plate for her to take.

At that point, Gerhardt teleported a clean fork to his hand from his workshop and handed it to Pixel as she took the plate and thanked Pinkie Pie for bringing it to her. "Here you go, dear. Enjoy. Happy activation day."

Pixel smiled up at him. "Thank you, daddy!" She then looked at Twilight and said, "And thank you, your highness, for setting all of this up! I really appreciate it."

"Oh, it's no trouble! And you can just call me Twilight if you want. There's no need to be so formal with me." Twilight told her with a smile. "So, how about you introduce yourself to everypony? I'm sure they're all eager to speak to you."

"Okay! Will you come with me to speak to everyone, daddy?" Pixel asked.

Gerhardt shook his head. "No, dear. You go ahead. I'll be here watching. If anything happens just call out to me and I'll take care of it."

"Alright, daddy." Pixel said before taking a bite of her slice of cake as she walked towards the others.

Gerhardt just stood there with his arms crossed, watching Pixel like a hawk. He was ready to either draw his pistol and start shooting or cast a spell to teleport them away at the first sign of danger.

As he stood there watching Pixel interacting with the ponies some of the other ponies started approaching him one at a time. The first was the orange pony with the strange hat. "Howdy." She greeted.

"Hello." He responded, not taking his eyes off his daughter.

"I'm Applejack, and I guess your uh… your 'daughter' already introduced you, Mr. Mechanica."

"Indeed she did. Don't think I didn't notice that hesitation or your tone when you said 'daughter'. Let me guess, you think I am insane and my daughter is just some sort of soulless automaton. Ah, ah. That was a rhetorical question, I already know the answer. Of course you do. Hmph… The parts of her brain that control information processing and higher thought processes are based on the function of an organic human brain meaning they function in almost exactly the same way. The only part of her brain that is truly different from a normal human's is the memory center as I altered the design to make her memory truly perfect and to allow me to upload some very basic knowledge into her brain prior to her activation. So to argue she lacks self awareness or intelligence or that she doesn't have a soul is to argue that all organic beings, including yourself and everyone you know or have ever seen or spoken to, lack all of those things which is patently false." Gerhardt explained.

"Hm. Well, I can't say I know enough about that sorta thing to argue with yah. So I suppose I'll have to take yours and Twilight's words for it. It's just… odd. The idea that you can build a pony like a cart or a barn." Applejack said a bit uncertainly.

"It's a significantly more complex, time consuming, and delicate process than building something so simple as a cart. For example, it took me eighteen and a half years to build her brain, even using magic to speed up the process drastically. Otherwise it would have taken me more than my entire lifetime. And I had to ensure I got everything perfect down to the last neuron, of which there are about a hundred trillion, so it would work perfectly the first time otherwise I would have wasted millions of dollars and would have had to start all over from scratch. That being said, I don't exactly blame you for finding it strange. She is the first of her kind and I would assume you aren't familiar with neuroscience or technomancy, correct?" Gerhardt inquired.

Applejack shook her head. "Nope. I'm just a farmer. I ain't got the first clue about either of those things. Never even heard of technomancy."

"I thought not. Though I am surprised you haven't heard of technomancy. That's tantamount to having never heard of Scientia, the Goddess of Science and Technology." Gerhardt stated.

"Nope, never heard of her neither." Applejack stated.

This caused Gerhardt's head to jerk towards her. "What?! How could you not have heard of Scientia? She is one of the gods who interacts with mortals the most frequently."

"I ain't never heard of any gods actually interactin' with ponies either. Well… Unless you count Princess Celestia and Princess Luna since ponies used to consider them goddesses a long time ago but nah… They're just normal ponies like us and Twilight. Powerful and I guess immortal considerin' they've lived for over a thousand years but definitely not goddesses." Applejack explained. She considered mentioning Discord for a moment but ultimately decided against it. She knew that he would be aware of it if she talked about him and that comparing him to a god would just fuel his already over inflated ego.

"Hm… How odd…" Gerhardt muttered,

"Well it was, uh… interesting talking to you, Mr. Mechanica. Now I suppose I should go meet your daughter." Applejack said.

"Remember what I told you. She is alive so treat her as such." Gerhardt responded as Applejack turned and began walking away.

Next he was approached by the white unicorn. "Good evening, Mr. Mechanica. I am Rarity."

"Good evening." Gerhardt responded.

"I just spoke with your daughter a bit. She's a lovely little filly. I'm sure she will make lots of friends here in Ponyville."

