Chapters The Sword of the Reaper, Armor of a Cyborg
Day 1:
Status: Acceptable, begin system start
"Running full system diagnostic and psyche analysis.", Dycerton heard a voice in his head. He was waking up from his "volunteering" and took a small look around the room. It was a clean room, he was sitting on a reinforced medical bed and in a somewhat typical hospital room, although extremely reinforced.
"Ugh, my head.", he moaned.
"Vocal ability, confirmed. I require confirmation to proceed with further system checks.", the voice said. It seemed robotic, like an AI.
"Who's this?", he asked confused.
"I am your new On-board Automated Intelligence System. Designation, Spyglass." the voice... Spyglass said.
"Alright then, Spyglass. Continue with checks."
"Affirmative." After what Dycerton assumed was an hour or two he gradually gained feeling to his new body. It was the latest in cyborg tech. Copied and improved from The Ripper himself, Raiden. He had "volunteered" to be upgraded to a super soldier to match Raiden. He didn't know how far they would go though. As he looked down he saw that his body was gone, replaced by metal, artificial nerves and muscles and covered by black armor with red details. He eventually realized that the armor was almost identical to Raiden's. Just then Spyglass spoke.
"All systems reading nominal and combat ready, we have orders to begin a training simulation. Are you ready?"
"Might as well. I don't know what this body can do, so lets find out."
"Affirmative, beginning simulation in 3......2......1.......0"
Dycerton closed his visor as his HUD showed his health status, map, and equipment (he didn't have anything at the moment). Everything dimmed as it started,it took a while to get used to the power of the new body, but he eventually got over it. Then the basic swordsmanship, he was already pre-programmed with some sword skills, so it wasn't hard. After that it went into the improvements on Raiden's armor. He was standing on one side of a ravine, with an objective marker on the other side.
"You must access your propulsion units to proceed." Spyglass stated.
"My what?" Dycerton replied slightly surprised.
"Your Flight Propulsion units. Simply think of them and the will prepare for activation."
He did what Spyglass said and two jet engines unfolded out of his back. Excited, he looked back at the marker and started the engines. He flew faster then he thought he would and quickly came to the other side and as he was about to begin the next test when everything went dark.
"Spyglass, did you terminate the simulation?" Dycerton asked.
"Negative.", Spyglass retorted.
As his HUD returned he was back in the hospital room with warnings 'WARNING: ATTACK IMMINENT. PROCEED TO ARMORY FOR WEAPONS ACQUISITION' this can't be good, Dycerton thought as a marker appeared. Spyglass said "Orders acquired, we are to proceed to the armory to obtain our weapons and engage the new threat."
"Got it." Dycerton said as they entered the armory. He recognized a long katana in it's state of the art scabbard. Placing it on his back he figured he wouldn't need to much so he brought some repair nano paste and some assorted grenades. Turning around to exit, his ears were pierced with a screeching noise. It caused him enough pain to bring him to his knee, he could barely hear Spyglass say.
"What is.......ppening.....n-n-n......respon...." He couldn't bother listening over this screech, suddenly he began to get tired and before he could react he collapsed.
It has been a very busy day for Twilight, it has been a month since her coronation and her royal duties were taking there toll on her. So many papers, and so little time with her friends lately. So everyone understood why she tended to go to bed early. In fact she was right about to fall asleep, watching the beautiful moon that was out that night. With sleep within her grasp she heard a terrible screech, one that was too high pitch for a manticore and far too loud to be a cockatrice. Twilight sighed with exasperation.
"Spike did you hear that?" Twilight questioned her assistant.
"Yea, what was it? It doesn't sound familiar." he replied.
"Ugh, great more stuff to deal with." she stated with a tired tone. Just then Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash burst into the library looking worried. "Let me guess you heard it too?" They nodded in unison.
"Yeah," Rainbow said "I was coming over when I ran into Pinkie and she was doing the same thing."
"Yea first there was this SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE then I went OOO OOOOO WHAT COULD IT BE then it stopped and I went------" Pinkie was cut off by a cyan hoof in her mouth, although she continued talking into it, making her speech distorted enough to ignore.
"What are we going to do Twilight?" Rainbow asked with concern and some irritation at her rambling pink friend.
Twilight thought for a moment "We should go and find what made that noise and why. Who knows it might be something new."
Pinkie calmed down and nodded to Twilight with rainbow "Should we get the others?" she asked.
"It would be best if they came as well." Twilight watched ast the went off to get the girls, as she went to retrieve some things to take with them.
Dycerton looked up at, what was once a lab ceiling, what was now a night sky. The ringing in his ears had stopped and he had feeling in his arms and legs.
"Spyglass......Spyglass you there?" he asked exhausted.
"Y-y-yes I am relatively undamaged I am repairing myself as we speak." Spyglass replied.
Looking around he said "Where are we?"
"Unknown"
"Are there any satellites we can hack?"
