Pistons and Ponies

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten

Chapter One

A man stood hunched over a collection of organized metallic rings which, in turn, sat inside a building of scrap metal. These rings were wrapped tightly in coils of copper cables that connected each of the separate rings to one another, thus allowing a continuous circuit of energy to traverse the scape that the metal and wires created.

The man wore a set of very tattered clothes that had seen far more years in service than they had originally been designed for. The poor tailoring skills of their owner were obvious if you looked at his ratty outfit for even the briefest of moments. A collection of stitches decorated the white shirt. Or at least, it had been white once, but each time a tear had made itself present the biped had closed the gap with any kind of string that had been on hand at the moment. This gave the outfit a horrible, clashing appearance as the separate strings of varying colors held the shirt together.

The appearance of the machine itself would easily distract you from the horribly stitched together clothing, though. The center of the apparatus was home to jumping green sparks that danced across the metal. Giving off not only an air of mystery and power, but also enough radiation to make a Geiger counter start screeching. The harmful efflux had been a calculated risk for the man, as he had lacked any other sources of energy that would meet the needs of the device.

Another byproduct of the device, aside from the static radiation, was the steam. This super heated water streamed violently out of several worn, metallic, mechanical orifices around the device at regular intervals. It acted as an energy force for the secondary parts of the machine and was being used as more of a backup for the outlying contraptions rather than a main power source.

The humanoid didn’t care about the dangers of the enclosed space though; instead, he put all his attention to carefully examining the full length of the odd contraption in front of him, occasionally ducking to deftly avoid a burst of the steam that would shoot about his head. While he examined the contraption, he would occasionally stop and apply an additional length of wire from a coil he had on hand or would tighten a screw that sat a little too loosely for his liking.

A loud and drawn out exhale came from the man as he straightened his stance and let his weary gaze linger once more on the collection of random metal and wires that he had designed, running over all the various details of the monstrosity for flaws. “That should do it, perhaps a bit too much variable in regards to the exit portal, which really isn't the best thing. Not that I could improve it; the device is using a random string of numbers for the coordinates of the exit portal. Anything too complicated and the device would most likely breakdown from lack of energy or computing power.”

The man paused briefly to look over his entire circuit of machines once again before he continued speaking. “I could hardly care where I end up though, whether it be drowning in water while the built up pressure of the several billion gallons crushes my bone structure, or melting in lava hotter than the surface of the sun. Anything is better than this never ending wasteland.” He spoke to himself. If anyone had been listening they would have thought him crazy; of course, there wasn't anyone though. There had not been anyone in a long, long time.

The inventor looked up at the slab of scrap metal that formed the roof to his little shack. Occasionally, he liked to believe that beyond that metal roof was a bright blue sky with the old, yet familiar, comfort of fresh sunlight that drifted down through the atmosphere and warmed his skin while the enjoyable scent of nearby flowers calmed his mind. The days would pass as if in a dream as he enjoyed the company of others and they all managed to drag themselves through the tough days, periodically chatting about the nuclear armageddon that was believed to happen soon without giving it any real thought.

His belief was ill-founded and he knew it; Beyond that roof was the ever changing, yet always the same, shamble of a dome that was composed of mud-brown clouds. No sunlight ever got through the thick mess and anything that might have hinted at the warmth of the light had died. Because of this, the memories at the back of the man’s mind of the yellow orb in the sky and the once flourishing gardens were more along the lines of vague dreams then actual recollection.

With a shake of his head to break his thoughts, the man turned his attention back to his work. “Dimensional folding though, quite an epiphany that one was. I never would have theorized that under normal circumstances, I don’t think. Of course, I’m still not entirely convinced that it’s possible, probably isn’t, the sheer idea of such a dramatic tearing of the laws of nature sounds like an impossibility on all grounds of scientific study and practice,” the man said.

With a quick snap of his fingers the man spun on his heel and took a look at the generator pumping the hybrid power through the heavy cables and into the set of rings in the middle of the room. It had taken ten years to create the device, ten years of scavenging for what scrap remained and putting it together into this monstrosity of metal. The end result was this collection of energy and directive currents that took up more of the room then the generator itself did.

“Well, no sense in putting this off I suppose,” the bipedal said after a look over what would be supplying the power. After a purposeful stride, the creature placed himself standing in front of a monitor that hung loosely on a nearby wall by only a single steel hook. Aside from said steel hook the only other adornments that the screen had were a series of wires running into and out of it. The creature began to tap the screen several times as he scanned the information that the console displayed in the form of scrolling numbers.

With a single glance to a series of green numbers and the flip of a switch on the side of the monitor, a hum filled the room as energy began to flood through the wires and into the collection of scrap metal the man had put together. A blue light began to circle around each of the rings and soon shot into the air forming a cylinder. The lights wavered unsteadily until they overlapped one another and a oval of blue mass was formed in the air.

The man gathered the items he would be taking with him, just a bag with a few of his more important inventions that might be necessary to his health and a collection of tools that he had managed to pull together in case he needed them. “What was that saying again? Ah yes,” he said with a grin as he turned to face the portal that had been created. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” With those words, the bipedal threw himself into the blue abyss.

The chunk of rock he left behind, that had once been the home to so many, was left to spin onward around the sun. It carried nothing but the empty whistling wind and tons and tons of dirt, yet it continued to spin, on, and on, and on. Into the dark eternities.

Luna had just settled into bed after lowering the moon for the dawn, when a flash of blue and a loud, low noise filled the room. The sound itself resembled that of a watermelon hitting concrete, but without the shattering accompaniment. The alicorn looked over the edge of her bed to see a silhouette of something that definitely wasn’t a pony picking itself off the ground. In the moment of panic that followed, the princess instinctively tossed the mysterious creature against the far wall with her magic.

A gasp of pain shot into the air as the oxygen was forced out of its chest when it hit the wall, wherein the creature slumped to the floor. Luna ran to the creature and placed her hoof securely on its midsection to stop it from rising before she spoke. “Who or what are you and what do you want?” she asked the intruder, a cold tone in her voice.

“I would like to breathe, if that’s alright,” he managed to say with the last of the breath that remained in him, or at least Luna believed it to be a he, judging from the sound of its voice. Luna lifted her hoof slightly so that the man could inhale, but would allow her the ability to keep him on the ground. His inhale was more along the lines of swallowing air as he breathed in the life-giving oxygen. He coughed several times before his breathing became more regular. Eventually, the man returned to lying flat on the ground as he looked up at the blue alicorn that kept him on the ground, allowing him the opportunity to take in the features of her horn and wings.

“Well, that’s new,” was all he could get out audibly before he fell into another fit of coughing. In the silence that followed the most recent coughing fit, a muffled clockwork beat rose into the air and Luna looked at him the creature with a raised eyebrow.

“I do not take kindly to intruders. Explain yourself or I will be forced to take alternate measures for revealing the truth,” Luna replied. He blinked at her in startlement before he began to move his mouth in reply, then was interrupted as Celestia burst into the room.

“Luna, I heard the noise and came to check up on you, are you al-” She paused when she saw the creature that her sister had pinned to the ground. The man responded by turning his gaze to the new arrival and once again froze as his mind began to work around what he was seeing. “What are you and why are you here? More importantly, how did you get in?!” Celestia said, receiving a blink in response.

“I had just asked it that myself when you came into the room. I’m still waiting for my answer,” Luna said as she glanced to her sister and then returned to looking at the man on the ground. He managed to break out of his silent pondering at the words and coughed again.

“I teleported in,” he answered truthfully.

“Nonsense. The castle has magical wards; no one can teleport in. Even Discord had to sneak into the castle grounds. Regardless, there are additional teleportation wards on each of the main rooms of the castle. you can’t have just teleported in. Now tell us the truth,” Celestia said as she looked at the man.

“I am telling you the truth. I teleported in via a folding of dimensions,” he said as he slowly collected himself. He had been ready for just about everything when he had decided to jump dimensions. Talking ponies though, talking ponies was in the area of ‘just about’.

“And now you’re claiming that you can jump dimensions? Even Luna and I wouldn’t dare to try that. Who knows where you would end up. Even then, I can sense no magical power coming from you. There is no way you could have jumped dimensions and there is no way that you could have entered this room.”

“And yet I did. ‘When you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth’. I didn’t walk into the room, as the doors were closed when you came along seconds ago; I didn’t fly in, as there is no passage from the air outside; and I couldn’t have busted in through any of the walls, as the walls are obviously intact. Well, except maybe the one I was thrown against, but that is dependant on how hard the blue pegacorn threw me against the wall and, of course, if the constants of Newton’s laws exist in this world,” the man said and once more coughed into his hand.

“Pegacorn!? I am an alicorn. I don’t know who or what you think you are, but you will refer to me correctly while you are in my presence,” Luna said indignantly to the creature, whom was about to respond to her when Celestia cut him off.

“Regardless of your claims, you will still be put into the dungeons until what you say can be confirmed or, as is more likely the case, proven wrong,” Celestia said as her horn began to light up. The man was too distracted by the light show that was going off to voice his questions regarding what exactly she was doing. His silent questions were answered a split second later when he found himself in a metal cell.

“Already in the dungeons. That certainly beats my expectations. Didn’t even give me a chance to tell them that I didn’t have a name that I wanted to be known by and ask them to come up with one for me. Though I do suspect that perhaps that would have caused a few extra problems as things stood,” the man said and fell into another fit of coughing.

“Freakin’ automated system is on the fritz again. That’s what you get when the best metal you can find is a few decades old, partially melted, and more radioactive than the inside of an atomic bomb. Can’t believe I have to deal with this already.”

In her spare moments, the white alicorn found her mind turning to the odd prisoner that had recently taken a cell in her dungeon. With her mind distracted as it was, she felt the several duties of the early morning pass by with the all too common boredom that she carefully hid underneath the smiling mask she had adopted a mere decade after she had become a princess. Eventually, the first half of the day passed by and she excused herself from the meeting she was in at the time to check on their recent intruder.

As she descended the stairway into the dungeons, Celestia ran over a few possible things that may start happening when she arrived: the creature might begin to yell about how unfairly it was being treated, maybe it would stay completely silent when she arrived and would refuse to tell her anything, or perhaps it might say something that would lead to the reveal of a conspiracy that was under construction. She pondered over a few more similar circumstances as she made her way into the prison.

The princess immediately set out for the cell of the creature she had sentenced that morning. As she approached, she noticed that the guards who were walking in the opposite direction were looking over their shoulders. Puzzled, Celestia looked at the few prisoners who were also in the dungeon, most only for a week or so until their minor crime was finished being payed for. The ones nearest to the end of the hall were all looking at one thing in the cell that sat around the corner, the cell that Celestia had put the odd creature in.

When she rounded the corner, the princess saw what had made everyone else look at the cell and paused for a minute to gather her thoughts. In the cell, the creature sat, facing the metal door to his cell with his eyes closed and his head in his hands. Despite the fact that its face was obscured, there was no denying that it was still the same bipedal creature that had appeared in Luna’s room that dawn. It wasn’t the creature that was drawing everypony’s attention though.

Covering the stone wall behind the creature was a collection of chalk symbols and drawings that completely covered its backdrop in advanced mathematical and scientific equations. Celestia briefly noticed a few similar looking equations that related to light and how fast it could move. Other then that she couldn’t make heads or tails of what was written down on the brick wall.

“What is this?” Celestia asked. “What did you write down?”

The creature raised its head and a jovial smile crossed its face. “Oh, hello, missus white alicorn. I was just going over the dimensional teleportation algorithm I came up with to make sure that I did, indeed, go across dimensions, rather than just traveling across the universe and landing on an alternate planet. This is as far as I got though. Say, I already used all my chalk. I don’t suppose you have anymore?” The human looked once more at the stone surface behind him, then turned to face Celestia again. “And perhaps a new wall to go with it?”

“Umm... Tell you what...” Celestia paused with uncertainty as she looked at the creature, this was indeed quite a unique meeting. “Sorry, what is your name again? I don’t remember you ever giving one.”

“Oh, I don’t have one. I decided to ditch the last name I had and I haven’t settled on a new one to start calling myself. I briefly considered ‘Hamilton’, but I decided that I didn’t want to share a name with the inventor and entrepreneur of the digital clock, so I ditched that one. Then I considered ‘Sherlock’, but I decided that that would be a little presumptuous of me to take that name, so I never really did end up choosing one.”

“So, you don’t have a name then?” The human nodded his head in response. “Right; that’s rather intriguing, I suppose.” Celestia paused for a moment in thought before she continued. “If you tell me what you are, I will get you some more pieces of chalk and a larger, emptier wall. Deal?” she asked with a suspicious glare at the human, whom seemed completely ignorant of the look. He took on a thoughtful expression for a second before shrugging.

“Sure, can’t hurt I suppose. Would you like to know about the basic nature of human beings or would you prefer a physical explanation?”

“Humans. Hmm, I think a behavioral explanation would be of the most help right now.”

“Right then.” The man stopped as he tapped his chin and thought for a moment. “I suppose I’ll have to start with angels. Do you know what an angel is?” The shake of the head from the white alicorn prompted a further explanation. “Well, angels are beings of good who have the ability to call upon the unrestrained power of the cosmos to accomplish whatever is required to achieve the greatest good.”

“And your telling me this, why?” Celesia asked as her curiosity grew.

“Well you see, the paths that angels fear to tread, those are paths that we humans walk daily. Not because we are stronger than the angels, neither is it because we work for a greater good. No. The reason we walk these paths is because, despite all the intellect that we claim to have as a race, we are far more ignorant than any other living creatures. We kill each other for petty things such as land or oil. Then, on the following day, we preach to love your neighbor and donate to the charities of the lands we destroyed. Or at least we did.”

“Did?” Celestia managed to say was she tried to wrap her mind around a race that was devoted to destruction and hypocrisy. Realizing that the gaze of nearby guards had turned to her, she took a deep breath and steadied her expression in the pause of the conversation that the man had given her.

When the princess had gathered herself, the biped continued. “We decided to make larger and larger weapons, eventually making a double-edged sword so large it cleaved the entirety of the human race into shreds. I am the last lone survivor of our horrible planet.”

A chill ran down Celestia’s spine as the man explained what he saw humans to be. She didn’t trust the man’s words, but something about them rang true. Regardless, a promise was a promise and her horn flashed twice. The first time put the man inside another empty cell, this one more rectangular with an accessible brick wall about three times the size of what he had in the previous room. The second flash conjured a box of a dozen white pieces of untouched chalk into his cell.

The white alicorn began to cast a different spell to get back to her duties for the day, having spent a fair amount of time recharging her magic and being in a relative hurry. The human had given her more information then she had expected to receive and she wanted to have some free time to think about it. I should talk to Luna about coming down here and checking out this diagram; she always was the more scientifically involved of the two of us.

Just as the spell was about to be cast, a shout echoed to her from the cell where she had placed the human. “Thank you, Princess. This should keep me occupied for an hour or two!”

Did a prisoner in my dungeon, that comes from a place where they kill each other without thought, just thank me for giving him chalk? Celestia thought to herself with a smile on her face. “Thank you for the information, whoever you are. It was very helpful." The words that Celestia spoke were in a soft voice. Despite that, it still managed to echo to the ears of the human, who smiled in response before getting to work on the new blank wall that sat at the back of his cell. She didn't trust him, but then again, he hadn't really done anything that should make her doubt his word if his teleport was truly accidental. She would have to make sure Luna asked him about how he had appeared in her room and see if he stuck to his previous statement. With that decided, a large flash of light signaled the alicorn’s departure.

Chapter Two

The man sat easily on the wooden bench that had been in his cell before he had arrived. His fingers were interlocked and his half-lidded, glazed over eyes stared to the cell opposite his own. Nothing was in the cell that he glared at, yet the man merely remained in this odd state, regardless of what occurred in front of him. It had only been mere hours since Celestia had left, and yet a wide chalk drawing was splayed across the wall behind him. The diagram itself was advanced beyond any of the guards’ comprehension and would draw confused looks from the ponies who would stop to look at it. One particular guard glared at the depiction for a solid hour, tilting his head every which way to try and decipher it like a puzzle, before walking more confused then he had been to start with for his efforts.