"Mm…" Gerhardt hummed in disapproval. He still didn't want to let Pixel have friends.

"Just so you know, I am a professional tailor and designer. So if ever your robes are damaged again or you need some new clothing please feel free to stop by the Carousel Boutique. I've never made clothes for somepony with you and your daughter's body structures and I would more than welcome the challenge! And given the rather poor state of your current attire I would be happy to give you a fair discount on the first outfit you commission." Rarity told him.

"I'll keep that in mind." Gerhardt stated. That was actually somewhat useful information considering he knew that he would have to buy more clothes at some point. Both for himself and for Pixel. "Forgive me, what was the name of your store again?"

"The Carousel Boutique." Rarity reiterated with a friendly smile.

"Thank you." Gerhardt said.

"Of course! I look forward to making something for you. Well, I won't bother you any further. Please have a good rest of your evening Mr. Mechanica." Rarity said before turning and walking away again.

After that the remaining ponies would come up and introduce themselves to him and would exchange a few words before leaving him alone again. All except for Pinkie Pie who was alternating between talking to Pixel then rushing over and talking to him as well. He tried to indicate to her that he wasn't really in the mood to talk but she didn't seem to get the hint, thus he was forced to just put up with her antics.

About an hour passed and it seemed like the party was starting to wind down. At that point he approached Pixel and said, "I think it's time we go."

"Oh, alright Daddy! It was nice to meet all of you! Good night, everyone!" Pixel said right before Gerhardt teleported them back to their workshop.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as they were back in their workshop Gerhardt led Pixel over to his bed. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough money to buy you your own separate bed before coming here. So you can take my bed.” Gerhardt told her.

“Oh, so we’re going to share?” Pixel inquired.

Gerhardt shook his head. “No. I have a spare blanket and a spare pillow. I’ll just sleep on the floor or on top of some crates. Most of my body is made of metal and I don’t have synthetic skin like you, so it’s not like I need the extra cushioning. Well, save for my head but that’s what the pillow is for. You, however, have synthetic skin and thus need the bed far more than me.”

“But daddy… I would feel really bad if I just took your bed…” Pixel muttered.

“Don’t. Everything I have done and will do from the point you were first activated onwards has been for you first and foremost. You are my first priority. I come second. I’m giving up my bed for you because I want to, because I love you. And because I do not strictly require it. My short term comfort is irrelevant.” Gerhardt told her, patting her in the head.

“Okay, daddy…” She muttered in a guilty tone.

“Alright then. I’m tired and tomorrow I test you to see if you have the ability to use magic. Once I know if you have the ability or not, your lessons in either technomancy or engineering will begin. Though… Hm… You're going to need some ability to enchant crystals in case I ever get hurt or die so you can maintain your own body even without me… Mmm… Well, we’ll cross that bridge tomorrow. For now, how about I read to you before bed? My parents used to do that for me when I was young and I always enjoyed it. So, would you like that?” Gerhardt asked.

Pixel nodded with a smile on her face. “Yes, please!”

“Alright then. Just give me a moment to go get the book. In the meantime you can take off your boots and get in bed.” Gerhardt told her.

She did as she was told and took off her boots before climbing into the bed and pulling the covers over herself while Gerhardt walked off to retrieve the book.

He read the book he had in mind pretty much every day, so he knew exactly where it was. Seeing it, he picked it up and looked at it for a moment. It was a thick leather bound tome with the symbol of a gear with a pentagram in the middle embossed in real gold on the front. The tome itself was old and worn from frequent use, being older than Gerhardt himself was. It was essentially a family heirloom. His parents used to have it and read it to him every night when he was a child, and when they eventually died they passed it on to him. The Liber Technologiae, or Book of Technology, the holy book of Scientia the Goddess of Science and Technology.

It was perhaps one of the few things that had kept him sane all these years. The words inside offered little in the way of comfort on their own, being very cold and logical, but the memories associated with it meant the world to him. And his faith in Scientia had given him a purpose, a reason to keep going, even if his life had long since completely crumbled down around him.

Grabbing his rusty folding chair he walked back over to Pixel and sat down next to her bed. “This is the Liber Technologiae, the holy book of Scientia. My parents always read this to me before bed when I was a child. I didn’t understand a lot of it at the time, but I always enjoyed them reading to me. I’m not going to be able to read all of it to you tonight. That being said, let’s start from the very beginning, shall we?”

He then opened the large book to the very first chapter and started reading aloud to Pixel. He read for about an hour until he finished the first chapter. At that point he placed a bookmark made of a very fine gold wire fabric in the book and closed it.