"Unknown"
"Do we have any worth while readings here? And don't say 'Unknown'"
"Atmosphere: Breathable, Gravity: Similar---"
"Okay get to something worth my time please."
"Odd energy readings detected, two primary sources. 1: 2km deeper into the forest. 2: 5km out of the forest through what seems to be a town or a collection of structures according to sonar sweeps."
"Alright, lets start with the forest, then move on to the town." Dycerton concluded.
"Confirmed."
Spyglass marked the anomaly in the forest and Dycerton ran after it, hoping to find some answers there.
The Sword of the Reaper, Armor of a Cyborg
Day 2:
Status: Require energy, recommend finding suitable energy to assimilate
Dycerton continued through the forest as fast as his damaged body could carry him. He was low on energy and Spyglass believes he can use the energy from the anomaly.
"If we come into contact with this source we could run off of it for years without needing to recharge." Spyglass stated.
"We need to get there first." Dyce replied.
"You are correct....WARNING possible hostiles detected 40m ahead."
"What kind of hostiles?"
"Unknown, recommend observing, this could be used to finish or training."
"Good idea."
He carefully sneaked up behind a large rock and looked into a clearing. "What the...... Spyglass, are my sensors malfunctioning somehow?"
"Negative, visual systems operational and in peak condition. Should I prepare for stealth or full on combat?"
"Lets make this fun, shall we. Begin with stealth so we can observe. Then when we have enough intel, we will engage."
"Confirmed."
As Spyglass began explaining and preparing system for a full combat test, something caught Dyce's eyes. 6 colorful quadrupeds walking right into the clearing. Seemingly oblivious to what was about to happen.
The 6 elements met near Fluttershy's cottage, near an entrance to the forest. "Okay, we all heard the noise and now we are all going to find what made it. Now this could be nothing, but I have sent a letter to the princesses, and they want us to be careful. It seems that this hasn't happened before in known history. So we are going to stick together and always watch for anything out of the ordinary, got it?" Twilight said to the rest of her friends.
"Yea," they all replied.
"Fluttershy do you have anything to say? You seem to be happy to do this?" Twilight was right, Fluttershy seemed ecstatic about this.
"Oh, just think twilight we might discover a new creature, and we can be friends and I can bring it back here and we can have fun. Oh and you could record everything, what it eats, when it sleeps, what it looks like." Fluttershy replied with an odd amount of confidence.
"Alrighty then, what we wait'n for? Lets go!" Applejack said.
So the began their trek through the forest. rarely running into anything. They started out with confidence, which then faltered as they heard howls in the distance, with growls and roars that they could recognize from that far away. The howls belonged to timber wolves and the roar was from a manticore. Fluttershy nearly collapsed when they got close enough to see. In a clearing, four timber wolves were circling a slightly wounded manticore, trying to conceal the gash on its forearm. Of course they only noticed them when they all had walked out of the bushes and were in the clearing, when two of the timber wolves noticing them. They began to prepare when they all turned to find one timber wolf on the ground, legs gone and a long blade through its wooden skull, and on top of the once timber wolf, a metal monster stood, ripping the sword from the corpse it turned to the rest of the beasts in the clearing then them. The main six were terrified of this new creature stunned at how none of them noticed it until it had killed the timber wolf. It turns its metal covered head towards them and raised its blade to its abdomen. Their fears only grew at watching what seemed to be red lightning flowing through the blade and charged.
Spyglass had analyzed the creatures and found that they had traces of the same energy as the anomalies, and suggested finding a way to consume it. After the first kill his visor told him that his energy levels were restored enough to increase his damage with electricity running through the blade, it seemed to add a scare factor to it judging by the reactions of the rest of the animals in the clearing. Three wooden wolves and an odd hybrid that would need further study, and six animals that seemed to resemble equines. Each of these six had a different color and different marks on their hind legs.
"Dycerton, I suggest attacking the canine creature first, the proceeding to the hybrid. I will find weak-points for it, and the best way to obtain it's energy." Spyglass said.
"Sure, when you have found out what you can about the hybrid....thing, identify those equines, they don't seem hostile, but I want an advantage over them should the time come when I need one."
"Confirmed."
And so it began. Dyce started by dashing up to the closest wolf, and before it could react to the sudden burst of speed, cut it's head off. The base of the head and the now empty neck glowed red from the heat in the blade. He quickly threw himself at the wolf behind it and blocked a fast but clumsy strike from the beast, removing the lower half of the appendage, side stepping he drove the blade into it's chest and it dropped. The final canine saw it's brothers being annihilated and slowly backed away, hoping to get out of the large clearing before the new threat could reach him. This was in vain, Dyce was far faster with his implants then these wolves seemed to be. Charging he met the large wolf face to face. It was about up to his chest, taller than the equines since they only reached his waist at best, the wolf's ears were back and it seemed to lower itself to the ground, a sign of fear. Dyce was confused by this reaction from a wolf, they tend to either run, or fight to then death, this one was submitting itself to whatever may come. He felt compassionate for the thing.