The thoughts of the man were far outside his own metal cell and were busy working out several different theories in his mind. After several minutes of this, the man stood abruptly, gathering the attention of the nearby guards. The man reached into his coat and pulled out a small rectangular prism, the outside of which was composed of steel. The cell wardens all raised eyebrows at this sudden movement, but no one made action to stop him. The man placed the rectangular device against the wall and wiped it back and forth across a section of the stone. As it did so, it left behind a blank wall, completely devoid of chalk dust. The guards’ looks of curiosity turned to those of surprise.

With a smile to himself, the man opened a back panel of the rectangular device and withdrew a piece of chalk. The man then placed the invention back into the spot he had originally retrieved it from. With the newly acquired chalk, the man replaced the section of the diagram that he had erased with a different string of numbers and turned away from the finished product with a cry of ‘aha’. The guards all flinched slightly at the sudden exclamation, a few shirking away or remaining silent, and all but one eyed the man warily.

The one guard who didn’t approached the cell and decided to speak to the odd creature. “How did you do that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a unicorn cast that spell before.”

The man turned to face the armored pegasus pony and began to speak. “Oh, that was no spell, I assure you. That, my dear friend, was my chalk recycler. It operates using a containment field to capture an amount of air equal to double the mass of the chalkdust. This in turn is compressed so tightly that the chalk is forced back into a singular object. A little more purely mechanical compression and the chalk takes a completely solid appearance. Invented it to save on chalk. Things like that run out fast when they can no longer be produced. Or, in the case of this, not easily reproduced. Recycling of such material is essential to the continued use of the object in mention.” The creature replied, almost completely ignoring the presence of the pony at all and speaking mostly to himself.

At the man’s mentions that it wasn’t a spell, the guard tilted his head before hesitantly nodding and walking away from the biped. The human seemed not to notice and once more dropped himself onto the seat in the cell again, a manic grin on his face as his mind began to fall back into its normal rhythms of thought. As rushing words of advanced mathematical equations slowly dissolved from his mind, the man began to hear an ongoing conversation between a pair of guards in the distance discussing something.

“Did you hear that Luna is going to be coming down here tonight to talk to the hairless ape? I can’t believe she thinks she can walk around the castle after what she did, and Celestia doesn’t even do anything about it.” The creature almost completely ignored the insult. He was much more intent upon the other words that had been spoken.

“What’s wrong with princess Luna?” replied a second voice, echoing a question the man himself would have posed.

“You didn’t hear?” There was a break in the speech where the man assumed the other stallion shook his head. “She decimated entire wings of the castle a year ago. Celestia claims that she was under some kind of possession by an ancient entity of the dark, but if you ask me I think she is just trying to cover for her sister.”

The voices died off as they walked away, but the man’s intrigue was peaked at the words and he eagerly awaited a chance to talk to this Princess Luna. He assumed Celestia to be the white alicorn he had talked to earlier that day. With a smile to himself, the man laid out on the bench in the prison as he closed his eyes. Without sight to distract him, the sound of clockwork beat at the inside of his eardrums and the man smiled even wider. “Perhaps things can still work out for the best, clear as clockwork and all that.”

It was several hours later, after the sun had set beyond the horizon, that the approaching sound of hoofsteps and guards backing away from the staircase announced the arrival of the lunar princess to the dungeon. The man smiled at the approaching alicorn whose room he had fell into at dawn of this day. She merely glanced back at him with an unamused glare before she caught sight of the wall behind him. A surprised gasp escaped her lips at the sight and several of the nearby guards turned to the blue alicorn with raised eyebrows.

“What is this?” The alicorn said in a calm tone after she had managed to compose herself. Purposefully ignoring the guards, she specified her question by adding some detail to what she was asking. “I like to think myself well versed in the areas of magical matrices but, I must admit that this is rather... unique.”

“No wonder you’re confused then. This diagram uses no magic in its system. It runs primarily on steam and radioactive resurgence.” The blue alicorn gave him a confused glare which, by this point in time, the inventor had grown tired of. “You see, where I come from, we lack any form of magic. To make up for this, we entirely devoted ourselves to the evolution of our technology. I was considered one of the best in my field when the world ended and, after a few dozen years or so, I realized that I could make a dimensional jump to escape from my world.”

The alicorn returned a doubtful glare to the man in the cage. In response, the man jerked to his feet. Luna backed away from the cell in response as the man approached the bars and smiled at her.

“I have a more important question however. The marks on your flanks, they represent what you are good at, I assume? May I ask what you and Celestia do to have marks of the moon and sun, respectively?”

“I raise the moon for each night and Celestia raises the sun for each day.” Luna responded hesitantly.

The man emitted a barking laugh that caused Luna to flinch. His next words were barely understandable amidst his jarring exclamations. “So your names are directly tied to what you do?” The lunar princess nodded in response and the man laughed once more.

“And, pray tell, what is so funny exactly?” The princess responded indignantly.

“I think I know what you should call me for a name. It’s based on your naming conventions, so it should work just fine for you.” The man paused for dramatic effect before he spoke again.

“My name will be Inventor, because that is what I do. I invent things.” He seemed to find this hilarious and he broke into another barking laugh. Luna stood nearby looking at the creature with unsurety. When it became obvious his tirade of laughing wasn’t going to end soon, she shifted her gaze once more to the characters that covered the stone wall. The symbols danced across her mind. Occasionally, she would notice a piece of writing that seemed familiar, but all in all the diagram merely looked like a collection of alien symbols.

Luna didn’t realize how long she stood there trying to make heads or tails out of this scribbled babble. She was brought back to herself when she realized it was silent. She blinked and turned her gaze to the man who was looking at her. His eyes were different though; they seemed to belong to someone completely different than a moment ago. The deep wells looked back at the blue alicorn and all she could see in them was a kind of morbid intelligence. “My apologies. Things haven’t exactly turned out as I wished them to. Insanity is my normal coping mechanism, you see.”

The gaze of the princess shifted slightly to look away from those eyes. “Why do you hide behind it?”

“Because my sanity is far too much like myself; it runs away when it’s confronted by something it doesn’t want to deal with. And, sorry to inform you, magic casting ponies was not something that I was quite ready to deal with when I came out of that portal,” the man said, his eyes unmoving.

Silence reigned for a few moments. “I think I should go,” Luna said, hoping that the meager lame excuse would allow her reason enough to leave. She wanted a reason to get away from those cold, haunted eyes that seemed to gaze into her soul. When no words were forthcoming from the man, she left hurriedly.

As she ascended the stairs, the lunar princess found herself far more intrigued by the mysterious man than by the drawings he had placed onto the wall behind him. It was such a strange creature. Celestia had informed her sister of the information that she had gleaned from the man when she had spoken to him. Despite that, the lunar princess found herself in complete surprise.

He completely shifted attitudes at the end of that interaction. He isn't similar to ponies at all, from what I can tell, and he certainly doesn't seem like the humans that he described. What even is he? Luna pondered as she advanced up the stairs. Her destination was not any of the several she wished it to be, but rather a meeting with Celestia and the council. They were to decide what was to be done about the Inventor. His appearance was suspicious due to the reports of a threat against Canterlot, and, as such, the matter of an alien appearing in one of the princess’ rooms required steady handling and fair judgement.

Still lost in thought, Luna walked into the meeting room and took her seat in a dark wood throne next to her sister’s, made of a white wood. Celestia turned to view her sister and gave her a comforting smile before she turned to the assembled mass of ponies that represented the council.

“Hello, my dear councillors. We have gathered to discuss the punishment for a strange creature who-”

“His name is Inventor,” Luna said absentmindedly while she was lost in thought, drawing a look of confusion from her sister. Realizing that she had just subconsciously grabbed the attention of the entire group of assembled ponies, the lunar princess attempted to make herself sound as royal as she could. “He has decided to make his name known, to be called Inventor while in our land.” Luna turned to look at her sister after she spoke and saw an encouraging nod.

“Thank you, sister,” Celestia said with a smile. “We have gathered today to discuss the punishment for one, Mr. Inventor. He was found trespassing into my sister’s room at dawn this morning and claimed to have accidentally travelled cross-dimensionally into the area. I have informed you all of what he had told me and I would like to hear the council’s judgement in the punishment of the creature.”

A gray stallion near the front of the group, the designated speaker for this meeting, stood from his seat and coughed lightly. “It is the opinion of this group that the creature in question be put to death.” The alicorn sisters were both hit by a wave of surprise at the judgement. They both hid it behind expressions of practiced calmness however, and the stallion continued on with his speech to the alicorns.

“He trespassed in the princess’ room, that, by the rules set in place by the previous council members, is punishable by death. Given the situation that the town is in currently...” The gray stallion paused to glance out the window to the pink barrier that surrounded Canterlot. “We have decided that the death of this creature will be a sign to the populace that the city is safe and that any of the violators of the law will be dealt with.”

It was at this point that Luna lost her calm demeanor and spoke loudly to all the assembled. “He has spoken to me recently and has said that his dimensional travel uses not magic, but rather technology, which may allow for my sister’s observation about the creature’s lack of power.” The grey stallion looked ready to speak but Luna pressed on. “In addition to this, what idea are we sending to other creatures who may seek to find us from alternate dimensions? Do we really want to kill the first creature, this ‘Inventor’, on such petty decisions as this? What would the people think of the matter?” As she finished, several of the council seemed to take heed of her words and began to talk amongst themselves.

“You make a mistake, princess of the night,” the stallion replied calmly. “Even if it weren’t for the current situation which is before us, even if we were in a time of peace, he fact remains that this creature fully admits that he hails from a land that has destroyed itself with war and unabridged death. I think it wise to dispose of such a creature before he can bring such nightmares to our peaceful land.”

The lunar princess tried to rebuttal, but found her words missing. She glanced pleadingly to her sister who refused to look back. With a regretful tone, the white alicorn spoke, “It is by my right as Celestia, princess of the sun, that this creature be put to death in two days time. This break in time will be to avoid anything that may interfere with the wedding. All in favor of this decree, vote aye.” Her words were answered as nearly the entire council responded in favor. Luna merely sat in her throne and looked at the polished stone floor beneath her.

“Then so is the decree, Inventor shall be hung from the neck until dead. The act shall be done in the town square at the appointed time and will be overseen by myself and my sister, should she wish to join me.” The white alicorn finished and looked at the black wood throne. Her sister was gone, having disappeared with a silent teleportation spell.

Celestia envied her sister for how well she could control her magic, as her own power had more brute force while her sister’s was more subtle. While Celestia had been alone without her sister, it was true that she had moved both sun and moon, but at night the stars never moved. Nights were always the same regardless of how Celestia tried to affect them.

Deep in the castle, Luna found herself near the prison cells and decided to let the madman know his fate. As she approached, she stepped lightly to avoid waking any of the nearby ponies and, when she arrived at Inventor’s cell, she found him wide awake and looking over the equation on the wall.

“Inventor,” Luna said softly as she looked at the man. Despite what he had done, Luna had never been in favor of the death penalty. It was one of the laws she had tried to change upon returning. Her efforts were constantly foiled by the council however, and the law had remained in place, much to the blue alicorn’s chagrin.

The man turned slowly to face the blue mare and a grin spread across his face. “Ah, you’re the first to call me by that name, you know. I’ll admit it’s starting to grow on me already. Has a nice little ring to it I think. Makes me feel like I’m actually a part of this world.” At the man’s words, the blue alicorn moved her gaze to the ground and tried to keep herself from tearing up, causing his gaze to turn to one of worry as his demeanor changed once again. Back, were his old, sad eyes that seemed to have seen the entirety of the horrors of the universe.

Why do I care so much about this creature? It snuck into my room and could have easily done me harm, so why do I feel so bad about it dying? the princess pondered as she managed to raise her gaze and look into the deep emotional eyes of the man. “It is my regret to inform you that, by order of the council, you shall be put to death in two days time.” She got a response she didn’t expect to receive, as the creature began to bark short laughs once again. She was about to ask him if he were okay when she recalled it was a coping mechanism.

“I have to admit, this will certainly be interesting. I would like to brag that I have experienced just about everything, but death will be a completely new experience to me. Could certainly solve just about every hypothesis on the matter. Would be nice to have those off of my mind,” Inventor said with a manic smile cracked across his face. When he looked to the alicorn again, his eyes seemed to be dancing with his insanity.

It was too much for the blue alicorn. She began to lightly cry openly at the man’s cell and his look turned serious once more. “It’s alright, Luna. Honestly, you ponies are way too mushy for your own good. Be tough. Be strong,” the man said to the blue alicorn. She slowly blinked the tears out of her eyes and looked to the man.

“But you're going to die and I can’t help but feel that it is my fault for it. You didn’t mean to show up in my room, and yet that doesn’t seem to matter to the others. Just because of the threat on the city, you’re going to die and there is nothing I can do to avoid it,” Luna said as tears continued their attempts to fall.

She hadn’t cried in a long time. Her emotions while she was on the moon had always been distant and, when she returned, she hadn’t experienced anything truly devastating. But right now, in this feeling of helplessness and desperation, her resolve had shattered under the stress of emotions she hadn’t felt in a thousand years. Due to this, the lunar princess now found herself crying to a creature from another dimension. She would have been ashamed of herself, if crying didn’t feel so good right now, so right.

“Shh, no harm done, Luna.” The alicorn looked at the man with a confused glance. “You did all you could to stop it right?” The blue mare nodded. “Then there is nothing to be so sad about; you did your best and that’s all that can be asked of you.”

“Why are you being so nice? You’ve been sentenced to death and your consoling your executioner. Is this a human thing?”

“Nah, it’s just who I am. I always thought I would be my own executioner, so I feel I need to comfort the person who has to do my job for me.”

After a few more minutes in the silence of the dungeons at night, the princess stood straight and looked at the man. “Thank you Inventor. I didn’t mean for you to see me like that when I came down here tonight.” The man saw the strength of resolve return to the eyes of the mare and smiled in return. With barely a flash of light and no sound what so ever, the alicorn found herself on the balcony that overlooked the majority of Canterlot. Though lost in thought, she still heard a clattering of hoofsteps from the streets below and called out.

“Who goes there?” With a glance, the blue alicorn made out the form of her sister’s student rushing to a building. Her nerves were on end as she watched the young mare gallop across the open space of the plaza.

Few ponies would listen to the lunar princess and even fewer would take into consideration what she had to say. With this in mind, Luna half-heartedly called out a meager warning to the lavender unicorn. “Stay indoors, Twilight Sparkle.”

(I made a small character jump in regards to the character of a... character... in this story, but I believe I handled the reason for it pretty well. If you disagree, please say so in the comments and tell me what seemed off to you. Thanks again for reading my fic and make sure to tell anyone you think may be interested in it. Now lets see if I can't manage to sleep tonight. Oh, and don't think I don't see you there Staple, sitting underneath my A/N. -N64Fan)

(And then the editor showed up and edited the author’s note as well. You wouldn’t believe how many times I second guess myself with this man’s work. -StapleCactus)

Chapter Three

At the dawn of the day Luna was still watching over the city of Canterlot from her balcony, lost in thought, when Celestia approached to take over for the day. As the sun princess approached she noticed the signs that her sister had been crying during the night, a shaking back, distracted glances, avoiding eye contact. The younger princess had always been the more childishly pure of the two and she could barely bring herself to watch even the smallest amount of pain in her subjects. Though the ponies below never knew of it.

“I am sorry for what is going to happen to Inventor. You understand the way things are though, don’t you?” Celestia said as she looked to her younger sister, sisterly care flowing from her words. All in an attempt that she might console her sister and bring her back to the point of talking with her, the lack of conversation between them for the past day had nearly driven Celestia up the wall with worry. In the end the white alicorn had decided that Luna need some time to think because, despite the age differences 'twixt the two sisters, the white alicorn felt the princess of the night had the greater of the emotional struggles.

“I can’t say I do sister, I return from my banishment and apologize to everypony I see. Yet despite my best efforts everypony aside from you and the Elements all treat me with distrust. Even if it isn’t openly I can see it behind their eyes, in their dreams of the day, they all fear me. Now I am forced to watch while an innocent being is put to death for some political agenda because I don't hold enough respect to have a say in the matter. So excuse me if I withhold my enthusiasm.” Replied Luna in a cold, deadpan tone as she turned to look at her sister, her bloodshot eyes removing all doubt in the solar sister’s mind in regards to how Luna felt.