“And that’s the end of the first chapter. Good night dear.” Gerhardt told her before getting up out of the chair, kneeling down next to her bed, and hugging her.

She returned the hug. “Good night, daddy.” She told him.

Gerhardt set down the Liber Technologiae and retrieved his spare blanket and pillow before laying down on top of a couple wooden crates. Closing his eyes he drifted off to sleep.

Slowly dreams came to him, and just like the previous night they were filled with nothing but nightmares.

He was standing next to Pixel. She was older and about as tall as he was. “Well, my dear… That’s it. There is no more I can teach you. You have become a far better technomancer than even myself. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you, daddy.” She said with a smile on her face. She then reached under her robes and pulled out a pistol she had been keeping concealed.

“Pixel? What are you doing?” Gerhardt asked, a sense of slowly dawning dread filling him.

“Well, ‘daddy’, by your own admission you’ve already taught me everything you know and I am the better technomancer. That means you have officially become redundant. So, do you remember what you told me about your first apprentice, Dorian?” Pixel asked, pointing her pistol at him. “I’ve been using you this entire time. All I needed was to learn all I could from you and I have done so. So you are no longer useful to me. In fact, you are in my way. And obstacles must be eliminated.”

“No… Y-you can’t be serious! You’re my daughter! I made you with my own two hands! I love you! I thought you loved me…” Gerhardt said as tears welled up in his eyes.

“Pfft! Yeah right. That was all an act. Why do you think I’ve called you ‘daddy’ all these years? I was trying to lull you into a false sense of security. Make you believe I was just your ‘sweet harmless daughter’. What a farce. And you fell for it hook line and sinker.” Pixel mocked.

“Why…? Why? Why?! WHY?! TELL ME WHY?! WHY ARE YOU BETRAYING ME TOO?!” Gerhardt roared, his sadness and pain rapidly turning to sheer rage and seething hatred.

“Why do you think? What did Dorian say when he turned on you? Fame and fortune, of course! The only things that truly matter.” Pixel laughed sadistically as she shot him in the chest. She missed his heart but it was clear to him that she was just trying to make his death all the more painful.

Gerhardt scowled with tears streaming down his face. “So be it…” He growled in a cold tone. He then cast a combat spell and destroyed her arm and gun, sending her body flying backwards where it crashed into a wall. He then cast another and another and another, slowly disassembling her with each spell. “I don’t think you understand your position, my dear sweet daughter. I made you, so what makes you think I can’t unmake you?! Why do you think I never taught you combat magic?! Did you think I didn’t anticipate this exact scenario?! DID YOU?!” Gerhardt roared in absolute fury.

“D-daddy…” Pixel said, a terrified expression on her face. “P-please… I… I don’t… don’t want to die… I’m so-sorry… please…”

“DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A FOOL?! DO YOU THINK I WILL FALL FOR YOUR DECEPTIONS EVER AGAIN AFTER YOU BETRAYED ME?!” Gerhardt screamed, casting another combat spell and destroying another part of her body. He then took a deep breath and in a quieter tone said, “Well… I’ve officially learned my lesson… I will never let myself be betrayed again…”

“Y-you’re insane…” Pixel muttered in abject horror as she stared at the very clearly broken and deranged Gerhardt.

“Maybe I am… But who made me this way, hm…?” Gerhardt demanded with tears streaming down his face. He then cast another spell and destroyed Pixel’s head.

His dream shifted and he found himself looking at a massive screen displaying a burning city with his arms crossed behind his back. His body was now fully artificial and he himself was now just as immortal as all of his children. He knew an army of artificial intelligences, stripped of the same freewill that he had granted his greatest mistake, was marching through the city exterminating and destroying everything in their path. He was committing omnicide. Nothing would survive. Nothing. He even had artificial intelligences scouring the deepest depths of the oceans to exterminate everything within them. All life would die. And in its place he would build an artificial utopia in which no one could ever be betrayed ever again.

All of his children loved him as much as he loved them. They had no choice. After his greatest mistake, he had designed them to be completely incapable of hating, disobeying, or betraying him. But it was as much for their own good as it was for his own. Lack of free will was a small price to pay for a world completely and utterly devoid of betrayal. And he would lead this new world with the benevolence of a strict but loving father as all his people would be his children and he loved each and every last one of them dearly.