"Spyglass?"
"Yes?"
"Would it be possible to convert this wolf into a cybernetic version?"
"In theory, yes."
"Well then, up for having a pet?"
"It could be useful."
"Then it's settled. Shall we test it's intelligence?"
"It would be wise."
Dyce walked a few steps away and whistled. The canine seemed confused, it perked its head up to the metal thing and obliged to the command to follow. Dyce was happy to see the wolf comply. He turned and began circling the last creature in the clearing that posed a threat, Spyglass spoke up.
"I have identified this creature as a manticore, body of a lion tail of a snake and wings of bat. It comes from old mythology. It's body contains enough energy to sprint to the forest anomaly. The best way to do this would be getting the heart."
The girls watched in awe as the metal biped showed feats of speed and strength that surprised Rainbow Dash, then convincing a timber wolf to follow him and then circling the injured manticore that seemed just as terrified as the girls were. Slowly, the circle began to close on the beast, the pet on one side the master on the other. They heard the metal thing make noises that seemed like it's version of talking. But then they heard something that scared them all even more, it laughed. It was a distorted laugh but they could all recognize it as a laugh. It had a tone to it that none of them could recall, monotone and deep, like it wasn't coming from a being at all. And finally Fluttershy passed out, they were all too scared to help her up.
Dyce started by chuckling, then moved on to a mechanical laughter. His armor began to glow a faint red with his sword. He glanced over to see that the equines were still there but one was out cold. He decided to finish it before the rest joined in. He jump towards the hybrid, slicing the beast in half and ripping the heart from it's rib-cage. He glanced back after hearing a balloon pop sound and two thuds, the pink one's hair was straight and the white and cyan one had passed out, joining the yellow one. Looking back at the best it was in two halves and spilling a lot of blood. Dyce looked back at the horses and raised the hand that had the creature's heart in it, they looked confused (the conscious ones anyways), in an instant he crushed the heart, spilling blood allover him.Thud, thud, thud the last three equines dropped like stones at what they just saw.
"They seem a bit new to violence." Dyce said chuckling.
"Affirmative. Energy level rising we should proceed through the forest."
"Agreed."
The Sword of the Reaper, Armor of a Cyborg
Day 3:If it Stands, It WILL Fall
Day 3:
Status: Draining energy, Finding new source, ally in tow
Twilight was the first to come to, greeted by sunlight and silence. Her friends were still out cold around her, and corpses of timber wolves and a manticore. Could this have really just happened? Something taking these animals out with ease and even earning the respect of one of them? No, no no no no no, she had to write back to the princesses tell them what happened, she was far too out of her depth. But she's a princess now, she would be expected to do this calmly and with her emotions obeying her. She decided to wait and return with the others when they came to. Hopefully they could get the royal guard to help out at least. Applejack was next to meet the daylight.
"Wha? Huh? Everypony ok?" Applejack said with worry.
"I'm fine Applejack and everypony else is still out cold." Twilight replied as Rainbow got up.
"Ugh, oh hey guys, please tell me that I was dreaming..." Rainbow asked nervously.
"Big metal thing that took out three timber wolves and convinced one to follow it, then cut a manticore in half, THEN CRUSHED ITS HEART IN IT'S CLAWS?" Applejack asked with some sarcasm and some fear wearing off.
"Yeah"
"Then no it wasn't a dream" Twilight said, disappointing and sending a shiver down Rainbow's back. Soon after the other six slowly began to wake up, and agreed that it would be best to notify Celestia. The got out of the forest as fast as possible, eager to leave behind whatever 'it' was. They all agreed to wait with Twilight at her library until the princess sent help or replied. Spike wrote the letter as fast as possible, describing every detail that Twilight had said about the attack and the creature, and sent it on its way. A few minutes passed until a letter was returned, it read;
This appears to be too serious to let you go alone, I have sent Shining Armor and ten stallions to assist you, I must ask you to find the creature again so that it can be calmed or detained if necessary. Should the situation get out of hand, I will personally come to your aid. Be sure to bring the elements and Spike along as well. Good luck, Princess Twilight.
"Well that's a relief, we now have an escort." Rarity said enthusiastically.
"I just hope my brother doesn't get carried away, him and his scores..." Twilight sighed.
Half an hour later
The guards arrived in two chariots, there were four pegasi that pulled the carriages, three unicorns (including Shining Armor) and three earth ponies. All of which had white coats and golden armor. Twilight and the elements were there to greet them. As the situation was explained, the expressions on the soldier's faces slowly began to decay from the stern ready-for-action faces that the guards are known for, to a more worried look trying, and failing, to hide them.
"So any questions?" Twilight asked the group.
"No, ma'am." They replied in unison.
"Then lets go."
"You heard her" Shining said keeping his composure. "We don't want this thing out doing anything else."
"Yes sir!" they seemed to be confident. It didn't last when they eventually got to the scene.