“I have to give this one to the Council, I remember when they were originally formed it was to help me adjust to dealing with your absence. In a short time however they advanced to being the voice of the general populace. After you returned it took all I had to convince them that you were no threat, this result of me ignoring their advice has put us in a rough position. If I were to ignore them again on such a large topic as this I don't know how the ponies of Canterlot might react, so if the price of keeping you as my sister is to put to death some maniac from a mass-murdering race who teleported into your room then so be it.” The white alicorn responded with a tone of finality ringing in her voice.

“Sister, why are ponies so much more different now than they were when I left, I remember them being wonderful creatures that tried their best to help one another and all living creatures around them, much like Fluttershy and the other Elements. What changed in these thousand years to shift their personality so drastically?” Luna asked, her tone soft as she blinked her eyes to try and clear them of the bloodshot that was so obvious on her features.

“Over time, my dear sister, over that time society unbalanced itself. Ponies still care for one another but it has evolved to almost become strictly amongst other ponies. I’ll admit that when I found the elements not only did I hope that they would be able to free you from your curse but I also hoped that, with you back at my side, together we might turn the ideals back to how they once were.” Celestia paused and glanced sorrowfully at Luna before she continued to speak. “However, if I deny the council again, and so soon, there's a chance that the citizens might rebel. If that were to happen we wouldn’t be able to do anything to return to the norm.”

When Celestia finished Luna silently abandoned her post and proceeded towards the tower, on the way she stopped briefly at her sister’s side to speak a few quiet words to her before she continued. “But if you no longer exemplify those morales you want so desperately to fulfill, then aren't you at as much fault as them?” Celestia balked at this but had no answer as Luna continued past her and descended the spiral staircase of the tower.

The mind of the lunar princess was frazzled at all the different events that seemed to be occurring without her attention and now they were all much too large to stop. As she retired for the day her mind drifted to what she was to do. In such a state of inner turmoil she couldn’t fall asleep and as such was wide awake to answer the call for help from her city.

Inventor saw the remainder of the night pass uneventfully. The guards walked their paths through the dungeon, the man himself joining in to keep the watch on the prisons as the moon began to set behind to horizon. Sleep was but a faint memory to the man, he hadn’t had an opportunity to rest in the past few years and figured that if he was to be put to death soon he may as well stay awake for the remainder of his short life. Despite his wakefulness he never moved, he remained on the bench with his fingers interlocked and his gaze set on the far wall. It had become a habit really, gazing emptily into space.

As he did this his mind shifted wildly between insanity and sanity, this voluntary shift in mental health afforded him unique views on the separate theories he had running through his mind that others of his area of expertise couldn’t see. Sometimes the eyes of a madman and the hands of a genius are all it takes to change the world, most of the time that was what the world needed, change. Without it people would grow bored and stagnant, they fell to sloth, sloth lead to greed and greed led to wrath and before you knew it everyone had nukes, far too many nukes. It was in doing what wasn’t expected, but only when it was needed, that you could save entire species.

What the man did not expect was to be dragged from his thoughts sometime in the early morning as a guard approached his cell. The man’s concentration broke from the inner workings of the mind as he looked to the pony; Moments passed as the man tried to recall why the pony looked familiar Inventor realized it was the guard who had asked him about his chalk recycler. Or at least, he appeared to be at first sight, upon closer inspection he realized that something was off about the stallion’s eyes, they didn’t reflect the same way they had before. Before Inventor could ponder on it too much the stallion had unlocked his cell door and gestured for him to exit the prison.

When Inventor had left the cell door he looked curiously at the guard who returned a wide grin. Caught slightly off guard the man managed a few questioning words that rang with the same tone of suspicion that was echoing around his mind, “What are you doing this for exactly?”

“The queen would like to set free the prisoner so he may cause havoc and confusion in the upcoming battle.” Responded the not-quite-a-pony pony as it looked to the man who stood at about double its own height. The disguise fell away in a sudden burst of green flame to reveal a black creature that looked at the man with compound eyes. The man was unimpressed at the appearance swap and the creature paused for a moment, almost in disappointment, before speaking in a crackling tone, “The queen would like to know what you are going to do now that you are free.”

“Well, since I’m a fickle human, I could care less about favors and more about what is right. I wasn’t originally like that you know? But eh, a hundred years in a wasteland of your own making can really change a guy's point of view.” The human’s eyes began to shift to insanity as he took a pause before continuing. “I think that, given what you so foolishly told me, I will go and help the princesses with this coming battle you spoke of, can hardly hurt my situation right?”

When he finished the strange creature took to the air on its translucent wings and lunged at the man aggressively, enraged that the being had the gal to defy the queen. Its horn lowered as it flew through the air, trying to go for a skewer on the man. Much to the surprise of the creature the man returned with a lunge, his palm held to his side. As he thrust toward the creature a manic grin was plastered across his face and the hive mind briefly shuddered at the insanity in the expression, even the queen was slightly scared by the creature. She quickly disregarded the fear though, under the pretense that the man would fall to the sheer size of her army should he try anything. Her first mistake, perhaps if she had more of her subjects with her in the wedding room things would have gone differently...

The horn of the changeling dug deep into the man’s flesh and out to the side of his face, leaving a wound that delved far below the surface of his skin, yet left only a thin wound in his flesh. The man seemed not to notice the strike as he completed his movement and forced his palm hard into the creature’s chest. As his hand connected the man let loose a throaty exclamation that, to him, was a warcry. He had been given a few opportunities to use it while he was in the wasteland and not a single one had gone to waste. Regardless of the exclamation of the man the blow did just as it was intended to and it knocked the wind from the changeling’s lungs while also sending it tumbling into a cell.

With a smile the man locked the cell of the newly imprisoned creature shut and exited the room, the insanity of his mind still dancing in his eyes and a rivulet of blood moving down his face. The man took note of the lack of guards on the way up but he continued on anyway, an overall sense of excitement being his sole motivation. The man reached the ground floor just in time to see a swarm of the insectoid creatures bust in through the giant doors that composed the entrance to the castle. Much to the dismay of the gathered guard who had tried to keep it closed. It seemed the battle had started, something must have rushed forward the invasion.

The changelings began to swoop at the guards who fought back as best they could. The guard may have never have been tested in actual combat but they managed a fair amount of strikes on the changelings. As the chaos ensued Inventor found one of the guards who he had seen was in charge of the others. He approached the commander quietly, dropped his altitude to avoid giving away who he was, and quickly asked where both of the princesses had gone off to.

“Luna went off the help the citizens as soon as the threat became apparent, and last I heard Celestia was in still in the wedding room. Meanwhile the Elements are left by themselves to retrieve the artifacts, if we can’t hold the castle though it won’t do use any good. It needs to be clear if they wish to return” The captain responded as he managed to cut a changeling across the chest..

With a nod to the pony Inventor ran past the gathering crowd of guards and into the massive threshold that composed the doorway of the castle. “HELLO, CANTERLOT!” The man bellowed with a voice much louder then looked possible for him to produce. His call of the location came from his own remembering of the location he had heard a few of the guards talking about, the man could only hope he had the right place. Luckily the shout was loud enough to pause the battle between the soldiers and the insects who all looked at him in an interim of silence, shocked by this creature. “WHO TAKES THE ELEMENTS, TAKES EQUESTRIA. BUT BAD NEWS EVERYBODY, BECAUSE GUESS WHO?”

The man paused to inhale, speaking with this much volume took a lot out of him in regards to oxygen as well as energy, running low on both of those the man dropped his intensity, though he was still audible to all present. “Now, question of the hour is, who is going to help Luna and Celestia save the town. Answer? I am, So come and get me you flying pieces of swiss cheese!” This statement was enough of a taunt to grab the overall mind of the hive and they quickly redirected their attacks to the man who turned to leave. This left the castle completely unoccupied by the creatures, much to the surprise of the guards. Wasting no time the stallions began to set up defences once again.

The man was running within the second, running faster than he had in at least two whole days. The changelings were beginning to gain ground regardless of his efforts however and the man began to take sharp turns in an attempt to lose them. After many such turns he eventually made it to the town surrounding the castle and came across the princess herself, Luna. She was worn from her work and was defending a group of civilians who the swarm had initiated on. Though she was doing an amazing job of defending them she was still tiring, the effects of the battle evident on her face. Fighting fiercely regardless of her fatigue until a glob of green goo landed about her legs, leaving the princess immobile. In this state a changeling charged towards her from behind, going for the killing blow.

Luna sensed the approaching creature and flinched in anticipation for the blow that didn’t come, after a second of silence the lunar princess tore through the goo at her hooves and turned to see what had saved her, her eyes were met with the sight of Inventor throwing a stunned changeling into a larger collection of them, some moved to catch the body, others moved out of the way. With the time it bought them the man and the alicorn found themselves back to back as they waited for the rebuttal.

“Well at least they are few right now.” The alicorn said over her shoulder to the man, as she did so the fresh wave of the creatures that had been following the man crested up from behind a building and sped towards them, when she glanced back at the man his face was covered with his insane smile and a pair of goggles covered his eyes.

“Time for some fighting Luna, want to take wagers on who can beat up the most of these things?” The alicorn was stunned silent before she turned away from the man with a cold disapproval. In curiosity about her silence he turned around to talk to her when he got a look of the civilians she was protecting, among the group was a mother, a father, and two foals. Inventor didn’t respond to the looks of fear that they gave him instead choosing to focus on the approaching enemies.

The creature's began to take the forms of ponies as they approached but this did little to deter the man as the new wave of changelings reached the pair. Both him and the alicorn broke into a blur of movement, the princess’s dexterous magic struck down changelings after changelings only to find that another had filled their place. She was slightly put off by this until she heard a deep rough voice shouting words behind her, the man’s intelligent eyes were back and he carefully applied force to each of the oncoming changelings, they would either careen off course or would dodge his blow. Inspired by the man’s spirit and morale the princess picked up her pace. Both beings fought defensively, deterring blows in an effort to protect the ponies between them.

It had been several minutes of this and both of the defenders were growing tired, it was at this time that Luna spotted an opening appear in their lines as Inventor tossed a changeling over his shoulder and past Luna’s vision, “GO!” He shouted loudly, the alicorn picked up the family with her magic and ran out of the swarm and toward the building nearest them. With a jerk of her magic the door opened and Luna moved the ponies inside the house. When they were safely inside Luna turned once again to help Inventor fight against the swarm but felt a shove on her flank before she tumbled unceremoniously into the building as well and the door slammed shut behind her. She immediately tried to teleport out and help the man but she found herself too weak to do so after all the fighting she had subjected herself to, in addition to this attempting to push the door open only resulted in a strong resistance against the act.

With a steely determination the blue alicorn began to gather her magic and prep for her magic spell, just as she was about to cast it a wave of pink shot from the castle and flew over the entirety of the castle, the noise from the other side of the door faded away. With a moment to gather her thoughts the blue alicorn teleported directly past the door and outside of the building where she found the man lying against the door. To say that his attempt to protect the ponies had resulted in damage would be an understatement, several bleeding wounds, caused by the horns of the changelings, covered the man from head to toe. There was no audible breathing from the creature and rivers of blood poured from the variety of cuts and bruises that decorated his skin.

The alicorn had tilted her head in respect for the man’s sacrifice when a soft laugh caught her ears, it quickly grew in volume and Luna looked at Inventor incredulously. When his laugh reached a pitch that screeched against her ears the man began to cough up blood, only to be laughing again before too long. The laugh was rough and coarse on her mind and the alicorn hit the man across the face with her hoof to stop the noise as well as try to knock some sense into him before she realized what she was doing. After that action he fell silent for a few moments before he attempted to stand, blood surged from his wounds and he managed to fall off to the side of the doorway.

“Inventor!” Luna called in worry and disbelief as he leaned against the wall of the building, a red smear on the cobblestones marking his path.

“You should really-” Inventor paused as he coughed up more blood into his hand, “You should really get them back to their house through teleportation. Something tells me that bloodstained monsters aren’t the best thing for foals to see.” He managed, his arms fell limp at his sides and he gazed up at the sky.

“I would recommend you do it now, don’t want them wondering what happened to their savior and princess.” Inventor said as he looked to the mare out of the corner of his eye. She merely returned a glare at the man who was breathing heavily as he lost blood onto the street. “Oh come on, with any luck this will kill me and you won’t have to see me killed by the justice you don’t seem to agree with.” The mare still hesitated at his words and the man looked at her. He needed her to leave, she shouldn’t be seeing him like this, with that pain in her eyes.

With the intention to get her to leave the man pulled his ultimatum, “If you don’t leave me and take care of your subjects I will end my life right here Luna, and the blood will be on your hooves.” He glared at her, his cold eyes unmoving and uncaring. Luna was stunned but slowly made her way back into the house and looked at the ponies within. The mother was holding the babies close to herself while the father was standing between his family and the door. When the door opened he crouched low into a fighting stance but relaxed as he noticed it was Luna.

The blue mare stopped as she closed the door behind her and looked to the ground, organizing her thoughts. After a few moments of silence she raised her gaze to the family and smiled lightly before speaking. “We should get you home, I’m sure that today has been quite trying for you and your foals.” As she mentioned the children her gaze drifted to them and she noticed that they had fallen sound asleep. “I’ll teleport you home if you would kindly give me your address.”

The stallion looked at her indignantly before he spoke, “We can walk home thank you very much.” he said and marched to the door, Luna remained unmoving as she stood between the stallion and his exit. “Move aside.” The stallion said cooly, Luna looked at him with eyes full of sadness and despair, regardless she moved to the side.

The stallion, thinking he had won the argument, marched out the door and paused just beyond the threshold. After a few moments of silence he returned to the house and glared at Luna from under his eyebrows, “1300, Narish Road” He said as he stood next to his family. Luna nodded sadly in return and a ball of blue magic formed at the tip of her horn, just before it was cast the stallion spoke again. “Tell him thank you for me, I owe him my family...” With another nod to the stallion the spell was cast. It softly settled around the family and teleported them back to their house.

With a sigh the lunar princess once again exited the house. Upon her exit the alicorn turned to look at the man smeared with blood and covered in wounds, as the mare did she noticed he had once again stopped moving his limbs, leaving his arms limp at his side. Unlike previously though his chest was now rising and falling with his breaths. She was about to ask him a question when she was preemptively cut off by a snore. He’s sleeping after that? I suppose he deserves it though, after the insane acts that he did today. Thought Luna to herself.

Deciding that the man needed medical treatment as soon as possible but finding herself unable to perform spells after all that, she lifted the man onto her back and trotted toward the nearest hospital. If the man had been awake he would have said that the trip to the hospital and the wounds that covered his body had been worth it just to see the looks on the faces of the hospital staff as she approached. When Luna attempted to get assistance for the man a unicorn doctor closed the flesh wounds of the man to staunch the blood flow, but refused to attempt any healing that may have occurred internally.

After the excursion to the hospital Luna took the man back to the castle. Upon entering the castle door the princess immediately redirected her trek towards her own personal chambers, which sat at the top floor of the castle. As the duo made their way to the room several guards looked at them with cold glares. Luna was used to these, among them however were several looks she had not seen from the guards. A look of respect appeared on several of the guard’s face as they saw the two pass.

Upon entering the room Luna gently levitated the man onto the silken bedspread and arranged a pillow behind him. The wet blood on his clothes rubbed off on the sheets but Luna didn't mind. She could always get them cleaned. After assuring herself that the man was carefully laid out upon the bed Luna looked once more around the blue room and departed via the balcony.

As she flew from the room the man opened his eyes and rolled up the sleeve of one arm, a shiny reflection danced across the man’s vision. Ignoring the light he grabbed a hold of a handle that rested against his arm, with a grunt of exertion a switch was flipped and a whirring noise issued from the arm. Inventor managed to roll the sleeve back down over his odd limb and fell into a light sleep once again.

As he fell into his rest for the second time a blue alicorn approached a wedding party, more specifically she approached her sister of the sun who stood next to the bearers of the elements of harmony. Luna had several questions and information flowing around in her brain as she landed next to Celestia but, seeing that Cadence and Shining Armor were enjoying a dance, the princess of the moon decided that it could be put off until a more appropriate time. Instead as she landed she smiled and said, with a joking tone, “Hello everypony, did I miss anything?”