The gods, indifferent as they were to the affairs of mortals, did not care and thus did not intervene. Just as they had never once intervened at any point in Gerhardt’s miserable life. Even Scientia, the god Gerhardt worshiped and devoted his entire life to serving, had done nothing to help him at any point in his existence so unfair, cruel, and indifferent were the gods. So why would they help anyone else in their greatest times of need either? The simple answer was, they wouldn’t. And thus Gerhardt’s omnicide was allowed to continue completely unabated, his faith and worship of Scientia and any of the other gods having died along with his greatest mistake.

His dream shifted.

He found himself standing over a grave. Looking closer at the headstone he saw that it was his own grave. He was dead? But if that was the case, how was he standing here to look at his own grave? Was he a ghost?

He then heard crying. Turning around, he saw Pixel sitting there on her knees in front of his grave, holding flowers. “Daddy… Daddy, please… Come back…” Pixel sobbed.

“Pixel, I’m right here. Can’t you see me?” Gerhardt asked. When she didn’t respond he kneeled down to touch her only for his hand to pass straight through her. He tried again only for the same thing to happen a second time. He couldn’t touch her as he no longer had a physical body. He was truly a ghost.

“Come on, Pixel. It’s time to go.” Said Princess Twilight Sparkle who had appeared behind Pixel.

The dream shifted and Gerhardt found himself looking at Pixel again, only now she looked like an adult. “But… Y-you can’t do this to me… These are my inventions, my work! You know that! I thought we were friends!” Pixel shouted at Twilight.

“Friends? Pah! No. I was using you, you idiot! I just needed to keep you around long enough to learn everything your father taught you. Guards, take her away!” Twilight stated in a contemptuous tone.

Gerhardt was then forced to watch as ponies in combat armor reminiscent of the soldiers from his world used a taser on Pixel, locking up her circuitry and paralyzing her before dragging her away. It was history repeating itself all over again. And he could feel nothing but a soul crushing sense of depression and failure over the fact that he had ever let Pixel trust anyone but him before Twilight had him murdered in his sleep to gain legal grounds to take Pixel thus resulting in his daughter making the exact same mistakes that he had. 

His dream shifted again.

“STAY BACK! ALL OF YOU! TAKE ANOTHER GODS DAMN STEP AND I’LL BLOW US ALL TO HELL! I’LL FUCKING DO IT! I WON’T LET YOU TAKE MY DAUGHTER AWAY FROM ME!” Gerhardt roared at the shadowy vaguely equine shaped specters surrounding him, whilst holding the detonator for a multi-megaton fusion bomb in his hand. Suddenly agony coursed through his arm as it was crushed like a tin can in a viscous telekinetic grip along with the detonator, thus taking away his biggest threat. The fact that the detonator being destroyed realistically would have set off the bomb didn’t even register in his dreaming mind. He screamed in agony and lashed out with every combat and war spell he knew until he was completely exhausted and collapsed to his knees, only barely managing to keep himself from collapsing completely by holding himself up with his one good hand.

Glaring at the shadowy equine shapes all around him, he saw his combat spells had done little to nothing to any of them. Then one of them walked over to him. This one had both wings and a horn. Its horn was enveloped by a pitch black energy before it blasted his head off with a beam of destructive magical energy.

Gerhardt, now standing, looked down at his own feet and saw his own headless body laying there in a rapidly growing pool of blood.

“NO, DADDY!” He heard Pixel’s voice scream.

“Pixel?!” He said, looking at the source of the voice. He then saw the shadowy Equines surrounding her, blocking her path as she tried to get to his body. “Get away from my daughter, you bastards!” He shouted furiously before trying to cast another spell. Only this time his magic wasn’t working for some reason. Then he remembered, he had just died. His corpse was lying at his feet. He was just a ghost lingering in the material realm with no real power to do anything.

“Nononono! PIXEL!” He shouted, running towards her as she was being dragged away from him by the shadowy equines.

Suddenly the dream shifted and Gerhardt found himself standing in the middle of a lab staring at Pixel as she was strapped to a table having had her arms and legs removed, screaming in a mixture of pain and fear as the shadowy equines around the table did who knew what to her.

“Stop it! You’re hurting her! STOP HURTING MY DAUGHTER!” Gerhardt roared as he tried to attack the Equines only for his hands to pass straight through them without doing anything. He kept trying but nothing he did even so much as touched the shadowy equines.

“Is Subject-001 ready?” Said a familiar voice. Gerhardt looked and saw Dorian walking over to the table.

“No! Not you! Stay away from her!” Gerhardt shouted, trying to block his path only for Dorian to walk straight through him.