Dyce was going a little slower than he could, to let the wolf keep up. It didn't matter he was nearing his destination anyways. Another clearing was ahead, he was prepared for anything this time, though Spyglass assured him that there was nothing moving other than himself and his new companion. He was running through what to call him. Wolf? Too generic. Picard? Doesn't fit. Jeff? No. He was leaning between GLaDOS and Altair. GLaDOS because it doesn't seem like a real life form, and Altair because it has the potential for being an assassin. He viewed the clearing, nothing. He whistled to his new pet. "Altair, scout ahead, see if you can find anything while I look for the source." It stared at him. "Well." Dyce realized that it probably couldn't understand him. He whistled again and pointed in the general direction of some old ruins. It seemed to understand this however and began to slowly crawl towards the ruins. "Excellent. Spyglass, where exactly is the anomaly?"
"There is a cave down to your left, proceed 50m forward and it should open up to the source."
Easy enough, he thought. He found the cave and activated night vision in his visor. He was amazed at the amount of crystals that were lining the cave walls in streaks. As he got deeper he noticed the crystals glowing brighter, and brighter. The cavern opened up to a massive opening. In the center of this opening was a structure made of the same crystals and pulsing with light. "Spyglass, can you identify what exactly this is?"
"A tree."
"A tree? Just a tree? Then where is the energy source?"
"The tree is giving off the energy readings. It does not seem to be made of organic matter but nothing matches this except for a tree."
"Uhh... Okay then... How do I absorb the energy?"
"Make contact and break the surface of the shell. I will convert the energy into a usable form from there."
As he stepped up to the base of the 'tree' he noticed eight symbols carved into the surface. At the bottom there was a moon, above it was a sun, in the center was a purple star, and on five branches there were symbols that he recognized from those equine from earlier. Even the purple star he noticed on the large purple one. Running his hand along the surface, he scratched the surface of the shell, then plunged his hand into the brittle yet strong exoskeleton. "Analysis, complete initiating energy drain." Spyglass said. Dyce could feel the new energy coursing through him. He looked at where his hand was in the tree, it was becoming darker, almost like charcoal, with crimson angular lines going through it. I was no much, only about 30cm around his hand. He was about to ask when he heard a voice.
"WHAT IS IT DOING!!!!!" It was a feminine voice.
Whatever it was, it just interrupted his dinner.
It was understandable when Fluttershy didn't want to go back into the clearing when they reached it, so she stayed back until they came for her. The guards were astonished at the scene. Their original composure was gone by now replaced by fear and a slight hope that they didn't find this thing after all. Twilight just let them absorb the situation until one of them spoke up "Wha-what is this thing?...." said one of the pegesi.
"We don't know that's the point," Twilight said "we need to find this thing before somepony runs into it and provokes it."
This seemed to give a bit of courage to the soldiers. "We should move on, do you know where it went?" Shining asked his sister.
"Well, the blood goes in that direction towards the old castle ruins." Twilight replied.
So the continued towards the castle of the two sisters that has long since been neglected until recently. If the creature wasn't found they could at least look through the collection of books to find something about this thing. As the group entered the foyer of the once great fortress they heard something in another room scratching against something. Entering the room the saw a lone timber wolf clawing at a book shelf looking for something. The others probably didn't notice the fact that it was the same wolf from before, the pattern on its head was identical to the one that followed the metal biped. The surprise was short lived however, the wolf glanced at them and went crashing through the bookshelf if was looking at. They ran towards where it was, there was a hole that lead deep into a cave that the elements remembered all too well. They ran after it, and found it seemingly lost at a four way junction. Before anyone could protest the guards sprung into action and threw a spear into the wolf's chest before it could dart down a corridor. it slumped to the ground and stopped moving except for wheezing and bleeding resin. "WHY DID YOU KILL IT?" Asked Twilight and Fluttershy.
"It would've attacked us." Answered the guard that threw the spear.
"COULDN'T YOU SEE IT WAS LEADING US RIGHT TO THE METAL THING?!?!" Yelled Twilight with anger in her voice clearly evident.
"What?!?" The guards retorted.
"That, WAS, the timber wolf that was adopted by the biped!"
"Oh....." The stallion began to look sheepish and regretful.
"Well no choice now. We need to split up. Girls, you go down that passage while I and Shining go down this one, the rest of go down those two."
"Are you sure Twi?" Questioned Applejack.
"I agree, we should stick together dear." Rarity added.
"I know, it's not the best thing to do. but now we have no way of finding it without trial and error." Twilight responded.
Unwillingly, they all went their separate ways, hoping to find the thing. Twilight remembered these crystals in the walls, the familiar pulsing in them that reappeared when the elements of harmony were returned to the tree.... THE TREE! That must be what the thing was after! She began to gallop down the tunnel with her brother in tow. The large cavern came into view and she saw more then just a familiar sight. The creature was doing something to the tree. It had its claw embedded in the tree. and the once turquoise area around the claw was blackened with pulsing red shapes. "WHAT IS IT DOING?!?!" Twilight exclaimed a little louder than she had hoped, because now the creature was looking at her with its metal face. She heard her brother draw his blade. And the creature, Followed suit.