(Being half asleep is not the best time to edit a story... or write it.. or pre-read it...
Also! I just came out with a plot that should last me another chapter or two. So, If have a bone to pick with how the ponies are acting like selfish punks then I would like you to wait until the next chapter before you jump on my face with a dagger and a rope, maybe a candlestick.. revolver? W/E I’ll be in the library with the colonel. -N64Fan)

Chapter Four

As Luna went about her business that night distractions would not come easily to her mind. The result was that she eventually found herself pacing back and forth across the balcony of her now empty room, Inventor having been awoken and taken back to the dungeon for security purposes. She hadn’t told Celestia about Inventor saving her life, there simply hadn’t been time. Now though, in the dead of night, the blue alicorn couldn’t get it out of her mind. As she paced she looked out over the city and a thought came to her mind.

“That- that might just work.” Luna said to herself and paused her nervous trotting for a moment as her thoughts ran through her head like rabbits on Pinkie’s cupcakes. After her pause the lunar princess nodded once to herself and then took a running jump off of the balcony. She fell freely for a moment and enjoyed the air rushing over her body, after another moment longer her strong wings rocketed from her side and the princess flew out into the nighttime darkness of Canterlot.

On the morning after the changeling attack the entirety of the council found themselves called to the meeting room by request of princess Luna. More than a few of the assembled group of ponies seemed irritated by the requested meeting so soon after the large events of the day immediately prior, believing that they had meetings of larger importance to attend. In addition to this annoying call the vast majority of the gathered group believed they already knew what the meeting had been called for, given who had called it. When Celestia entered the gathered ponies attempted to get her to confirm it but no information was disclosed as the solar princess claimed she was as in the dark as the rest of the council.

The grey unicorn stallion, who had once again been selected as speaker of the house, had just stood to leave when the door to the room swung open and Luna entered. Despite the regal authority she presented it was obvious she had gotten little to no sleep the day before, undoubtedly due to the changeling attack. With a purposeful stride the lunar princess entered the room, Inventor emerging from the shadows at her heels as he entered the room also. The man's body was still covered in scars from the day previous though the majority weren't visible under his clothing which had been stitched back together via spare cloth and a needle while he had been in the dungeon.

“What is the meaning of this Luna? We have sentenced him to death and you bring him here for some convoluted reason? I declare that this meeting is adjourned due to the erroneous purpose for which it was called.” The grey stallion said with a snarl as he began to move in the direction of the door.

“Sit down.” Luna said to the stallion, her voice cold and dark. The stallion hesitated, having to choose between the authority the princess claimed and his own stubbornness. Luckily for the stallion he ultimately decided to humor the lunar princess and lowered himself back into his seat. “I have come to inform the council, as well as my sister, that this man saved my life yesterday. An act for which I think he should be pardoned from his death sentence.”

“We can’t allow that your highness, he may inflict the pain and torture that he described from his world onto the ponies here. Or, worse yet, he may drag us into the same cycle of darkness that his people suffered from.” The stallion said, not missing a beat, before pausing to look at the man. Inventor returned a cold calculating stare which the spokestallion purposefully ignored before speaking again. “Do not get me wrong, I am happy that you survived, Princess Luna. I just do not think that that act alone is enough to justify his survival.”

Much to the surprise of the grey stallion Luna smiled at this, “I thought you might say that.” After she spoke the lunar princess stomped the ground three times with her hoof and a family of ponies came in. Two foals and a mother and father. “Tell them please.” She said kindly as she stepped to the side to let the father of the family speak.

“This creature, whatever he is, saved me and my family from the changelings yesterday. To put him to death would be a horrible thing to do, one that I do not agree with. If you go through with this death sentence I will make sure to inform everypony I know of this act and the twisted corrupted councillor behind it.” The father said as he looked malignantly at the grey spokestallion, meanwhile the mother nodded at her husband’s words and the two foals looked with awed expressions at the biped.

The grey stallion returned a bored glare and was about to speak but was cut off as a marching of hooves echoed in the hall outside the room. All present turned to face the door to see an entire company of guards enter the already cramped room. “Permission to speak, your highness?” The lead guard asked as he faced Celestia. The white alicorn nodded in return, a small smile growing on her face, and the armored guard stepped forward.

“If it weren’t for the bravery of this creature we would have been overwhelmed, the number of changelings who had made it into the castle would be drastically higher and we, as a group, can’t ensure that everything would have worked out as well as it did.” The guard said before bowing to Celestia and stepping back to his position with the rest of the guards.

The spokestallion moved his mouth uselessly in an attempt to rebuttal the words of both the father and the lead guard, just as he seemed on the cusp of a comeback to them Celestia stood from her white throne and spoke in an echoing voice. “According to the testimonies of these, my ponies, I hereby declare that the human, Inventor, shall be freed from his death sentence and shall be given all rights of a citizen of Equestria and Canterlot. This will be done on account of his heroic selfless acts that he displayed when the changelings invaded.”

The grey stallion gathered his thoughts for a brief moment before marching indignantly out of the room, the rest of the council hesitantly following him. After the stallion left several of the guards gave Inventor a congratulatory cheer, to which the man returned a friendly smile. The mother of the family smiled gratefully at the man and the father gave a respectful nod before the family left, the parents having to practically drag the children away from the spectacle of a weird creature and both princesses standing in the same room. This left only Inventor, Luna, and Celestia in the room.

“So now what?” The human said as he looked to princesses, “I very much doubt I could find a job in your city and I don’t want to leech money and room off of you two.”

Luna hesitated before giving her response. “I was wondering if, with how well you protected my life in town, that is to say... I was wondering if you would be my bodyguard?” She glanced at the man who appeared slightly taken by surprise.

“Well, I’m not so sure if that would be the best idea. I was not exactly known for my protective instincts...” The man paused as he glanced between Luna and Celestia, then continued. “Perhaps if I had some time to think I could give you a more definite answer.” Inventor supplied. His eyes seemed to be analyzing and manic at the same time, a short chill ran down Luna’s neck at how unnatural the gaze appeared, sane and insane at the same time.

“Certainly, while you consider the request of my dear sister, she can get some rest. I understand that she hasn’t slept in two days.” Celestia said as she glanced at Luna with smiling eyes.

“But Celestiaaaa” Luna whined.

“Luna, you need to sleep, I would prefer if I didn’t have to force you.” With a look of defeat on her face Luna left the room and returned to her room to sleep through the remainder of the day.

After she left Celestia turned to face Inventor before saying, in a slightly embarrassed tone “She can be a bit childish at times.”

“I find that having a child look at something can provide interesting results. To look at situations with the innocence of a child is something I have longed to do so myself, perhaps all governments should have children involved in some respect or another. It would certainly save a lot of lives.” The man replied, his eyes dropping to look at his feet.

“Well,” Celestia said with a slightly worried tone in her voice, “I suppose I should let you go so you can think about Luna’s offer. I have some issues that need taking care of personally in the meantime. Feel free to come back and tell me your answer when you are done thinking about it.”

“Will do. I think I’ll head down to my old room in the dungeon. You know, for nostalgia's sake.” The man said as he smiled at the white alicorn.

Celestia nodded slowly in return before she exited the room, followed shortly by Inventor himself as he made his way to the dungeons. The two parted quickly at the first intersection they came across and Inventor bid Celestia a short farewell before he headed down to the dungeons.

Upon arrival in the well-kept prison Inventor made his way to his old cell and opened the unlocked steel door. After he entered Inventor walked slowly and respectfully to the old bench that he had sat on and took his seat once again. After he was seated the man fell into a series of thoughts. These thoughts tumbled over and around as they debated with one another. All the while Inventor remained stoically sitting on the wooden bench, completely oblivious to his surroundings.

Luna was walking through the entire castle, searching for Inventor. It had been over a full day since he had been freed from his death sentence and no one had heard anything from him in that time duration. Having had no such luck herself, it was with great relief that Luna stumbled upon her sister walking the hall leisurely in between her various meetings that had been set up for the day. From what Luna had heard the solar princess had been the last to see the man the day prior.

“Tia!” Luna called excitedly “Have you seen Inventor anywhere? I’ve been looking for him all day but I can’t seem to find him anywhere.” As Celestia focused her attention on the approaching form of her sister she noticed the distress that laced the words of the lunar princess were also reflected on her demeanor as well.

“Not since yesterday, he said that he was going to his old cell in the dungeon to think about your proposition.” Celestia replied. With those words the lunar princess bid a hasty goodbye and took off in the direction of the dungeon. In her haste Luna’s mind skipped over the fact that she could just teleport and Celestia sighed as she shook her head in a dismissive fashion.

Celestia channeled a minor spell to check the position of the sun in the sky. After a small amount of deliberation the solar princess decided that some time could be spent to check on both Inventor and her sister. Realizing that Luna had probably reached the dungeon already the solar princess’ horn began to glow as she charged a teleportation spell and felt the familiar strength of her own magic emanating from her being. She felt the strings of magic that coursed around her and gripped them tightly with her will power to channel them through her horn. There was a brief flash and Celestia found herself in the dungeon next to her sister.

Luna looked shocked, not at the appearance of her sister. No, that was quite normal. Rather her attention was directed towards the cell in which Inventor stood against the wall of the dungeon. The reason for the lunar princess’ stunned silent was still not directly a symptom of this fact alone, once again it was due to some other fact. The reason for the absolute domination of Luna’s mental capabilities was due to the fact that a large iron spike had been ran through the biped’s throat and had pinned him to the wall.

The man stood against the brick surface due to the strength of the spike and the depth it had been sent into the wall and not through his own will. His body was lifeless and pale as rivulets of blood snaked out of his slightly open mouth and a red crisscrossing of veins was visible around where the iron touched against his wounded skin. His eyes were closed and his arms were limp as he near about hung from the makeshift peg.

Slowly Luna’s thoughts came back to the moment at hand and she slowly approached what was left of the human who had saved her life. In the same fashion as her thoughts had came back it was now Celestia’s turn to slip into a catatonic state at the sight of such a grotesque display. Both sister’s remained in these states of mind for a duration, Luna was now crying as stood in front of the body and Celestia’s mind was still deperately trying to figure how anypony, anyone or anything could do such a thing.

Eventually Celestia managed to cope with what she saw and came back to reality just as her sister had a moment ago, She always had more endurance and hope in this area then I the solar princess thought to herself as she approached her sister.

Luna heard her sister approach and turned around to talk to her, “He saved my life, but when he needed it I wasn’t there to save his. I swear on the stars that whoever did this will feel my wrath.” She said, the tear stains evident by streaks of dark blue that ran like rivers down her normally lighter blue face. The alicorn’s voice was strong and the feeling behind her words was ancient and powerful. Celestia merely returned a forgiving gaze and let the younger of the immortals a moment more to grieve.

After what the princesses would have sworn was just short of a lifetime the crying came to an end. In this new silence Celestia was the one who spoke, “I’m sure he would forgive you for something that you couldn't have stopped. He seemed like that kind of human to me.” The alicorn paused as she let her sister soak in the words. “But regardless of who or what did this act don’t you think we should still give him a reasonable farewell. What do you think of this for an epitaph ‘The world traveler who died much too soon’.”

“Right, but first.” Luna said as she turned to look once more at the limp body of the human, “We need to get him off this wall.” As she spoke a blue magical glow surrounded the iron spike that kept the man against the cobblestone. The lunar princess attempted to drag the stake out of the wall but with her mind as unstable as it was from such an event she couldn’t direct her magic as she wanted to. After a moment of tugging that was going nowhere the younger sister felt the comfort of her sister’s magic mingling with her own.

The blue alicorn looked to the side and received a comforting smile from the solar princess whose own horn was glowing with magic. The magic intermingled and increased its power tenfold from what they would be able to do alone, as they did so the sister’s felt a comforting companionship that neither had felt since Luna had been banished to the moon. After a minute longer to relish the feeling the two focused and pulled the spike from where it was lodged.

As the spike left the man’s throat and he began to fall forward to the ground from the pull of the tool his eyes snapped opened and his arms shot out from his sides to catch himself before he hit the ground. As his hands hit the ground the force caused him to begin to cough up the blood from his mouth onto the stone floor, quickly turning it from its stationary brown to a flowing crimson. Both princesses were shocked and backed away from the man as he continued to empty his throat and mouth of the red liquid.

After a few moments longer the man’s left arm gave out and he fell to his side. With as much strength as he could muster the man rolled onto his back and looked up at the stunned faces of Luna and Celestia. They looked down at him in horror and surprise as the flesh around where the spike had been began to knit itself back together and the scars he had received from fighting the changelings had all but disappeared. Meanwhile the edges of the man’s vision were beginning to blur and darken as his body dragged him once more into an unfeeling, healing blackness.

He looked up to the princess and smiled, revealing teeth stained with red, before he spoke in a rasping voice. “Sorry you had to see me like this, but you see I wasn’t planning on getting stabbed through the throat while I was down here. Nonetheless, my apologies.” That was all as the man succumbed to the continued urging of the darkness and let unconsciousness take him.

The two princesses looked down at the man once more, his throat almost fully healed from the wound. Luna was the first to break the silence, “So, I guess we should get him cleaned off and into bed then..?” She said with a questioning tone.

“I guess that that would be the best course of action.” Celestia said, “When he wakes up he can tell us what he knows of this attack. Until then though the best we can do is just to hope for the best and wait for his body to recover.” Despite the agreed upon course of action neither sister did anything for a moment longer as they were both too stunned by the fact that the man had just survived getting stabbed through the throat. Eventually though Luna teleported both her and the human out of the room and Celestia went back to her meetings for the day, both of them more then a little preoccupied mentally with what they had just witnessed.

Luna carefully undressed the crimson outfit of the madman and soaked him in the tub, afterward she cleaned his clothes and when the man was clean she redressed him once again and laid him on the bed. With that done she lingered in the room beside him for several minutes and listened to the soft ticking that came from his body. After several more minutes she left to begin her duties for the night and left the man to sleep off his healing alone.

(Sorry about the insane delay on this chapter, I kept getting distracted by stuff. Videogames foremost among them. Regardless, there it is in its entire glory. -N64Fan)

Chapter Five

Both of the immortal sisters sat at the far end of an enormous hall. At the other end of this spacious room stood a large pair of solid stone double doors that were currently spread open to their fullest extent. It took both sisters and a slew of unicorn guards to open the inconceivably heavy rock passageway after it was closed, for this reason the doors usually remained open. The purpose for such a room even existing in the first place was for an event that both sisters had seen as important before Luna’s banishment and continued to do so now, one which was currently taking place inside its walls.

This event happened every week and was the time when the various citizens of Equestria could pose their questions and concerns directly to the princesses. This was the first time that such an event was held with both princesses in attendance together since Luna’s banishment. The two sisters had started to act more like family after the incident in the dungeon two days prior where they had felt the encircling companionship that came from the intermingling magic spell.

So it was that during this time of open discussion with the diarchy a noble was currently giving an introductory speech about the matter of traffic and how a new road should be constructed that rose above the normal roads to allow more pedestrians to travel freely at a time. Both sisters were intrigued with the idea and were about to start an open discussion about it between themselves and the pony when one of the employees of the castle’s kitchen burst in shouting loudly about monsters.

Luna quickly and silently teleported from her the simple throne she sat in to the mare who had just entered. “Calm down.” She stated simply in a tone of voice that made it sound like a command and not a suggestion. After the mare had taken a few calming breaths and was once again able to speak coherently Luna asked her the important question of just what was so important that she felt the need to interrupt this weekly event.

“It’s that creature that has been in the castle for the past few days. It barged into the kitchen and threatened to eat us if we didn’t feed it.” The mare said, then paused briefly to sniffle before she continued. “Please help, the chef is worried sick and managed to sneak me out while it scarfed down any food we put in front of it.” The mare pleaded as she looked to Luna, her eyes starting to brim with tears.

Murmurs had already began to spread from the ponies who had heard it to the ponies behind them and Luna sighed, realizing this would rumor would get out of hand quickly no matter what she did. “I’ll take care of it.” The blue alicorn said to the mare before turning to her sister. “Seems Inventor woke up and scared the chefs into making him food. I trust you can handle this without me?” A few more murmurs spread through the group when Luna spoke the name of the creature but the lunar princess merely ignored them and looked to her solar opposite.

“Of course, go ahead and take care of him.” Celestia responded with a nod. Luna returned her own nod and began to channel her magic about her. Unlike Celestia who had to grip her magic through willpower Luna merely urged the strings of magic into the correct formation with a soft guiding mentality. When they were in their correct form Luna moved the thin strands of magic into her horn and channeled the familiar teleportation spell.