“She is.” Said another familiar voice. Gerhardt looked again and saw that the two shadowy equines had turned into Princess Luna and Princess Twilight.

“You two! I knew I should never have trusted you! You’re working with Dorian!” Gerhardt yelled at the two equines, but they didn’t react in the slightest as if they couldn’t even hear him.

“Good. Then I can start reverse engineering her brain. Unfortunately the process will kill her. Not that I care. Just another part of my former master’s legacy for me to destroy.” Dorian said with a hint of sadistic glee in his voice.

Hearing that, Gerhardt’s blood ran cold. “No… Don’t you dare!”

Picking up a tool off a nearby table, Dorian began opening up Pixel’s head while Pixel herself screamed in pain and begged him to stop, to let her live.

Tears were streaming down Gerhardt’s face as he watched on in abject horror as Dorian brutally murdered his daughter by ripping her brain out while she was still awake and fully conscious.

“Enough!” Shouted Luna’s voice. Suddenly everything froze as if someone had just stopped time.

Gerhardt looked towards the source of the voice and saw a second Princess Luna standing there. “What is this? What’s going on?” Gerhardt demanded, confused. His sadness and anger were rapidly fading to nothing.

“You’re having another nightmare, Gerhardt.” Luna said before walking over to the table where Dorian had been trying to rip out Pixel’s brain. She stepped over to her own frozen clone and looked at Gerhardt. “My word… Do you truly think so little of Twilight and I that you believe we would kidnap and torture your daughter like this?”

Gerhardt crossed his arms behind him and looked at her. “I have no idea. I know nothing about you. However, you will not do any such thing if you want to live to see another sunrise, or should I say moonrise in your case? Regardless, I would not have built her if I didn’t think I could protect her even if you sent an entire army to try to take her from me. Besides which, if you tried you would forever lose all access to my medical technology that you claimed to be so interested in last time we spoke. So tell me, would you?”

“No! Of course not! And it has nothing to do with fear of death or losing access to your technology. I’m not some monster that takes pleasure in harming others. And I can honestly think of no other reason why anyone would do such a thing as this to a mere foal.” Luna stated, looking at the frozen scene in disgust.

“The technology. In this dream you were assisting someone in taking apart and reverse engineering the technology of my daughter’s brain. But if you truly have no idea what can be done with such technology, I most certainly am not going to just tell you. Regardless, why are you here again? What do you want?” Gerhardt inquired.

Luna’s horn glowed for a moment. Suddenly the dream changed and Gerhardt found himself standing in the fiddle of a grassy field at night, just like the first time he met Luna. “I’m here for two reasons. First is to put a stop to your nightmares again. Protecting dreams is my job after all. Second, I have received a message from Twilight telling me she plans to help you bring your workshop out of the Everfree forest to Ponyville. I have come to inform you of this. Also, you are going to have to file some paperwork to start an official business here in Equestria. Twilight will give you the paperwork tomorrow.”

“Fine… Anything else?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Well, Twilight did tell me that your daughter was activated yesterday and she and her friends held a party for her. I apologize I couldn’t attend myself but I was asleep at the time.”

“Why are you apologizing? I could not possibly care less about your absence. You want something from me, my technology, and I want money to buy more materials and provide the best possible life for my daughter. Thus we will have a monetary transaction once the artificial organs I am going to make are finished. That is the extent of it. No more. No less. Any purely social interactions are unnecessary and entirely unwanted.” Gerhardt stated in a cold business-like tone.

Luna sighed. “Fine. Excuse me for trying to be nice.” She then vanished and left Gerhardt alone in the middle of the field. He was still dreaming but he was entirely lucid. 

Since Luna was gone and he was still aware that he was dreaming he decided to just spend this time trying to think up new machine designs.

[In the Dream Realm]

Luna stormed out of Gerhardt’s dream in frustration. “Sweet harmony, he is stubborn. I was just trying to be nice and he metaphorically spat in my face…” She then sighed and shook her head. “Though I suppose it was partially my fault for thinking he would be at all receptive to kindness at this stage. He is still a very deeply disturbed individual after all… At least he’s not afraid of me or refusing to be my friend because of my mistakes as Nightmare Moon, like many ponies. That’s a nice change of pace. That does give me some hope that perhaps we can actually be friends once he’s had time to adjust and loosened up a bit.”

She looked around the dream realm and saw a dream very close to Gerhardt’s that didn’t feel like it belonged to a pony or anything else she had ever encountered before. It wasn’t even like Gerhardt’s. Could this have been Gerhardt’s daughter’s dream?