Dycerton saw the equines, one with wings and a horn and the other with a horn and a blade drawn. 'Is this a challenge?' he thought to himself. 'Fine then, I have enough energy to destroy a metal gear.' He drew his blade, allowing crimson light dance along the blade. He walked away from the tree and stood on the opposite side of the room as the horses. The one he guessed was a male, stepped forward. Ignoring a protest from its identified sibling or mate. They stood staring at each other, swords in hand and...aura? possible electromagnetic aura? He made a not to analyze that later. It seemed odd to him, the fact that this male was protecting a female that he was attached to in some way. Dyce could see in it's eyes that it wouldn't back down. So why should he? He allowed the horse to make the first move. It charged, it took longer than he would to cross the distance, more than enough time prepare to counter. As it got close he step to the side and kicked it into a wall the satisfying crack of at least two ribs broken and some fractures. It got up, coughed up some blood, and turned towards him, eyes filled with rage and astonishment. It moved back to its position on the other side of the room from him. It was Dyce's turn, he closed the distance, knocked the blade out of its hold and pinned it to the tree, sword against its neck. It went from anger to pure fear. Dycerton decided to take a proper look at his enemy, his visor split in the middle and he watched the pupils of the horse shrink in terror. It knew that it was helpless to him, unless... A large bolt slammed into his head with enough force to knock him off balance. He looked over to the the winged unicorn, tears streaming down her face and glowing horn. Another bolt hit him in the shoulder, he was prepared for it and it merely forced his shoulder back a bit.
The winged unicorn talked between tears, "WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING?"
"I accepted a challenge" Dyce replied lowering his sword to his side.
"WHAT CHALLENGE?" she asked while looking to her sibling.
"He drew his sword first, a sign of a challenge. Drawing my sword meant I accepted." Dyce replied cooly.
At this point in time his opponent was raising his sword. Trying to regain his stance with the broken bones. Dyce looked back to the thing now identified as a sibling, and pointed with his free hand to the injured competition. "THAT, is a challenge."
"MY BROTHER isn't stupid he was protecting me fr-----"
"Twilight," the brother cut her off "it's right, this is a challenge."
"Alright then," Dycerton stated "if this is a challenge then what are the steaks?"
"Me and my men will do what you want for the time being, to an extent."
"Humph, against?" he put emphasis on the last syllable.
"If I win, you will surrender, and come as my prisoner to Canterlot."
He though for a moment, "Agreed."
He wanted this over, so he could claim his prize. So he charged, and kicked the golden blade into the air, and on its way down cut it into pieces with four strikes. The pieces fell onto the brothers head, stunned he said "T-th-that blade was enchanted, it was indestructible!"
"Apparently not." Dyce replied with a laugh. He whistled........not hearing anything he whistled again.......nothing. 'Where was Altair?' he thought.
"Uhh..heh...heh....." Twilight nervously chuckled.
"What did you do to Altair."
The Sword of the Reaper, Armor of a Cyborg
Day 4: Magic and Element 115
**Day 4:
Status of Main Armor User: Energy restoration complete and source acquired.
Status of Companion: Unknown**
Twilight stared into the eyes in the biped's newly-revealed face. They were glowing bright red, like two burning stars in it's head. Twilight tried not to look afraid of the biped, but she couldn't help it. Nothing about this creature seemed to be able to feel anything but anger, enjoyment for destruction and efficiency. How could a living thing be in there? How could it survive it's isolation? How could she not notice that she had been thinking for about a minute?
"Well...?" Ordered the biped.
"Uhh...... Shining would you mind ex---" Twilight was cut off by seeing her brother's condition.
"I don't have all day. Now tell me what happened to Altair or I will find out myself, without any interruptions." It growled.
Twilight surrendered to the creatures glaring eyes. "We found it searching through the castle ruins. When it saw us it ran down a secret passage. It was looking around at a cross-section when a guard," Twilight hesitated about the last part, afraid of how this creature would react. "through a spear, and impaled it's chest." It's eyes flared even brighter than before.
.............
"Spyglass." the creature said. Seemingly to itself.
"Yes." Twilight looked around for the voice that seemed to come from the creature.
"Have you figured out a way to convert him yet?" Growled the creature.
"Affirmative." Said the second voice.
"Ummm.... Who is that?" Twilight said confused.
"Shut it!" The creature snapped. Twilight obeyed immediately. "Is the procedure still possible?"
A moment passed "Confirmed, as long as the energy in his body is still present, the procedure will be possible with resources."
"Excellent, how much do we need?"
"Enough metal to create augments, energy, and time. The amount of time will depend on the energy being used."