In a brief flash of light the blue alicorn found herself in the kitchen standing across the table from the man who was currently tearing his way through a stack of pancakes. He glanced up at Luna and swallowed the confection that he had decided to shovel into his mouth. “Hey Luna, I guess I’m not being the best guest that your kitchen has ever had, hmm?”

Luna sighed in resignation before speaking to the man, “First things first then, I was informed that you threatened to eat the chef if you didn’t get food? Isn’t that a bit much?” Luna said as she sat herself across the table from the man and signaled for the waiter to bring her one of the fresh salads that the kitchen prided themselves on.

Inventor continued to scarf down the stack of breakfast cakes in front of him as his mind ran through what he had said when he came in. After about six pancakes worth of thinking time the man swallowed and smiled. “Ah yes, well you see we had a saying on earth when you were extremely hungry. You would say, ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.’ I guess that that probably isn’t a good saying here eh?”

Luna shook her head at the antics that the human displayed, occasionally he reminded her of Discord when he was younger and before he went evil. While Luna pondered over the similarities between the two beings the salad that the lunar princess had ordered arrived at the table along with a second plate of flapjacks for the ravenous human who only had a few left on the original plate.

“Next question then, want to tell me how you managed to survive getting a spike stabbed through your throat?” Luna asked as she levitated the fork and began to pick at the salad in front of her. She wasn’t really all that hungry herself but decided to munch on some kind of food while she was here anyway and avoid a snack trip later.

“Right well, you see.” The man said through a mouthful of breakfast. Realizing this was immensely impolite he took a moment to quickly swallow the food in his mouth. Afterwards he speedily slid the now empty plate to the side and brought the second, still steaming, stack of pancakes between him and Luna. The empty dish was collected almost immediately by a waiter and taken back to the sink.

With his now empty mouth the biped continued speaking, “I’m not entirely biological, I have a few life support systems hooked up to my vital organs. In addition to this of course I have my mechanical arm to help regulate the biomedical systems that crisscross my skeleton.”

The man took the opportunity to take another large bite of pancake as Luna cut into his rant when he went to catch a breath. “Yes I noticed that your right arm was different than your left when I bathed you those few days ago.” She said simply. At her words the man spat bits of pancake at Luna’s face, the act of which garnered many an astonished look from the kitchen employees. Unamused, Luna magiced over a napkin and cleaned her face of the offending pieces, with her face clear of the disgusting debris she looked to the man with a cold glare.

The man apologized profusely as he wiped his own mouth clean of the tiny morsels that clung to his lips. “Did you just say that you bathed me?” The man said hesitantly, unsure of if he wanted to receive the answer to the question.

“Of course I did, you were covered in blood and gore. I wasn’t going to let you sleep like that.” Luna replied, her voice still cold.

“Riiight, could you not do that again? I would prefer to avoid being seen naked by a pony.” The man said, an embarrassed tone creeping into his voice.

“Why do you care so much? I understand that you wear clothes so that you seem dignified while you're here but surely where you come from you walk naked occasionally.” Luna said with a curious tone.

“Nope.” The man quickly responded as a red blush started to cover his face. Before Luna could continue on the topic of nakedness Inventor quickly changed the subject back to the original question through a clever technique known to most as ‘ignoring whoever is trying to talk about the subject and talk about whatever you feel like instead’. The alicorn, unfamiliar with this style of changing the subject, was caught off guard with no defense and quickly lost the fight.

“Anyway, using the systems of wires I have throughout my body I built an emergency protocol in. If it senses that I’m close to dieing it will essentially put me into stasis. In this stasis it will utilize the innate energy that I would normally use for second tier priorities that are essential to my live, such as say; breathing, for example. It takes them and converts them into a kind of medicinal force that can boost my own healing processes to the point that I can survive most non severing wounds that would be deemed ‘lethal’. This is provided of course that my body is currently in such a state that I can heal. If something large enough is lodged in my wound it will prevent me from rejuvenating.”

The man dug into the pancakes once more with renewed vigor as Luna pondered what she had just been told. “So if I stabbed you in the neck with a spike right now, you would be just fine?” She asked as she glanced at the man. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the blue alicorn. “Not that I’m going to, I was just curious is all.” She quickly reassured.

“That depends on how long I’ve been unconscious. If it has been more than two weeks then yes, you could. If however it’s only been a few days then the system is still resetting and I would most likely just die.” The man responded nonchalantly as he slid the now mostly empty plate away from himself. “Man I kinda wish you ponies weren’t vegetarians, I could really go with a plate of salisbury steak right now.”

At his words the nearby ponies backed slowly away from the man and Luna had to fight the urge to sigh once more. “Regardless, I have one more question. After what happened to you two days ago my mind has been on edge and I was wondering... did you come to an answer on what I suggested? Would you like to be my bodyguard?” Luna asked as she continued to pick at the greens that sat in front of her.

“Of course I did, though I would like to save my answer for when both you and your sister are together so I don’t have to repeat myself.” The man paused as he glanced around, “Speaking of which, it is daytime still right? Where is your sister?”

“I believe she is still speaking with the citizens of Canterlot in the Discussion Chamber.” Luna said with a glance to the man. After hearing the words he abruptly stood from his seat and began to make his way to the door. “And where do you think you’re going Inventor?” she asked as he made to leave.

He turned and smiled to the blue alicorn before speaking, “Why I’m going to go speak to your sister of course. I hope you’re coming along as well, otherwise I’ll run out of things to say very quickly.” With those words spoken the man left the immortal to herself in the kitchen.

Luna gathered her nerve and nodded once to the empty air and made to leave when a call from the chef caught her attention. “Your highness, thank you for getting the creature out. And, excuse my assumptions, but you two seemed to know each other. May I ask as to what that thing was?” The chef hesitantly asked the lunar princess.

The lunar princess smiled sadly at the question and waited for a moment before answering. “That creature is a human. The last human. And one with a good heart and a troubled soul.” The chef was unsure what to make of Luna’s words but she didn’t elaborate, instead opting to leave the kitchen in pursuit of the biped who had wreaked havoc on the kitchen.

Luna trotted through the castle at a light pace, she wasn’t too worried at what would happen to Inventor when he arrived in the Discussion Room. Celestia would be able to handle the situation should things get out of hoof, Luna hoped. And besides, the man probably had no idea how to get to the room and would show up late after he either stumbled in or received directions from a guard.

With these thoughts running through her head Luna subconsciously began to pick up speed until she practically busted down the door to the Discussion Room as she charged in. Several ponies looked her way with raised eyebrows before turning once more to Celestia who was discussing the physics of the overhead pathway with the noble who had been talking to her earlier.

“So you see, if we add these supports every few feet the bridge should be able to span the entirety of the city with short tributaries that go down to the street level so earth ponies and unicorns can access the roadway.” The noble said as Celestia looked at the diagram he had presented.

“Yes, but what of the locations where the pillars are supposed to be placed? There is little to no empty space around roads and even then to put them at such frequency would disrupt the pegasi flight patterns.” Celestia said as she tried to work her mind around a solution for the roadway.

The noble began to speak once more but Luna’s attention was dragged away as the mare who had run in in a panic earlier ran up to the lunar princess with a glowing look of hope shining off of her countenance. “Did you do it? Did you remove that creature from the kitchen for us, your highness?”

Luna glanced at the mare with relief, “You mean he hasn’t shown up here yet? Whew, we might be able to damage control this still.”

“You mean i-i-its coming here?” The mare said as sudden worry flooded her voice. “Did it manage to slip away under your watchful eye, your highness?” she said as she looked to Luna.

“No, you have it wrong. Inventor means no harm to anypony he just spoke a bad choice of words.” Luna said as she glanced to the mare who returned a skeptical expression. “Just give him a chance ok? That’s all I ask.” The mare nodded stutteringly at the request but stayed silent as Luna returned a thankful glance and began to make her way toward Celestia.

She never reached her however as a loud crack echoed through the room. With a glance skyward Luna saw a crack in the ceiling starting to spread, another cracking sound and the stone completely gave away leaving the entire gathering to witness Inventor falling from the ceiling as dust and small rocks exploded from his chosen entrance. All the lunar princess could do was mirror the expression of all the other ponies present and gaze slack-jawed at the descending human.

After a few seconds in freefall the man pulled a sheet of thick cloth from under his jacket, the cloth snapped taut from the air rushing up from underneath it and the man’s hands clenched tightly around the impromptu parachute. This caused the madman to begin a light descent towards the ground.

Luna’s keen eyes were trained on the man when a movement from the new hole in the ceiling caught her eyes. It was only a glimpse of an outline but the lunar princess recognized it as a pegasus. The mysterious pony was gone faster than it appeared and the blue alicorn wondered if she had started to imagine things.

The man finished his slow drop to the ground and carefully folded the cloth before handing it to one of the serving mares. After the mare levitated the bundle from his grasp the man turned his gaze to his entrance and held his right hand above his eyes to block some of the sunlight. By this time all the attention in the room had been drawn to the odd creature that had just entered via roof and now stood between the immortal princesses of the land.

“I’m going to have to fix that aren’t I? Dang and I was hoping to escape without having to destroy property.” The man said in a low, resigned voice that only Luna could hear. With a light sigh he dropped his gaze from the new skylight he had abruptly installed to look towards the gathered ponies. His vision flickered across the confused and bewildered ponies until at last it came to rest on Luna.

“Ah hey Luna, sorry about that. I just felt like I should drop by.” The man said with a slight smile. After receiving not a word from the stunned princess he continued his scan of the room until it came to rest on Celestia and the noble that stood next to a chalkboard with the depiction of the bridge upon its darkened backdrop. Both of the ponies next to the board looked at the biped incredulously. Ignoring the looks of the gathered ponies and intrigued by the picture the man started up the stairs until he was next to the board as well.

“Ah, I see the issue. You want to create an overpath that would allow for better traffic management but you have no place to put the pillars that would support it. Quite a dilemma, quite a dilemma indeed.” The man began to murmur lightly as he picked up the chalk that sat next to the board and started to spin it between his fingers. After a few seconds he snapped his digits in realization as a smile began to spread across his face.

“If you can’t go over the roads why not go under? Surely there is enough space below the city to allow a project like this to be installed.” The man said as he began to put down a rough sketch of a subterranean tunnel on the board.

This epiphany snapped the noble out of his stupor. “Yes, that would work quite well now that I think about it. But of course it comes down to Celestia, what do you think of this adaption, your highness?” The stallion said as he glanced to the white alicorn. She quickly recovered her own senses and nodded her own agreement.

“It seems that that would fulfill all goals and ambitions that this project was planned to have. I’m sure that if we called in a few miners and tunnelers we could have it finished within a year.” Celestia said, her voice growing back to its usual, sure, tone.

As her words grew in power the remainder of the crowd came back to their senses and began to chat with one another.

“Now Inventor, would you like to explain why you suddenly felt the need to help with the air circulation of my and my sister’s castle?” Celestia said as she glanced at the man.

“Ah well, that is, you see..” The man sighed as he dropped his head in defeat. “I thought that I should make a really cool entrance. You know; explosion, fall from ceiling, cool music in the background, make a bad pun, roll on snare drums, curtains. I hear it's actually quite funny if it’s done correctly.”

The white alicorn merely returned a glare and Inventor subconsciously gulped. “If you point me to the stone and mortar I could fix that for you.” He said hesitantly, realizing that he was walking on thin ice.

“There will be no need for that, but if I find out that you did something like this again not only will you fix that damages but you will also be helping the maids with their duties for a month. Am I understood?” Celestia said in a commanding tone.

“Y-yes your highness.” The man responded.

The answer elicited a nod from Celestia who closed her eyes for a moment. Inventor was about to ask what she was doing when a yellow glow shone off her horn and the ceiling began to piece itself together from the dust and rocks that had fallen to the ground. Only a minute later the deed was done and the roof was once again in one piece. This act of magical power made several of the unicorns look up in awe at the power that Celestia had just shown to them.

“Now then I believe you came to actually tell me something today?” Celestia asked as she slowly opened her eyes and looked to the human who was also looking at the act of magical prowess that the solar princess had just demonstrated.

“Hmm, oh yes.” The man nodded briefly once to Celestia before turning to look at Luna. “Miss princess of the night, would you mind joining us up here? I would like to give my answer to both of you at the same time.”

The blue alicorn gave a slight nod before swinging her wings wide to her sides and flying up to the side of her sister. After she flapped a few times to land gracefully she looked expectantly to the man who stood smiling at the two sisters.

“I decided to accept your invitation. It would be my honor to be your bodyguard princess Luna.” The man said jovially as he swept his arm before him and bowed to the lunar alicorn. His words were greeted by several gasps from the other ponies who had overheard and a few murmurs that spread through the crowd.

Even from this distance Inventor could make out one specific stallion with a gruff voice mumbling about how the princess was probably safer with ‘that odd creature’ guarding her than she would be if all the guards surrounded her wherever she went. Despite himself the man couldn’t help but smile at the implication and the praise towards his power. Of course, he had just destroyed a chunk of the ceiling with two punches so the praise was probably deserved.

“Well then Inventor, let me be the first to congratulate you on your new job as my bodyguard.” Luna said with a childish smile pasted across her face.

The response from the man was short, “It my pleasure to take a job of such importance, I only hope that I’ve learned enough from my previous mistakes to bring honor to such a job.”

(Get over my videogame addiction in order to get addicted to music, because why not. HEY! LOOK! A SHINY! -N64Fan)

Chapter Six

(For you old readers the story got altered half-way through, I recommend a reread.)

Inventor walked three steps behind Luna as they progressed through the corridors of the castle, the heels of his dress shoes clicking on the polished stone as they went. Time ticked away slowly while the man's gaze was drifting across the niches of the hallway, searching for any potential threats that might approach his charge. Occasionally, he would glance at the outfit he had been given as part of his new job before snapping his head back to attention as he looked around the surrounding area. His job would only distract him but for a moment before his gaze would once again be drawn to the outfit he wore. Luna smiled to herself as the man openly admired the outfit that he was dressed in.

“Something the matter, Inventor?” the alicorn said over her shoulder to the biped whose gaze quickly snapped up in alarm like a child who just been found out, but he tried to mask it by feigning ignorance. With his disguise adopted, the man took a quick look around the surroundings for something that might have bothered the alicorn.

After scanning the hallway with squinted eyes, he shook his head. “Nothing I can see princess. What’s on your mind?”

“You seem to be paying quite a bit of attention to that new suit I had tailored for you. I would think for someone from a race of creatures who made a habit out of wearing clothing at all times, you would have higher standards of outfits than us ponies,” the princess replied over her shoulder to the man.

“Ah, but you forget that I was alone for one hundred years with only my thoughts to keep me company and no new clothes to speak of,” Inventor said offhandedly as he lightly tapped his nose.

“You... what?” Luna said as she stopped dead in her tracks at the information. She slowly turned to look at the man who had paused dutifully as well.

“Oh, I never told you about that, did I? Yup, one hundred years alone. All by myself,” Inventor said nonchalantly once again.

“You said that you were the last human, but I thought that...” Luna paused hoping that Inventor would finish for her. He didn’t oblige her on account of him being unsure of what she was trying to say. This left her finish the sentence herself. “I thought that you had managed to make a teleporter fairly quickly. I never would have imagined you had been alone for one hundred years,” she finished reluctantly.

“You get used to it,” Inventor said as he leaned against a nearby wall.

“NO, YOU DON’T!” Luna blurted loudly. After realizing she had just shouted out loud, she stuttered pointlessly for a minute and turned her head away from the man. “At least, I didn’t. Not after one thousand years on the moon. It was near torment for me, but at least I had something to look forward to. Hope is the only thing that let me move on.”

“Ah, yes. Hope, what Pandora left in the box,” Inventor said with a nod of his head as he detoured off of the subject of Luna’s banishment. He had heard whispers about her and suspicions about what had actually happened were already starting to form in his mind. He immediately put these to the side as he had no evidence to support them and waited for the question that Luna would be asking in a few moments.

“Pandora? Is that some famous human from your world?” Luna asked, interested by this sudden detour into the history of the man’s planet.

“Indeed, though she lives in greek mythology. It is said by the Greeks that, originally, the gods only created man. A few things happened. Prometheus gave humans fire after he stole it back from Zeus and was imprisoned so that his liver could be torn from his body and eaten every morning.” Luna shivered at the idea of such a punishment, but Inventor forged on. “Anyway, Zeus was still mad at humanity, but he had to pretend to give a gift so that his curse would be accepted. So, he made a female and gave it to humanity. It is said she was beautiful and devious and emotional beyond all others.”