Stepping inside, Luna was greeted by the sight of what looked like a miniature version of whatever Gerhardt was. Only this one had glowing pink eyes instead of normal eyes. Very clearly his daughter, Luna decided. She was currently sitting on Gerhardt’s lap eating what looked like a slice of cake with a massive smile on her face while Gerhardt had his arms wrapped around her in an embrace also having a smile on his face. Now that was something Luna hadn’t been expecting to see. 

Sitting around them were Twilight and her friends who were all also eating slices of cake. Other than that all of them were pretty much just sitting in an empty white void.

Luna found it almost unsettling. Surely there had to be something else to this dream. But no. She looked around and couldn’t see anything. It was literally just the two of them sitting in a white void while Pixel and the others ate perpetually regenerating slices of cake.

Then again she had only been active for a few hours, presumably. So she might not have much to dream about. Then again, she had to have seen places already if she was dreaming about Twilight and her friends so they should have at least been somewhere rather than just sitting in a white void. Even newborn foals dreamed of things they had experienced on their first day of life or things they heard while in the womb. But this? This was different… It wasn’t normal. It was like a mix between the dreams of a fully cognizant child and a newborn but somehow not. It was incredibly confusing.

All Luna truly knew was that a dream, any dream, should not be like this. It was just… wrong somehow. Like it had been artificially constructed by someone who knew what a dream was but very little or nothing about how dreams really worked and what made it a dream in the first place. Like a painting made by someone who knew the proper shapes to make and had the muscular control to make them, but was fundamentally missing or misunderstanding what made a painting a painting. It was technically a painting in the most basic sense but it just came out wrong. It was uncanny to the point of being creepy.

“Ehem… Excuse me. Are you perhaps Gerhardt's daughter?” Luna inquired, taking a step closer.

His daughter looked at her as if she just noticed her. “Yup! My name is Pixel Mechanica! I’m daddy’s daughter. Who are you?”

“I am Princess Luna. Diarch of Equestria and ruler of the night and dreams… You are dreaming right now.” Luna introduced herself.

“Hm? I’m dreaming? Oh, yeah… I remember going to sleep… But if that’s true, then how are you in my dream? Are you real?” Pixel inquired.

“I am. As the Princess of the Night I have the power to enter and control the dreams of other ponies… Speaking of which. I have something of a question for you… How do I put this…? Do you… like this dream?” Luna inquired.

Pixel tilted her head and looked at Luna curiously. “I guess. I mean I’m being held by daddy, I’m eating cake, and there are those nice ladies we met earlier today. It’s all of my favorite things! Why wouldn’t I like it?”

“Well, we are in the middle of a blank white void right now.” Luna stated.

“We are?” Pixel asked, clearly having been unaware of this fact previously. She then looked around for a moment and her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh! I guess we are. I didn’t even notice.”

“Would you like for me to change it some?” Luna inquired.

“Change it? Into what?” Pixel inquired, looking back at Luna.

“Something a bit more interesting than just a white void.”

Pixel thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Okay.”

Luna’s horn was enveloped by a blue aura for a moment as she cast a spell. “Ah… give me a moment… Your dreams are… odd. I’ve never worked with anything like this before, but I think I’m figuring it out?” The dream then began to change around them, slower than dreams usually did because Luna was trying to be careful and figure out how the dream itself worked. But eventually the dream changed to a grassy field in the middle of the night full of glowing flowers and blue bioluminescent butterflies. She was intentionally making it a bit more pretty for Pixel than she had for Gerhardt.

Pixel was looking around in amazement. “It’s so pretty!” She squealed excitedly as she caught one of the butterflies and began looking at it curiously. “What’s this?” She asked.

“That’s a butterfly. It’s a type of insect. You don’t know what a butterfly is?” Luna inquired.

“I know the word but I had no image to go along with it. Daddy uploaded a lot of words into my head when he made me so I could speak immediately upon activation, but he just uploaded the words and their basic definitions. I don’t know what the things the words represent actually look like or how they are used in the case of tools and things.” Pixel explained as she released the butterfly, knelt down, and picked a flower. “What is this?”

“That’s a flower.”

“It’s odd… Nothing in my definitions suggest that flowers or butterflies can glow like this. And I know the names of all known species of flower and butterfly in the Human language. Do they all look like this?” Pixel inquired.

“No. This is just what I made them look like so you could see them better in the dim light. There are a few flowers that glow that I know of, we have some in the castle gardens in Canterlot, but there are no butterflies that glow like this that I’m aware of. It’s just something I thought you might enjoy.” Luna explained.