Twilight though about what they were talking about, when the biped turned back to her brother.
Shining cleared his throat as the victor of their duel turned to him. "Gather your men, and the fallen Altair, and return here." It said. Shining expression changed to one of slight confusion and question. "NOW!" It commanded. Shining went off to find the rest of the stallions.
It turned back to Twilight and she straightened up a bit. "I'm assuming you brought your five friends?" She nodded. "Then what are you waiting for? I told him to go get his troops now go find yours. NOW!" She scurried away to find the girls, hearing the creature grumble to itself.
Dyce watched as the purple winged unicorn dash down the tunnel to find the rest of them and Altair. "Great, so how much energy is required to do this procedure?" He asked Spyglass.
"The tree holds more than enough energy to complete it within an hour." Spyglass informed.
"Excellent, what do we need to do to prepare?"
"A clear space large enough for him near the tree." Almost as if queue, the roots of the tree separated around the space where he had sucked the energy from it and grown into a table that was large enough for him to easily lie down on.
"Well then, problem solved... I guess. Spyglass remind me to further analyze the tree."
"Confirmed. Dycerton you need to further analyze the tree."
"No, no, I mean when we have time."
"When?"
"I don't know, when we have time."
"When?"
"Ugh, just pick a number, express that number as a time and remind me when that time has elapsed. Got it?"
"Yes."
A few minutes passed before Twilight came back. Apparently they had heard the commotion with the duel, and had already started heading towards them. They all stared at the creature, trying to take in all the details and not looking at it's metal jaw and red eyes with the flesh face. Then looking at the armor, without a scratch, and then the shredded sword at the other side of the room.
The timid yellow one identified as Fluttershy, slowly stepped forward and asked "Wh-wh-what are you?" she stuttered.
"A thing that can kill you if you piss me off, now if you're done staring at me, Twilight where is that soldier."
"We're here." came a voice from behind. The soldiers followed behind their captain with Altair being held up by the auras of two unicorns. 'So many tests to perform, so little time' Dyce thought to himself.
"Put him on the table." Dyce said walking between the table and the tree. Looking back at them, the soldiers and the five girls he just 'met' looked surprised at how he treated the soldiers, until Shining spoke up.
"Do what he says stallions." he said with some shame in his voice. So they begrudgingly did so and stood back with their commander.
"Remove your armor." Dyce ordered. The stallions looked more confused than before. "I am your commander now. thanks to Shining giving up his position in an ill considered bet. Now, remove, your, armor."
Shining was the first to do this, shame and fear in his eyes as he handed it over. "I'll need that broken sword of yours as well." Dyce said, and they were floated over to him. "Well? The rest of you too."
With all the armor around him, he jammed his hand back into the tree and began to feel the pulse of its energy.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy? The tree can't do anything now!" Exclaimed Twilight.
"Ugh," Dyce groaned. "As the great Dr. Edward Richtofen once said.." They all seemed intrigued by this, leaning in a bit closer to hear him "IT"S OK I HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL! or if we are going deeper into my psyche ICH BIN FUCKING ANGRY!" and with that he allowed as much power in the tree as he could withstand to flow through him, channeling it into the fallen wolf, the table and the armor around him. "Spyglass.... You know this better than I do.."
"Indeed, I will take over from here." Spyglass replied.
Spyglass took control of his body, controlling the energy better than he could, some roots around the tree lifted the armor molding it into proper shapes for a wolf of his worlds standards. Others grabbed Altair's body and created cracks in his wooden shell and other branches of the tree dove in, and pulsed with life. The armor was placed under the wooden shell. As they all watched mesmerized at his abilities, Altair's eyes began to glow again, but instead of the previous green, they were a red to match his own. A few minutes passed, this felt like months for them seeing as what they were witnessing, and the energy flow was cut off the table lowered Altair to the ground and receded. No one moved, no one dared. Then, a twitch, and another, and a paw moved, then a leg, then it got up. This timber wolf had just been resurrected. They all stared at the renewed pet and it's master with awe. It took a few steps, then something cracked and it froze, the wooden shell was still around it like a cast. The wolf shook it's body vigorously and the wooden shell shattered. Rarity snapped out of her daze to look at this new creature, clad in golden and purple, beautiful, she fainted on a couch that appeared to come from no where.
"Spyglass. is the transformation complete." asked a new voice.
"A moment, running final checks," replied Spyglass "Confirmed. Your transformation is complete all memories retained, body is accepting the implants, new mind operations adapted. Welcome, designation Altair."
The word Altair was carved into the side of his golden body. Altair moved to stand by his master.
Dycerton was pleased at the new revelation, the ponies either had more reasons to fear him, seeing as he could bend the dead to his will, or a reason to respect him for his abilities. Neither was favorable, but he would take what he could get. "Master Shining." The stallions stood at attention hearing their former commander's name.
"Yes.....sir" Shining said.
"You will bring me to your queen or king immediately, I wish to meet them, and I am certain they wish to meet me."