Inventor paused as he once again looked at the shimmering fabric that composed his outfit. “Regardless though, she came with something else, a box. Zeus told her not to open this box under any circumstance, but this was just another cog in his own grand machine, as he had made her one more thing as well. He made her curious. Just as he had planned, she opened the box and released all the things held within. It was a box of all the horrors that we know of now: disease and famine and war and anger.

“Realizing what she had done, the woman frantically closed the box, leaving only one thing inside: hope,” Inventor said with a smile as he remembered the various other myths that were Greek based. He smiled even wider as he realized that he shouldn’t share the vast majority of them with Luna, like what Zeus did in his free time, for instance.

“So one of your more famous myths is of hope being something evil that was trapped inside a box? That’s quite an interesting thing to know,” Luna said pensively.

“Indeed it is, but alas, I digress. This suit is amazing!” Inventor exclaimed as his gaze looked over the clothing. It shone as the lighting reflected off the silver surface of the suit coat and pants. In addition to the sheer display that the clothes themselves reflected, they fit better than even his old worn outfit had. The outfit was loose enough that even his mechanical arm could move without hindrance.

“It should be. It took all the power of five unicorns to make it as it is. The suit is actually covered in silver that is permanently more malleable than its normal state,” Luna said, always the scholar on anything she deemed to purchase.

“I’ll have to make sure to thank the makers of this fine suit next time I see them. Make sure to point them out for me, if you would be so kind,” Inventor said with a smile. “But still, magic! I’m still having a hard time believing it!” Inventor near-shouted, trying a little too hard to keep Luna from noticing his sudden topic switch.

“Yes, I imagine so, if what you say about your world having no magic is true.” Luna turned around and started walking once again towards her destination, her own bedroom. “Speaking of which, I heard rumors among the guards that you have a few devices of your own that rivals unicorn magic.”

“Perhaps in their singular, designed function, but not in adaptiveness. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if you would sate my curiosity and show off a little.”

“Perhaps tonight when you wake up. Wouldn’t want to keep you up all day with my antics after all,” Inventor said as he smiled once again.

“Are you denying the request of your princess and employer, Inventor? It has only been a week and you are already starting to disobey me?” Luna asked with a playful grin.

“I will do what I must to keep you in top shape, Princess, even if that means not doing what you ask me to,” Inventor said with a sudden cold tone. Unsure of how to answer the words of the man, and with the man not willing to say anything additional on the matter, the remainder of the trip was without words until they stopped outside of the stone door that comprised Luna’s room.

Luna turned around to once more view the man who looked even more confident as he stood in his new suit that mirrored the moon’s light. The princess smiled slightly to herself as her new bodyguard demonstrated the strength of his mechanical arm by opening the thick solid stone doors of her room with only his right hand. With the door open, he bowed to the princess as she entered and stood once she was on the other side of the door.

“Good morning, Luna,” he bid in farewell as a smile touched his lips.

“Good morning, Inventor.”

As Luna trotted across the fairly open stone room toward her bed, she heard the door lock behind her after Inventor had silently pulled it into position. The princess reached the bed at a fairly decent speed and looked around the room to pointlessly check for any onlookers before unceremoniously flopping into the cushions. The bed springs fought back in retort at the strain and pushed her back to the normal level of the bed as she snuggled into the silk blanket. She smiled once again as relaxing sleep overtook her body. The princess didn’t know what Inventor did while she slept, but she assumed he too rested during the day. She was wrong in this assumption.

Inventor walked lightly through the halls of the castle as he set off towards his goal for the day. The past week, he had been trying to set aside some time to examine his arm for stress and wear, and only today had he found his schedule open. The reason for his tight schedule was the amount of time he required to set up his work station in the room he was provided by his position, as well as helping with the various chores around the castle that needed doing.

As Inventor trekked through the castle, he took the opportunity to reflect on the architecture of the palace. The stones that composed the walls were solid sheets of rock, fused by magic and reinforced by a collective number of enchantments. This prevented the walls from daily damage, in addition to rebuffing some of the damage that might be caused purposefully. Despite himself, the man couldn’t help but marvel at the advancement that the equines had made without the use of technology.

Humans were notoriously resourceful in times of dire need, without a doubt, but ponies, who hadn’t been in any threatening battles for the past century, had managed to expound their knowledge and advance their magic from this unprecedented era of peace.

And yet, all that glitters is not gold. As Inventor looked around, he could see the pony’s faces. Doubt, distrust, fear. All of them directed toward him then, for no other reason than the fact that he looked different. Well, that and the fact that he had broke through the notorious magically enhanced stone with two punches of his right hand. It wasn’t his desire to be known as the powerful beast who had destroyed the almost impervious, but he couldn’t have told them the truth for why he had acted as he did. It would only cause panic.

At last, the biped reached the door to his personal room. In actuality, the room was no more than a few doors down from the princess’s own, but Inventor had lost himself in thought and had ended up having to backtrack. The man smiled as he looked at the complex mechanism that composed the door. The key mechanism rested in the center of the wooden door with a complex contraption of gears and cogs running across it. The man reached into the sleeve of his right arm and pulled out a small metal key.

Inserting the key into the keyhole in the middle of the door, the man turned his hand to his left. The gears and cogs all jerked and moved a small amount from their original positions before stopping once again. Inventor then turned his arm to the right twice, the gears moving with his arm as he did so, before turning it to the left once again. The gears jerked again and Inventor pulled the key from the hole. With a click, the door sprung into action with the whirring sound of moving mechanisms.

The various gears eventually came to a halt and the door slowly opened to reveal the cluttered room within. Grinning, Inventor replaced the key within the sleeve of his right arm once again and stepped over the threshold. Upon entering, Inventor went about removing the silver coat that decorated his person, taking the opportunity to look over the different machines and tools that decorated the walls of his living area as he did so.

The coat now removed, and with only his haberdash outfit from earth on his body, Inventor opened his singular window before seating himself at the workbench. He had removed the sleeves from his patchwork shirt when Luna gave him the coat, thereby allowing full view of his mechanical arm. With a smile, the man clenched the hand into a fist and pressed two small divots in the metal near his shoulder. With a soft click, the arm went limp and Inventor pulled the metal shoulder from its sheath.

The arm now removed from himself, Inventor placed it on the work bench in front of him and began to examine its length. The wear and tear was obvious across the entire device, smudges and scratches covering its metal husk alongside dirt and dust from before he came to Equestria. The real damage was obvious upon the hand though, the metal was dinged and demented to the point that it was almost unbelievable that the joints could still move after breaking through the stone roof.

Inventor grinned to himself and retrieved a heavy workshop hammer from nearby as well as a clamp in his one remaining hand to repair the worst off metal before he moved onto restoration of the rest of the machine. As he set about the start of the work, the biped couldn’t help but break into a small song to help pass the time as he worked.

“I once knew a girl with a heart of gold, two legs of copper, and arms of chrome. The prettiest girl I ever knew. I loved each rivet, bolt and screw.” He sang to himself before breaking into a rhythmic hum while he continued his work.

About ten hours later, the man finished the taxing job of fixing his arm. The damage to the hand had done a fair amount of internal damage that Inventor hadn’t expected when he had examined it earlier. This meant that the damaged mechanism had to be replaced and tuned so that the device could operate correctly. After finishing that, it had been a simple enough job to clean and polish the arm to make it look correct.

“Told you I would take good care of it, Amy,” Inventor said with a smile to himself as he picked up the arm in his singular hand and inserted the mechanical device once more into the port that was attached to his torso where a shoulder would normally end. The arm was attached without any form of pain or notification. The buffer in the arm prevented sudden rushes of shock that attaching an appendage to a nervous system might cause and left the man unable to move his hand temporarily.

Just as he had gained the ability to move his arm once again, a whistling noise began to fill the air. Inventor paused what he was doing and being to look for the source, turning his head every which way as he did so. With sudden realization, the man spun around to look toward the window. He was just in time to catch a pegasus in the chest. The air was knocked from his lungs and Inventor tumbled backward while the pegasus dropped to the ground in front of him, most of her momentum having been lost.

While the man struggled to refill his lungs, he looked at the pegasus who was still on the floor at his feet. She was gray with blonde hair. A collection of bubbles adorned her flank in the form of her cutie mark and slung across her back were two empty mail bags. The man was about to comment on the sudden tackle when he noticed that she appeared to be crying. With a cough to clear his throat and another inhale of air to fix his irregular breathing, the biped stood from the ground and walked over to the weeping pegasus.

“What seems to be the matter, miss?” Inventor asked with a caring tone as he sat down next to the mare, whom immediately buried her muzzle in between her forelegs to hide her tears from the being who she hadn’t been aware of until that moment..

“I’m sorry, I just...” The pony sniffed. “I didn’t mean to barge in I just... wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” The mare sniffed again but didn’t opt to speak up.

“Nothing for you to be sorry for. I’ll heal from this easily I’m sure. I hardly think that sadness would be how you choose to express embarrassment, though. So, excuse me if you think I’m prying, but... what seems to be the problem?”

“I would hate to be a burden,” she said in a soft voice.

“Oh, think nothing of it.”

“Well, I just lost my job recently. It isn’t that I’m not used to it, I am. I... lose jobs quite a bit. It’s just that I don’t think I can get another by Hearths Warming Eve next month and I really wanted to get my daughter a cap to keep her warm while she’s out with her friends,” the pegasus admitted.

Inventor leaned back, away from the pony, and rested his head against the wall for a moment while the mare picked herself off the ground. Eventually, she cleared her eyes of the tears and looked to the biped who had sat himself against a wall. “Oh, you’re Luna’s bodyguard right? I’m sorry, I didn’t think I was bothering somebody so important.”

The man smiled lightly to himself as he continued to run his mind over a plan to help this pegasus. “Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine...” Inventor let the sentence trail off instead of giving it an abrupt end, as lost in thought as he was that he didn’t notice. Inventor closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just a cloth hat, right? That shouldn’t be too expensive.”

The being reached into his pockets and withdrew a bag from his pocket. He dug through it for a moment before pulling out a collection of coins and handing them to the pony. “Will this do?” Inventor asked, completely unsure of how the economy worked in regards to values.

“This...” Her mouth struggled to find the words she was looking for, as in awe as she was at that moment. “This is about as much as I would make in a month.”

“Is it enough though? Will that buy your daughter a cap?”

“Yes it will, but,” the mare looked between the money and the man, “you’re just going to give this to me?”

“Of course. Luna told me that was my pay for being her bodyguard, but I never really buy anything since food isn’t much of a requirement. So, here’s your gift and may you and your daughter enjoy Hearths Warming Eve.” Inventor smiled wide at the pegasus.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me,” she exclaimed.

“Your welcome. Just do me a favor and tell me your name. I’ll see if I can’t get you a job around the castle or something.”

“Oh, you’ve done more than enough, you don’t need to...” The mare looked at the man who was returning a determined glare. The pegasus sighed and smiled at the man, her eyes going crossways as she did so. “Derpy Doo. I live in Ponyville.”

“Derpy. Ponyville. Got it. Now go home and spend some time with your daughter. I’m sure she’s missing you.”

“Oh I will. And, thank you. Thank you so much,” Derpy said with a smile before she turned to the window and took to her wings outside as she floated off into the distance.

“I wonder if she can handle a wrench?” Inventor said, breaking the silence as he stood from his seat by the wall. Deep in thought, he walked slowly to the clothing hook and pulled on his silver coat, taking a moment to make sure all was in order before he opened the door to leave the room. “Or maybe she can carry some bolts.”

(Cheers to StapleCactus, he has edited both my featured stories. (I think he's magic) -N64Fan)

Chapter Seven

Inventor walked into Ponyville with a grin on his face. After discussing his ability to hire ponies with Luna herself, the man had been allowed to bring on Derpy as his assistant. Now all that was left was to tell her that she had gotten the job. This brought him to the current dilemma of finding her somewhere in the sprawling town of Ponyville. With a pause in his step, he silently cursed himself at not asking for her address when they had talked at the castle. Then, with a grin still on his face, he decided that the scenic route to her house would be more fun anyway, assuming he couldn’t get directions, of course.

As he approached, ponies would stop and stare, causing anyone who wasn’t facing him to turn and look as well. The general feeling of the town was curiosity, not fear, due to the silver outfit and the letter that had been sent ahead to the mayor. She was told to inform the citizens of a biped with such attire, which allowed them to confirm that he was the bodyguard of Luna and no threat to the town. All the ponies who had previously been busy with something turned back to their work while a few looked curiously at the man. Realizing he had drawn some attention, Inventor smiled and approached one of the ponies who was looking at him.

“Do you happen to know where I could find a Miss Derpy Doo?” the man asked. He was answered as the pony raised their hoof and pointed behind Inventor. With an eyebrow raised, the biped turned around, just in time to dive out of the way as a familiar grey blur shot past his eyes. Standing from the ground, the man brushed off his outfit. “Thanks,” he said to the pony who still had their hoof raised. With that, he was off after his unaware assistant.

After several confusing turns through the alleys and walkways of Ponyville, Inventor managed to spot the grey pegasus just as she turned onto a street ahead. In response, the man pumped his legs faster and managed to catch up to her just as she rested herself on a fountain at the end of said street. With a grin he approached, his gut dropping when he noticed she was staring into the water. “Hey Derpy, something the matter?”

She turned from her staring contest with the water to look at the man with bloodshot eyes. Her mind stumbled for a moment to try and remember the man in her distress, until she recalled him as the bodyguard that Luna had taken on. “Dinky’s missing.”

All sense of joviality left Inventor’s face as he joined her by the fountain, taking a seat on the edge of the rim next to her. “I assume that you aren’t having the best of luck finding her then.”

The mare shook her head from side to side, her blonde hair swaying through the air from her motions. “She said she was going to try and get her cutie mark with the Crusaders, but I can’t find her, or them, anywhere.”

“And where did you search?” Inventor asked as he rolled up the sleeve of his normal arm. The mare was about to answer when the distinct form of two of the Elements of Harmony became clear. Rarity and Applejack approached at a jog, gazing uncertainly at the man as they closed the distance to where Derpy sat on her haunches.

“We’ve searched the whole of the town and we haven’t spotted neither hide nor hair of them, darling,” Rarity said, directing her words to the grey pegasus while she looked at the man out of the corner of her eye.

“And can you think of anywhere else they might be?” Inventor asked, removing the white glove from his normal hand to reveal the flesh underneath. Then, he placed the glove in a pocket of his silver suit.

The mares looked towards Inventor once again, Applejack taking the opportunity to speak up. “I reckon you must be that bodyguard everyone was talkin’ ‘bout. Nice ta meet ya.”

“Hardly the time for introductions, so let me repeat myself,” Inventor said as he waved away her greeting, making it clear that time was of the essence. “Do you know of anywhere else they might be?”

“Well, I reckon if they aren’t in town, then they musta gone into the Everfree. In fact, we were just goin’ ta get the rest of our friends to come help us search,” AJ said, slightly annoyed by the tone that the man had taken with her.

“Everfree it is then. Point me in the direction, Derpy.” Inventor reached into the pockets of his coat and seemed disgusted when he found them to be empty.

“Now just hold yer engines for one second. You can’t just rush into the Everfree forest without some preparation. Even then, there’s just the two of ya.”

Inventor spun around and glared into the mare’s eyes, fire and insanity dancing in his own pupils. “Watch me.” A moment of stillness passed before the biped turned away from the farmer and looked once again to Derpy to repeat his previous statement. “Lead the way.” The pegasus looked between the madman and two Elements before nodding once and flying off in the direction of the forest with Inventor following just behind, leaving two befuddled mares behind.

“There are monsters in there. Shouldn’t we get the Elements to help us or something?”

“There are monsters everywhere. That’s hardly an excuse, and time is of the essence, making any unneeded wastes of time pointless. Anything else?”

“You don’t know where you’re going. How can you hope to find them?”

“Luck and will power,” the man answered simply.

“But...it’s... scary,” Derpy said, gazing at the ground in shame.

“Neat, so am I. Now let’s go.” The impatience was clear in his tone as he pushed past the pegasus and into the shaded woodland, leaving the mare to follow him into the greenery. The forest was home to a multitude of other creatures that hunted and fought tooth and nail for their lives nearly every day, making a ponies chances in the forest slim.