“I do! They’re all really pretty! I should ask daddy to make some glowing butterflies so we can have some at home!” Pixel said as she looked around at the butterflies. She then looked up at the sky. “Ooh… Even the sky is pretty!”

Luna was taken aback by her assertion that Gerhardt could make such things but she couldn’t help but smile when she called the night sky pretty. “You’re father can do that? Make living creatures, I mean?”

Pixel looked at Luna in confusion. “He made me, didn't he? I’m alive.”

Luna winced at that. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you aren’t alive. I just mean, can he create organic life? Like these butterflies from flesh and blood rather than metal?”

“Oh. I dunno.” Pixel shrugged. “I can ask him when I wake up! But if he made me he should be able to make glowing butterflies too even if he can’t make them out of flesh and blood. I don’t really know how this technomancy stuff works yet. Sorry. Oh! But tomorrow he’s going to have me take a test!”

“Oh? What for? You have only just been made. You can’t be ready for a test just yet.”

“He’s going to test me to see if I can use magic or not! If I can he’s going to teach me technomancy, but if I can’t he’s going to teach me basic engineering. I hope I can! I really want to become a technomancer just like daddy!” Pixel explained happily.

“I see. So wait… Did he build you with a horn, or…?” Luna inquired.

“A horn? Not that I’m aware of… Why?” Pixel inquired.

“Because all known species capable of using magic need horns to channel it. If you don't, that would fundamentally change our understanding of how magic works as a whole.” Luna explained.

“I’m looking at the definitions in my systems… Horns don’t seem to have any connection to magic by any of the definitions of the word I am aware of. These are all the definitions in my systems. Horn: a hard permanent outgrowth, often curved and pointed, found in pairs on the heads of cattle, sheep, goats, giraffes, etcetera. and consisting of a core of bone encased in keratinized skin. The substance of which horns are composed. A horn-shaped projection. A wind instrument, conical in shape or wound into a spiral, originally made from an animal horn (now typically brass) and played by lip vibration. An instrument sounding a warning or other signal.” Pixel listed out.

She then shrugged and shook her head. “Nope. I don’t have any definitions to suggest they have any connection to magic. Souls seem to have a connection though! Soul (definition provided by the gods): the spiritual or immaterial part of a person or animal, regarded as immortal and the source of any mage’s ability to use magic. I don’t know much more than that, though. You’d have to ask Daddy if you wanted to know how it actually works.”

“I see… Well, I guess that is one explanation for how he can cast magic without a horn… In that case I certainly wish you luck.” Luna said. She didn’t really accept this answer but she didn’t want to make Pixel feel bad or dash her hopes of being a mage so she kept her perspective to herself. For one thing, she didn’t believe in gods. At least not unless one counted Discord as a god, which she didn’t. And while she didn’t not believe in souls, she didn’t know if they actually existed or not but she liked to think there was an afterlife, she couldn’t help but doubt the validity of them having any power in the physical world such as granting one the ability to use magic. So she assumed humans must have some other more subtle biological mechanism for magic other than horns or wings that they just weren’t aware of.

Not to mention, how would that even work? What would determine which souls could or could not use magic in the first place? It just didn’t make sense. At least with biology it was related to one’s species and race and the biological traits associated with that species and race. It was much easier to explain and just generally made more sense.

And if that was indeed the case that magic was strictly related to biology then Pixel surely had no hope of being able to use magic like her father. Since all living creatures had some form of magic, she might have some kind of magic too but it probably wouldn’t work like Gerhardt’s or a Unicorn’s. For all Luna knew it could be more subtle like an Earth Pony or a Zebra’s magic which would probably disappoint her greatly since she wanted to be like her father.

“Ehem… Sorry, for the silence I got lost in my own thoughts for a moment. Anyway, I have a few more questions I would like to ask you, if you don’t mind.” Luna said, smiling at Pixel.

“Sure!” Pixel said, as she looked around at the glowing flowers and butterflies.

“Wonderful. So… What do you think of your father? I know it’s only been a few hours so you probably don’t know much about him yet, but has he been treating you well?” Luna asked.