"Uhh, sir..." Shining caught a glare from Dyce. "She is one of the princesses." he said pointing a hoof towards his sister."
"You said she was your sister, does that not make you a prince?" Dyce asked raising an eyebrow.
"No only alicorns and direct blood to them are royalty."
"Alright then," he turned towards 'Princess' Twilight "I know that you must have a royal tie somehow, so take me to the highest authority."
"Well actually," Twilight said nervously "Princesses Celestia and Luna are busy planning for this years 'Grand Galloping Gala' and they are really busy and----"
"If they had time to send a squad they have time to deal with the problem. Whether or not they have time I AM going to talk to them," he began to walk out the same way he got in, and motioned for them to follow "and they WILL listen to me."
The Sword of the Reaper, Armor of a Cyborg
Day 5: A Ticket to the What Now?
**Day 5:
Status of Main User: Charged and combat ready
Status of Companion (designation Altair): New body accepted, combat effectiveness to be assessed**
It took them far longer than Dycerton wanted to get anywhere. He couldn't go as fast as he wanted because the horses, wait...'ponies', couldn't keep up with his or Altair's speed. To someone like him, this was infuriating. At least the now-unprotected soldiers, leading them to the town known as Ponyville, kept their mouths closed. The other six however, asked question after question. He wouldn't answer them, unless they didn't stop asking to which he would give a glare and they would shrink back. Eventually they reached the edge of the town. Then the 'dragon' named spike belched up a letter with the seal of the sun on it. Twilight grabbed it with her aura, he still needed to ask about that, and read.
"'Princess Celestia invites Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, plus one, to the Grand Galloping Gala. Enclosed are seven tickets, I hope you will be able to attend. PS choose wisely."
Hearing Twilight read off the invite, all the girls popped up as if forgetting that there was a cyborg that had bested possibly the best swords-pony in the royal guard. They were chatting about what to wear, and what they would do and, blah blah blah blah. Dyce didn't care for it much, he wanted to move on but he couldn't be arsed to interrupt, because for the first time he saw one of these thing happy, and for once he looked and felt completely astonished. How could they forget about him being such a deadly thing, in an instant, and be completely hooked in on something they just heard about. He noticed Shining and the rest of the stallios seemed to look as confused as he was.
"Uh... Is this normal?" Dyce asked to Shining.
"Kinda." Shining answered.
"Have they forgotten that we are here?" Dyce asked.
"I'm, not sure." Hearing this from her brother Twilight looked over.
"Are you going to the gala?" She asked her brother.
"I have been assigned to it to provide the guards stations in case anything happens." He said this in a way that made Dyce think that he was expecting something to go wrong.
"Well then, I have an extra ticket and i would like to invite you," She pointed at Dycerton, "To come as well."
"What?!?" Dyce and Shining said in unison.
"As you said, you wanted to meet the princesses and I said they were busy at this time. If you met them at the gala, it would mean you are meeting on more pleasant terms then just barging in." Twilight stated with authority.
Both him and Shining looked at her with confused expressions. Dyce couldn't think of a reason to not go, other than threats, and that wouldn't help him much. Shining couldn't think of a way to deter his sister from bringing him. Before he could speak up, Rarity gasped.
"I just realized that you have nothing to wear! Not that your, um, that reminds me you haven't told us anything about yourself. Is that armor? Or your skin?" The curious mare asked.
"Both" Dyce replied flatly.
"Alright then, we are going straight to my boutique so I can get measurements. I promise you won't regret it!" As the words came out of her mouth, he began to think otherwise.
"That right we don't even know what you are!" exclaimed Twilight.
"Or what yer even called!" Applejack added.
"Great," he looked back at the group of stallions "Give a report to the princesses, tell them....... I will be attending the gala and expect an audience."
Shining nodded and looked back to the group, gave them orders to get to the chariots and prepare to leave. The carriages were in the center of town, so they had to walk through the town to get to them. Ponies all around town stopped to look at him and Altair with awe, until he assumed they saw the large sheathed blade on his back, at that point their eyes widened and jaws dropped as they scurried back into homes or down alleys.
Big Mac was in the town center, selling apples, he looked over at his sister and the previously armored stallions, the biped and the golden wolf. He continued to watch as the soldiers got into and left on the chariots. His sister walked over to him and asked. "Any questions?" After a minute of thinking he answered.
"Nope." He didn't want to know what this thing was, but if the guards left him with the town he couldn't be too dangerous, right?
"Well I think we had better be on our way if I am going to design you an outfit for the gala." Rarity sang. Dycerton groaned at her sing-song voice.
"Right then I will be around in a few hours, to see how it is going. Have fun!" Dyce cringed at Twilight's statement.
The others made their fare-wells and Rarity invited Dycerton into her house. "Would you care for some tea?" she asked him.
"I don't eat, or drink." She looked at him like he was petting a large spider, not quite sure what to think.