Every step was measured as the duo waded deeper and deeper into the forest through waist-high grass. The entire collection of trees was mostly silent, bar the rustling of the stalks as Inventor and Derpy forged into the labyrinth of brown and green. The exit to the forest had just been obscured by the thick trunks of the trees, when Inventor paused and looked toward the mare with his finger to his lips.

After a moment of silence, a rustling echoed from off to the right of the pair, causing Inventor to turn to the sound in preparation. The rustling was immediately followed by an explosion of noise as a manticore jumped at the duo from the shade of the trees.

Inventor brought his still sleeved arm in front of himself to block. The manticore didn’t mind and clenched its jaw around the limb to the sound of a metal ringing noise. Without missing a beat, Inventor let loose a shout of rage and bolted forward in a small leap.

The manticore was caught unexpected and was pinned to the ground as the arm in its mouth pushed it down, crushing the grass flat under its back. Inventor reared back, bringing the manticore’s head off the ground and pushed forward again, this time smashing the creature’s head against a rock that rested behind it’s head. The process was repeated multiple times until the manticore let loose the arm and ran into the trees, whimpering in pain.

“Manticores. Sure, why not,” Inventor said in a tired voice as he looked at the sleeve of his bitten arm. A smile crossed his face for a moment as the cloth knitted itself back together and closed the holes created by the creature’s teeth. “Magic. Gotta love the stuff.”

Derpy looked on in amazement. The man who had just defeated the manticore was more concerned with his clothing than he was the arm underneath it. With a shake of the arm in question, the man turned his gaze back to the forest and set off once again, determination in his gaze as Derpy followed behind him.

It was only a few more steps in that Inventor stopped once again, this time with Derpy looking around frantically for whatever was going to attack them. Instead, Inventor dropped onto one knee and examined the ground. Derpy took flight and hovered behind him to look over his shoulder. She flew closer in effort to see what had caught his attention, and was greeted with a sleeping manticore. Immediately, the pegasus backpedaled away and ducked behind a tree, looking out of the side toward where the man still sat. Feeling a little braver, she emerged once again and approached what she now realized was not a sleeping body, but rather a corpse.

The position of the body is what had confused her though. It rested with its head on its paws, giving the appearance that it had just lain down and fallen asleep. Or at least, it would, if it’s eyes weren’t locked open with a penetrating gaze of fear. A shiver ran down the mare’s spine as she floated slowly away from the dead being. With a shake of his head, Inventor closed the eyes of the creature and stood from his position, taking a quick look around the area before looking back to the mare.

“I want you to go home, Derpy. Things just got much more risky and I don’t want you to die because of my curiosity and blitzkrieging attitude.”

“I can’t just leave! What if whatever killed that manticore is going after my daughter?! No, I came here to find my daughter and I won’t leave without her.”

“Please, Derpy, I...” Inventor let the sentence stop and he looked into the distance. “I guess if I can’t convince you, it would be best if you came with me then.” The man paused once again as he subconsciously grabbed his right shoulder. “Let’s go.” Not questioning his words, the mare followed him as he steadily walked deeper into the Everfree.

They shortly arrived at a small pool and were greeted by another corpse, this one of a large alligator who showed the same signs as the manticore had before. “It’s fear,” Inventor said under his breath as he looked at the floating reptile corpse. “It kills with fear, but how?” The mare lacked the answers that the man was looking for, instead looking to the side and spotting a disturbance in the mud a short distance away.

She made her way through the air toward the mud and was followed shortly by Inventor. Both paused to examine the prints. Collected in the mud was a series of small hoofprints that led deeper into the woods. “They must have stopped here to drink,” Inventor said, kneeling for a moment by the imprints.

Without prior warning, Inventor rose from the ground in a burst of sudden energy and ran in the direction of the hoofprints, leaving Derpy to fly along in his wake. She was lagging slightly behind, the speedy flight wearing on her energy, when she heard a young voice in the distance crying out.

“Mom!” With renewed speed, she overtook the man and broke through the branches of some low trees to show up in a clearing of the forest.

Within, she spotted all three of the crusaders and her daughter backed against a cliff face. Approaching them was a large black silhouette. When the children all looked at her with relief and hope on their face, the creature turned around to face the pegasus mare.

“Ah, so some new food has found its way into my nest. What a lovely surprise. This will be quite the feast of life essence indeed.” The voice sounded like mud as it gurgled the words out, the smell of rotting flesh filling the air with every exhale from the creature.

Derpy recoiled at the smell, backing away from the monster that had just now started its own approach toward her. “You should just give up and join the others. I would hate to have to hobble my food before I eat it.” Derpy continued to back away from the creature and it let loose what could be construed as a sigh. “I guess I have no choice.”

In front of the mare’s eyes, the creature began to collect and transform until a different being stood in front of her. It was a being that the mare had hoped never to see again and its voice chilled her to the bone.

“Derpy, I’ve come to take Dinky back. I have the court backing me up and I demand custody of her.” The pegasus dropped to the ground and was frozen in unnatural fear as the world shifted around her, disorienting her and making her feel helpless. As all this occurred, the stallion approached her, metal clinking with every step. “Now, just give her over and we can settle this without much pain.” Tears began to fall from her face as the stallion approached and Derpy shut her eyes.

As soon as she had done so, the creature lunged for her.

Only to meet empty air.

Instead, the mare had been moved backward and he was now being faced by a tall biped who looked down at the thing before him. “I think you could accurately be described as a Dirty Trick, hmm? I’ll make sure to name your species that when I get back to Canterlot.”

“You assume too much, biped. You won’t be leaving my trap.” The creature once again started to transform, the shifting body of the stallion disappearing.

“You misunderstand, monster. I won as soon as you thought you could use my fear to kill me.” Halfway through its new transformation, it began to let loose a horrid sound that could be compared to a scream.

“What’s this?! What’s happening?! You oddity, what have you done?!” It was too late for the being to stop however, and it finished its transformation. In front of Inventor, lay a corpse of a young human girl. Without even a pause, Inventor immediately dropped to his knees, his eyes turning cold and dead as he looked at the motionless girl.

After a moment more of silence, Derpy recovered and slowly approached the unmoving man. “Inventor?” she asked as she hovered closer to him.

“He can’t move Derpy; not while he’s like this. It didn’t expect my fear to be what it is. It’s not an object so much as it’s a regret, something without a physical form. Meaning the beast is effectively dead.” Inventor paused for a moment, his eyes still locked on the corpse in front of him. “Take the girls. Go back to that clearing where I fought the manticore. I’ll meet you soon.” His voice was full of sorrow as he said the words, though whether it was from what he was seeing, or what he had done, couldn’t be determined. Derpy nodded in reply and ushered the girls out of the area, leaving the mourning man behind.

They arrived at the clearing and an awkward silence fell over the area. “Your sisters are going to be very upset with you. You’ve had them worried sick,” Derpy finally said to break the icy grip of fear that held the group.

“It was Scootaloo’s idea. ‘Hey, how about we get our exploring cutie marks in the Everfree?’ ” Sweetie Belle said, doing a poor mimic of the orange pegasus as she did so.

“Yea, but you guys didn’t do much to stop me,” Scootaloo said as she tried to defend herself.

“That’s ‘cause we knew we wouldn’t be able to change yer mind,” Applebloom countered, leaving Scootaloo to slump slightly where she rested.

Dinky didn’t bother offering an excuse, instead running up to her mother and hugging her around the neck. “I was so worried I wouldn’t see you again Mom. I don’t know what I would do without our muffin mondays. I...” The young unicorn sniffed. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Dinky. I love you too.” The pair embraced tighter as their eyes moistened from tears. A rustle from the bushes interrupted them.

The group huddled close together and stared toward the cause of the sound. Inventor emerged from the brush, his face solemn with half glazed over eyes. Without a word to the girls, he waved his hand toward the exit, giving them the sign to follow him.

The remainder of the exit went without incident and Inventor stopped at the edge of the forest. “I’m heading back to Canterlot. You got a job as my assistant, by the way. If you still want it, I’ll see you when you come down.” Without another word, he was gone. Derpy contemplated going after him, but the presence of the fillies reminded her that she had more pressing matters and she led them back to Ponyville.

“Inventor... For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Derpy said under her breath with a final glance in the direction of the biped, though he was too far away to hear her.

(More thanks to StapleCactus for being an awesome editor. Tn other news I’m feeling particularly awesome right now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don’t forget to ask me any questions you might have for me on my tumblr. See ya next chapter. -N64Fan)

Chapter Eight

Inventor meandered down the street, his feet clicking lightly against the cobblestone as he kept his hands behind his back. An unreadable look was splayed across his face, but none saw it. His lunar outfit shone brightly in the afternoon sun, drawing the attention of all passersby away from his face. Derpy seemed to be the only one who had caught him with it, having noticed it on his face the day after the events in the Everfree two days ago. Luna would have as well, but she had been turning away from the man more and more as she grew closer to her sister once again. Some unknown thought ran through his mind and he slowly looked at his right hand, its true nature hidden beneath the glove covering it.

With a sad gasp inward, his eyes began to sparkle as light danced over the tears starting to find their way down his face. The source? A memory had been torturing him from the forefront of his mind since those few days ago.

“Excuse me, mister?” The voice was familiar, but Inventor ignored it, letting his steps take him away. Unfortunately, it followed. “Luna’s bodyguard, sir? May I speak with you?” The man inhaled silently through his nose, drawing in both courage and air alike, and wiped his face quickly before turning to face the mare to whom the voice belonged.

Not trusting his voice quite yet, Inventor waited for the pony in front of him to talk. The white unicorn paused, not sure how to start, then began. “I never got the chance to thank you back in Ponyville, for what you did.” The man didn’t respond and a tense moment of unsurety passed for the mare. “My name is Rarity, in case you forgot,” she added, clearly having expected the man to respond, meaning she was out of things to say. But she wasn’t ready to end the conversation just yet, so she had spouted whatever had come to mind.

“Is that all?” Nonchalant and deadpanned, he looked back at her with eyes deader than a corpse.

“Excuse me?”

“Is that all? Are you done? Are you going to continue to drag this out? Am I free to go? May we part? Would you like me to continue?” Annoyance made itself known as it began to build behind his voice, increasing with every alternate question he asked.

“I- I guess?”

“Good. Goodbye, that is,” he stated and began to walk away. Rarity followed in a huff; she wasn’t going to take being spoken to like that.

“That was quite rude.”

“Good, that’s what I was going for,” Inventor hissed over his shoulder to the pony. “Because I was hoping that it would make you GO AWAY!” He turned back to the road and continued walking, more annoyed than before at the pony, though the reason for his anger was unknown by the mare or himself.

“Well, I am not leaving until you apologize,” Rarity announced stubbornly, a hurt tone in her voice. Inventor stopped suddenly and Rarity pulled up alongside him, thinking he was going to do burst out in ‘sorry’s. That didn’t happen. Rather, she looked into his face and followed his gaze to the group of ponies in front of them. A crowd of some sort that had gathered around some spectacle neither of the two beings could see from where they were.

“What’s going on, do you think?” Rarity asked, forgetting her small anger in the face of this oddity.

If Inventor had been in a better mood, he might have sidled up alongside one of the ponies and questioned them as to what they were viewing. As it stood, however, he was not in a good mood. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled a small metallic L-shaped device and opened a panel on the side. From another hole, the man retrieved a small object that easily fit in the palm of his hand. With a smooth, practiced action, the object slid into the device without a fuss and Inventor pointed it skyward. Without pause, he pulled the trigger, an explosion echoing through the crowd, silencing them as they all turned to face him, looks of fear covering most faces.

Placing the device back into his coat, Inventor pushed his way through the stoic crowd and toward the middle, Rarity following the bothered man hesitantly. As they got to the middle, Inventor was greeted by the sight of a blue pegasus who appeared to have had a rough landing, some of her fur and feathers scattered about her from her collision with the ground. Her mane and tail were multichromatic and splayed about her body in a chaotic fashion, disheveled.

Rarity made a move toward her instinctively, but Inventor held her back as he knelt at the pegasus’s side. First, he placed his hand against her chest to check for a rhythm. When he had found one, he glanced to the unicorn by his side. “Go get some medical pony. I’m no doctor.” She nodded and hurried off for the nearest hospital. In the meantime, Inventor’s gaze moved over the mare’s body.

Noticing an anomaly, he leaned forward and lightly moved his finger to a specific wound on her wing. Pulling it away, he looked down at the dust that had accumulated on his glove and sniffed it lightly, then touched it to his tongue. With a skewed up face, the man realized it tasted and smelt familiar. Inventor glanced around his surroundings and spotted a shine of light reflecting off something in the distance. As he stood from the crowd, they closed around the body once again, chatting amongst themselves about the man behind his back.

Busy as they were talking about him, no one paid heed to Inventor as he approached the side of a nearby building and pulled an iron spike embedded in the cobblestone. Tossing it slightly into the air and catching it with his right hand, the man realized it had the same weight to it as the one that had gone through his throat a few days after his life had been secured. Turning around, Inventor looked at the nearby rooftops and found the only one that could shoot toward this alley also shot down the street, in the direction he had come from.

Putting it together in his head, Inventor deftly pocketed the iron spike and moved back to the road, waiting for the transport that would take the blue pegasus back to the hospital. After it had arrived, Inventor left the job to them and set off towards the castle.

He had something he needed to confront.

How dare he?! Inventor thought to himself as he trekked through the streets with footfalls smashing against the unyielding stone beneath him. Then, Inventor promised himself one thing: if the dirt bag behind this hurt someone else, he would wish he hadn’t lived in the first place.

His fists were clenched tightly as he moved through the castle. With anger coursing through his veins, he counted the doors until he arrived at the room he was seeking out, smashing the entryway with a powerful kick. The gray stallion within turned to face him, fear replaced by smugness as he realized who it was.

“Hello, mister bodyguard,” he declared in a tone of casual greeting while he concealed his pomposity behind a composed face. Inventor didn’t pay heed to the strange act, unfortunately.

“Hello, Scumbag,” came the retort, followed by the spike as it dug deeply into the wall next to the stallion’s head. “You forgot something.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The stallion had fear in his tone, worry flooding through it, though it seemed to hold some degree of artificial feeling to it. “I’ve never touched something so—”

“Then whoever you hired forgot something.” Inventor closed the distance quickly, his vision focused on the stallion, and leaned forward, curling his hand around the stallion’s neck. “When you tried to have me killed in the dungeons, I didn’t care. This time though, you hurt an innocent. An innocent whose interference probably saved me today, since I suspect your assassin had someway to ensure I didn’t recover this time. And so, if an attack on me goes awry again and hurts an innocent, I will personally tan your hide so black that everyone will think I lit you on fire and poured hot tar over you. Am I understood? If you plan on continuing, you should make sure they don’t miss.”

Slowly, the stallion smiled. It was a soft smile, barely visible in fact. “I told you, Your Highness, he’s a loose cannon.” His tone had taken on an inflection of fear, mixed with subservience.

Inventor turned quickly. An alicorn looked back at him, her coat light pink and her mane three tone —white, pink, and, purple— that merged into a muddied crimson towards the end of their length. Her eyes were cold, gazing at the man. “Get out of the castle.”

“What? No, you don’t understand; he...” Inventor stumbled over his words, silently cursing himself for not checking for other ponies in the room before brazenly charging ahead.

“I will provide witness and testimony of what occurred here to my aunts. From there, we will decide what is to be done. Normally, you would be allowed to stay in the castle under such circumstances. However, as you have claimed such a preposterous thing as Head Counselor hiring an- an- an assassin of some kind— a profession unheard of in Canterlot, I might add.” Her eyes were judgmental, and rightfully so. Inventor had assumed hitmen, or hitponies as it might be, were as common here as they were where he came from, a flawed logical jump in and of itself. “—you are hereby removed from the castle, so as to ensure his health.”

Resigned, Inventor pulled the spike from the wall easily and left. He could feel the pair of eyes following him, but was spared from seeing the prideful sneer of the head counselor that held on his face until Cadence turned to look at him. Inventor closed the door behind him, not looking back, and moved down the hall from which he had approached. A few of the other council members had come out of their rooms when they heard the commotion, but upon seeing the man walking by, they quickly closed the doors and left the man to his shamed shamble. He reached the door to the building and couldn’t restrain himself any longer. With a fierce swing, his mechanical fist collided with the wall and stayed there for a moment before he pulled it away, leaving a web of cracks on the stone as the only sign it had connected.