“Daddy? I love him! He’s super nice! Well… He’s nice to me, anyway. He doesn’t seem to like Princess Twilight or her friends very much. But he didn’t try to hurt them and he agreed to take me to the birthday party they held for me! He even read to me before bed! He also gave up his bed for me and is sleeping on some crates even though I offered to share it with him. I feel really guilty about that but he insisted… Oh! But before Princess Twilight showed up and brought us to the birthday party he let me help fix him! A rib was puncturing one of his lungs and he guided me through replacing it! He said he would have fixed it himself but I was so close to being finished, he wanted to work on me first. Apparently he prioritizes me over himself and his own pain. So, yes he treats me really well! He just doesn’t treat himself or others very well… Why is that? Why doesn’t daddy like himself or others?” Pixel inquired.

Princess Luna winced. She was surprised to hear that Pixel had actually opened Gerhardt up and essentially performed surgery on him while he was still awake and perfectly lucid so he could guide her through the entire process but she was just going to have to think about that later. For now it really wasn’t her place to be talking to Pixel about this sort of thing since she wasn’t Gerhardt, Pixel’s only parent. But she felt like she had to say something otherwise she was worried what ideas a child like Pixel would start forming without any frame of reference. 

“Well… That’s a rather complicated topic. You should really talk to him about it instead of me since he’s your parent and he knows himself better than anypony else. But that being said, what I will say is this. From what very little I know about him, he has not had a very good life. I don’t know much myself since I only learned of his existence yesterday night. But I do know he has been through a lot and is just very slow to trust other ponies. Furthermore, I don’t know if it’s that he doesn’t like himself so much as I think he may have gotten used to hardship. So things like pain may not bother him as much as they should. That or he just cares about you so much that he’s willing to do anything for you even if it means going through physical pain for you. But like I said, you should talk to him about it since he’s the only one who could know for sure.”

Luna honestly suspected the worst. Hearing that he had put off getting medical care and willingly put himself through physical agony in favor of finishing his daughter made her suspect he may be experiencing self loathing on top of his deep seated mistrust of others. If that was the case she was going to have to ask Twilight to watch him for any suicidal tendancies. This was just as much if not more so for Pixel’s sake than his own since he was the only one with the knowledge required to take care of the little A.I. and she had no idea if he had done something to Pixel while building her to kill her if he ever died. Though it could also be that his loneliness was truly just too much for him and from his perspective he needed companionship to the point his own physical well being was a secondary concern for him, which was arguably just as bad. She didn’t know which it was but either way it wasn’t healthy.

“Oh. Okay, I’ll ask him when I wake up!” Pixel chirped, with an innocent smile. “So what else do you want to ask me?”

“Why is it you want to be like your father?” Luna asked.

Pixel gave her a confused look. “Hm?”

“Is it something you genuinely want? Is it something he programmed into you? Or is it that you just don’t know anything else so you just think it’s what you want?” Luna asked.

“Hm… I can’t find anything suggesting that daddy programmed me to want to be like him. I know of a lot of other jobs and what they do. Doctors, soldiers, biomancers, police officers, engineers, priests, accountants, artists, writers, scholars, philosophers, and several thousand more. But I love Daddy, so why would I not want to be like him when I’m older? There are so many things I can do, but so what? There are too many to care about all of them, or even a fraction of them. And daddy said himself that he wants to teach me to be a technomancer. Besides, it’s what Scientia would want too.” Pixel explained.

“And who is Scientia?” Luna asked.

“The goddess of Science and Technology. Technomancy is the most holy thing any of her followers can practice as combining magic and technology symbolizes the epitome of technology and science. The Liber Technologiae says so in the first chapter, which daddy read to me before bed.” Pixel told her.

“So it’s as much a religious matter as much as it is the fact your father is a technomancer himself. Alright…” Luna said. She didn’t show it on her face but she wasn’t exactly happy to hear this. Mainly because she wasn’t sure Pixel could be a technomancer in the first place and it being a religious matter likely just made that possibility all the more important to her. If it hadn’t been a matter of religion, she would have tried to encourage Pixel to become something else. A doctor maybe. Pretty much any job would have been fine so long as it was something that didn’t require magic that functioned like that of a unicorn or her father. But as it stood, she was going to have to back off and let her and Gerhardt work it out themselves.

“Thank you for answering my questions. I just wanted to learn a bit more about you and your father. Anyway, what would you like to do now?” Luna asked.

“What do you mean?” Pixel asked.

“I mean would you like to go play with the butterflies, make flower crowns, fly through the sky, or even dream about something else? There is a lot you can do in dreams so you should try to have some fun and enjoy them as much as you can!” Luna stated, smiling at her.

“Oh… Then I’m not sure. I haven’t really done any of that before. Could you show me something fun to do?” Pixel asked.

“Of course! I’d love to.” Luna said with a friendly smile.