"B-but what, how do you survive without food or water?" She exclaimed with a worried tone.
"As long as I have power, I don't need the energy from food. Besides, eating is inefficient compared to me consuming energy the way I did with the tree." She didn't seem to understand but she didn't press him, she had work to do. As she began measuring his body he said "You do know I don't have any money right? I just got here." She laughed like he just said something ridiculous.
"Oh, don't worry about it, consider it a thanks for saving us from the timber wolves and the manticore. Besides you are our friend now and I made dresses for my other friends it seems fair to make an outfit for you too." She worked for a little more and asked "Would I be correct in assuming you are a male?"
"Yes." He answered.
She finished measuring and said "Alright then, do you have an idea of what you want your outfit to look like?"
"I think so."
"Excellent, I have some designs here" she levitated a small pile of papers over to him. "Or if none are to your liking then I have some spare paper and pencils." She pointed to a table in the center of the room.
He looked through them, but none stood out to him. He sat on a stool at the table and drew his own design. Rarity watched as he drew an overcoat, undershirt, vest, pants, boots and gloves. He handed the designs over to her. She looked at it with increasing eagerness. "I didn't know you had a talent in designs!" She exclaimed.
"To be honest, I don't. It was inspired by a man named Corvo Attano." He said. "You can alter the design if you wish, but I would like the basics to be the same."
"This is already amazing! I will get to work straight away. Twilight won't be around for another hour, so why not take a walk while I begin." She said walking up the stairs to her upper level.
"Alright then, anywhere interesting around here to see?" He asked.
"There are interesting things all over town. But perhaps you should go to town hall and learn what you can about the town. Maybe you could even get a citizenship! If you are staying then you might as well."
He didn't like the idea of staying, but he didn't have a way of getting back either. "I may, thank you for the ideas."
"No problems at all my dear. Although would you mind if I spent some time with Altair? He is such a brilliant creature!" She pleaded.
Dyce looked at Altair who gave a nod and walked over to the excited pony. "He wouldn't mind spending some tine with you."
"Oh thank you my dear,..." she thought for a moment "You haven't told me your name!"
"My designation is Dycerton, although I usually go by Dyce."
"Alright then Dyce, if you aren't back when Twilight comes around I will tell her you went for a walk."
"Thank you, and thank you for the favor." She nodded with a smile.
He walked out of the boutique, and looked around. Down a road he could see a large building and assumed it was the town hall by the size. As he walked towards it ponies still looked at him with cautious expressions. None dared to stop him, or even bother him. They just stared at him and his blade. He entered the hall to see a secretary nervously looking at him and shuttering.
"D-d-do you wish to see the mayor?" Her voice seemed to gain a few octaves at the end.
"That depends, can I access town files from here? And who do I talk to if I want a citizenship?"
"Y-you would have to ask the mayor."
"Then yes I would like to see the mayor."
She knocked on the door, it opened, to a brown mare with a grey mane.
"You have a request for a meeting Mayor Mare." The secretary said. The mayor looked at him and gulped.
"Come in then." She motioned for Dyce to follow her.
Her office was what you would expect, Everything was hardwood, plaques on the walls, a flag, bookshelves and desk toys. Across her desk were two chairs. She motioned for him to sit down in one.
"So what would you like to discuss?" She asked
"I wish to access this town's files." He decided to leave the citizenship until he really needed it.
"The town's public records can be viewed at the library, everything else isn't for public eyes." Dycerton glared at her, a low growl emanating from him. She seemed to shrink from this. "Un-unless you seem to take an interest in something that won't cause any harm! Heh, heh." She added quickly.
"Perfect," he stood up, looking down at her. "Lead the way."
She lead him down through hidden door, and down some stairs into a basement filled with filing cabinets. "Sections, one through nine should be fine for you to look through."
He nodded and began searching through the files, criminal records, personal bio's, and odd news reports. Nothing of interest. Eventually he got through sections one to nine and found that all of the cabinets in section ten had locks on them. He looked back at the mayor who was now standing beside him giving him a dirty look that said 'Don't you dare'. He decided that if there was something worth hiding, it was worth his time. He quickly looked at the nearest cabinet and tore the lock off with ease, hearing a gasp from the mayor he looked at her. "Th-those locks were supposed to be unbreakable..." she said with a fearful tone.
"'Supposed to be', and 'Is' are two different things altogether." he stated flatly.
Looking through the files he found crime investigation evidence bags, random artifacts, old texts, and IDs. He moved onto the next cabinet, nothing stood out other than a strange black hardened resin. In fact the rest of the cabinets didn't have much but more IDs and resin. Suddenly, something hit him in the back of his head. It wasn't nearly enough to actually hurt and barely made him move. he turned to see the mayor with a large piece of wood between her fore hooves. Green flames engulfed her and dissipated, what was left was a wide eyed, black, insect-like pony. Dyce cracked his knuckles. 'Finally something I canplay with.'