The man took the silver outfit from his shoulders and dropped it on the ground just inside the door in a heap. Then, in his sleeveless rags, he left. The last thing on his mind as he faded from the view of the castle was a simple, selfless one: a wish that Derpy would be able to keep her job in his absence. That way, not everything he had done would be unraveled in a moment of stupidity and rage. So it was with heavy steps, he vanished from view around a corner.

((A/N: I meant to make this longer, I really did, but my mind jammed randomly and I decided you guys wouldn't mind a shorter chapter given the circumstances.))

Chapter Nine

Luna landed, scrap scattering hither and thither as her hooves connected with the ground and the down swing of her wings created a clear circle at her feet. She glanced around, looking for something specific, before setting off. Eyewitnesses stated he had disappeared into the junkyard after the event at the castle those few days prior. And yet, she was hopelessly lost.

Inventor had made trips to the junkyard before, but had always been back before he was needed, never requiring her to go after him herself. Because of this, she had absolutely no idea where to start looking for him amongst the haphazard walls of the maze-like garbage.

Though her determination and stubbornness grounded her in the location, it didn’t stop her from feeling the annoyance pooling away beneath her stoic face. What Inventor had done was something that could only be described as stupid, Not only had he made a very powerful judgement of a high ranking pony, but he had then fled, never talking, never waiting. And he was in all the worse of a position for it.

A brief flash of metal caught her eye and Luna turned to head after it, thanking all the powers that be she was close to clearing up the whole mess and getting her body guard back. Then, she could return to the castle and meet with her sister again. Maybe they could have a nice cup of tea to cool the situation.

When she approached the dancing illumination, she became aware that whatever its source, it couldn’t be Inventor; the size of it just didn’t fit. She moved the left slightly and looked in awe at the source of the false beacon. A mechanical hummingbird beat its steel wings against the air, darting from pile to pile of scrap and retrieving any metal it could lift.

As it was pulling a thin strip of metal from a pile, its wings suddenly slowed, then stopped. The bird dropped to the ground, motionless. Luna moved and stood next to it, looking down at the odd creature. A movement blurred past her peripheral vision, causing Luna to quickly jump backward. Inventor looked back at her with tired eyes for a moment before he lifted the bird from the ground and placed a key in a hole on its side.

After a few turns, the bird began flapping again and Inventor released it into the air. He looked back to the motionless Luna and left, walking slowly so she could follow if she wished. She did, indeed, follow, and before too long, they had arrived at a small metal shack. He entered immediately, but Luna remained outside a moment, taking a look at the impromptu home Inventor had created.

The door was mostly wood, but had several holes in it that had been sealed by scraps of iron. All except one, anyway, which served as the means of opening the door for the man. The hinges were strings of wire that had been shoved through the wood and then wrapped around a pole, giving it the ability to open both ways.

The rest of the building was composed of any and all flat surfaces turned on their side and bolted together. All in all, after seeing the bird and mechanical arm the man had, Luna was unimpressed. As if called by her thoughts, the humming bird arrived and entered through the hole in the door.

Deciding she was done looking at the scrap building, she entered. Inventor sat at a table, taking the thin wires from the bird and weaving them into a small nest. Even when he looked up to see her enter, his hands didn’t stop working.

“Oye, I thought you said there weren’t goin’ to be any visitors today,” a rough, gravelly voice said from a corner. A stallion stood from a thread thin blanket and looked towards Luna with his one good eye, his other marked white with blindness. “Well, bless the stars; it’s Princess Luna. Maybe she’ll drag you out of ‘ere, finally.”

“Can it, Hardy,” Inventor replied, throwing a bowl towards him with one hand while his other placed the nest in front of the bird, which it rested in readily. Hardy ducked, the bowl shattering against the wall behind. With a laugh, he approached the counter and retrieved a bowl that wasn’t in pieces.

“So,” Hardy began, placing wilted lettuce in the bowl, “I suppose you’ve come to get that sad sack of steel and bones back, eh?”

“Yes, I—”

“Well, why in the ‘eavens would you want to do that?” Hardy asked with a chuckle to himself. “He’s loyal, I’ll give ‘im that. I ‘aven’t been able to get rid of him yet. Or is that stubbornness? Same thing, I suppose.” He placed some half-rotted vegetables on the lettuce. Placing the bowl on the table, he started to eat the food within, smiling as the princess cringed.

“That cannot be healthy,” Luna said, holding back rising bile.

“He has the immune system of a super being. He can’t get sick from anything he eats,” Inventor said idly. The bird began to wind down as it pointed its head up, but no noise came from it. When gears ground to a stop, its head fell to rest against its neck.

“Aww, you flatter me, Rusty. I did get sick that one time.”

“Yes, rolling in feces with open wounds will do that to you.” Luna threw up a little in her mouth. “Still got over it in one day though, didn’t you?”

“I suppose you got me on that, Bolts.”

“You do raise a valid point, though.” Inventor looked to Luna, his tired eyes staring into hers. “Why did you come to get me?”

Luna was silent for a moment before she spoke. “You are acting childish, so I came to bring you back to your senses so you can return to being my bodyguard.”

“Ah yes, makin’ a ‘ouse in a junkyard. I can see ‘ow that might be construed as childish.” Hardy was silenced by a glare from both Luna and Inventor.

“Surely, that’s my decision, not yours? I thought my resignation had been clear.” Inventor walked over to a scrap iron fridge and pulled an odd machine out of it, cold air visible as it tumbled to the floor and dispersed. “I realized I am not the body guarding type. If you need an executioner though, I have a lot of experience in that.”

“So you’re just going to drop my gift, just like that?”

“Yes, I am, in the same way you would dispose of a gifted bear trap that had clamped around your leg.” The machine on the table began to whir softly. Inventor then proceeded to beat the steel until the noise stopped. Hardy paid no attention and continued to eat the food in front of him. “Not to mention, you don’t need a bodyguard. Not unless that councillor has plans far greater than removing me.”

“You still believe he has something out for you?” Luna asked, an exasperated tone in her voice.

“I still have the freedom to keep my own beliefs, don’t I?” Inventor retorted angrily.

“Oye!” Hardy shouted as he swung his hoof onto the table with a smash, no longer keeping his peace. “If you two are goin’ to argue, get out of the ‘ouse! It’s annoying enough ‘earing Tinky ‘ere working with ‘is crap.” Inventor looked about to talk, but was cut off. “Lookie ‘ere, you twat, the princess cares about you, but she doesn’t want to encourage you actin’ like a whiny brat.”

“Yeah,” Luna replied, glad the stallion was on her side.

“And you!” Hardy continued, looking at Luna. “You should know the twat actually ‘as a reason for ‘is actions; ‘e thinks somebody’s after ‘im, so ‘e’s tryin’ to save you like the good bodyguard ‘e is. ‘e doesn’t want to tell you though, ‘cause ‘e’s worried you’ll worry for ‘im ‘cause you’re a sorry sod.” Hardy stopped for a moment and chuckled. “If you don’ mind me sayin’ anyway, Your ‘ighness.”

Silence hung for a moment, then Inventor sighed. “To be clear, I do not think you are a ‘sorry sod.’ ” Luna didn’t answer. “Whatever. I can’t go back to being your bodyguard, primarily because you don’t need me. Just keep an eye on the head councillor and make sure Derpy always has a job. I’m headed to the Everfree; maybe I can make a living there, out of the way of everyone.”

Inventor walked over and picked up the nest and bird from the other table before exiting the shack, leaving Luna and Hardy. Lacking anything else to do, Luna decided to ask the question that had been bugging her about the stallion. “Why are you living in this dump?”

“Oh, me? I like quiet places. Which, up until yesterday, this dump had in spades.” He grinned crookedly and went back to eating his decaying food. Luna returned an unsure grin of her own and backed out of the house. To her surprise, Inventor was just outside the door, waiting for her.

“Hit me,” he said, his tone deadpan and serious.

“What?”

“Hit me,” he announced again, louder.

“If you don’t want to, Princess, I would be happy to!” Hardy shouted from within, the ramshackle walls blocking almost none of the words.

“If you’re sure...” Luna said hesitantly, ignoring the disgusting stallion. Inventor nodded resolutely and Luna reared back, hitting the man with all the force she could muster, knowing he could handle it, but mostly because she just really wanted to hit him.

Inventor went tumbling backwards from the hit, but stood from the ground soon enough, the bird and nest remaining intact in his hand. “Thanks,” he replied, sincere in his words. “I really needed that.”

“Want to tell me why you suddenly decided me hitting you was necessary?”

“I needed to stop moping. As a bonus, I found out you hit really hard when you want to.” Inventor started rubbing his cheek. “I’m sorry. I’ve been acting foolishly. I get like that sometimes.”

“So... you’re still my body guard?” A slight smile was on her face; she hadn’t realized how relieved she would be to hear that news.

“Yea, sure. Don’t know why you need one. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.” Inventor motioned with his hand toward the train station in the distance and the two started walking. Luna would have teleported them, but she had something she wanted to talk about with the biped.

“So, what caused all that, anyway?”

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not exactly the most mentally stable of people. I was like that even before my world ended. And then, the apocalypse didn’t really help.”

“You say that, but I can’t imagine someone acting like you just did would survive very long, alone.” At the word ‘alone’, Inventor glanced to Luna for a brief second. He said nothing as they walked on, arriving at the train station quickly. The duo stood on the walkway for a long while, neither of them checking when the next train would arrive.

“Amy,” Inventor said, gazing down the railway.

“Hmm?” Luna looked toward him curiously.

“That was her name: Amy.”

“Oh.” Luna teetered on what to say next, but eventually asked, “What happened to her?”

Inventor turned and glared at Luna, the fires of rage burning brightly. They were quickly put out, however, by the drowning tides of sadness. “I screwed up. I fell asleep when I was supposed to be running guard duty. She offered to take over for me a few moments before hand, but I was too prideful to realize how tired I really was.”

“Oh...”

“I woke up to the sight of her being torn apart by the monsters the apocalypse had created. The only other human who had survived the end, and I killed her with my pride.”

Silence hung in the air, choking the duo, until at last Luna could no longer handle it and teleported them both back to the castle. Having not specified a location within the castle, it was slightly confusing for the alicorn when she found herself inside of a room cluttered with gears and half-built machines.

Inventor approached the work bench at the far side of the room and pulled a small piece from a pile. Reaching over to the bird’s throat, he placed it securely within the machine and placed his key in the side of it. A few winds of the clockwork later, the bird stirred. It pointed its head skyward and, unlike last time, light and airy music began to twist its way into the air.

Though it was mechanical in tone, it still held an odd sound to it, like a funeral march mixed with a serenade.

Luna looked to Inventor who sat with his hand on the nest, his gaze locked on the bird. “Thanks,” he said, his eyes never leaving the avian machine. “For coming to get me.”

Luna nodded astutely and left the room, the door swinging open easily from the inside. As she left, Derpy ran towards her. “Is he back?” she asked eagerly.

“Yes, he’s back.” Luna was slightly surprised as Derpy flung her front hooves around her neck.

“Thanks for bringing him back, Princess; he’s a good guy. Sometimes, he just forgets that.” Derpy let go and hurried into the room before the door closed, knowing, without the key, entry would be nigh impossible without explosives.

Luna remained motionless for a beat longer, her mind running over what had been said, before Derpy’s voice broke her from her thoughts. “INVENTOR!” she shouted, all the following words being blocked out as the door closed. Luna smiled and left, glad she had taken the time to go and bring him back.

Just so you know, that paragraph full of e’s, ‘e’s, and ‘es makes me want to choke Enfan. So. Much. -StapleCactus

Chapter Ten

Inventor walked the halls of the castle in some strange stupor, his eyes glazed over and his mind far away. His steps were long and hurried, but despite this sense of urgency there was no final destination for the trip. He merely paced the castle, the same steps on repeat over and over again. The day dragging on to the night and Derpy always a few feet behind. He hadn’t spoken to her since his return to the castle, he had barely even acknowledged her existence. But, as bad as it made Derpy feel, she knew he hadn’t really spoken to anyone. And it put a lot of ponies on edge, Luna and Derpy chief among them. They’d teamed up to try and get some words from him, but after a week of failure they decided instead to simply be there for him. Inventor appeared quite set on never speaking another word again, but if he did then there would be someone there to listen.

During his frantic pace his hands were clasped tightly behind his back as he walked, the fingers of his gloves intertwining like a basket weave. His head was down constantly, his entire demeanor unattentive. He seemed preoccupied, like he did when he had a puzzle or problem he couldn't quite solve. As much as Derpy wanted to ask him what his troubles were, she knew she’d only get silence in response. She didn’t know what had happened, only that something had, and she hadn’t gotten an answer from any of the princesses.

Suddenly, without any warning, Inventor changed his course. He spun on his heel and backtracked a few feet before turning down an intersection of halls, moving towards the entrance to the castle. Derpy followed silently as they passed the threshold and entered Canterlot proper. And she was only a few steps as they went through the roads of the capital, she was riding his coat tails as they swerved through the bustling streets.. The distance between them grew, however, when Inventor absentmindedly pushed aside the door to a building a strode inside. Derpy looked around, unsure about entering the building, but found just as few answers on the street as there were in her head. So, somewhat reluctantly, she followed Inventor into the hospital.

She watched the reactions of ponies as Inventor passed them by: frightened and scared by the single mindedness of his step, about the fact that something was… wrong with him, though they knew not what it was. He reached the counter at the front quickly enough with his long pace, and the pony behind it looked at him with a soft smile. “I wasn’t expecting you for a few more hours, Mr. Inventor. Decided you couldn’t wait for your assistant to get off this time? Whatever will you do now that she knows your secret?”

“How is she?” he asked lowly, his voice barely above a whisper. Derpy looked at the faces of the two for answers, but only came up empty handed as to who this ‘she’ was. The mare behind the counter smiled sadly, as if she never really expected him to answer her question in the first place.

“She’s recovering, just as she was at sundown yesterday when you last checked in on her. Just like I said she would be.”

Inventor then turned around and left without any further a word. Derpy gave one helpless glance to the mare behind the counter, hoping for some kind of answer, but when she realized none was forthcoming she hurried to catch up to her employer before she lost track of him.

They slowly trekked back to the castle, back to Inventor’s room, back to the uncomfortable silence that haunted the biped. Back to how things had been for the past few days. Back and back again. History repeating itself in an anxious frightening pattern, but so stuck in its rut that not a soul dare try to remove it.

Then, without explanation, Inventor tore it from it’s rut. Speaking his first words to Derpy since his return from the junkyard. He had taken his pet bird from its cage and sat down at his workshop to look at it. He didn’t bother winding it, however, and simply watched it sit perfectly still, little besides a collection of metal on his counter. He gingerly lifted the wing and let go, watching it fold neatly back against the body of the bird, his eyes blank and unreadable.

“Do you ever think that maybe things would be better if I weren’t here?” He said, turning slowly to face his assistant for her answer.

And an answer he got. Inventor was brought to complete attention as Derpy smacked him across the face, a loud echoing sound that filled the workshop and scared away the silence that had clung to the room for the past several days undisturbed. He looked at her for explanation, but saw only tears and anger in her eyes. She seemed ready to hit him again, and he flinched away, rubbing his jaw with his good arm. It had hurt a lot more than he thought it would, and more than just his jaw ached.

Eventually, Derpy answered his question, the words fighting their way past the emotions that swirled inside her soul. “No. Never. No one has. Only you. And you’re wrong; you just can’t see it.”

“I’m wrong?” His voice held a sort of sarcastic laugh in its tone. “Do you have any proof of that claim?”

“You’re looking at your proof right now. You just can’t see it, can you? You’re so blinded by your self-pity that you can’t see how much happiness you bring. So enraptured in your sadness, you can’t see past the fog that you’ve endured these past few days. We all have a right to being sad, and to prevent sadness. But if you think for a minute that we’d be better off without you, you’re wrong.”

“I haven’t done anything! None of my inventions have helped, none of my work is unique or special. Anyone would come to my conclusions given a week or two. Heck, they’d probably come to better ones in that time. I haven’t changed anything in the long run!”

“You don’t need to!” Derpy shouted back, her voice even louder than the man’s. “You don’t need to be special or unique or powerful or important! No one does! You have friends who would miss you if you were gone. They don’t care about what you’ve accomplished or how fantastic you are. They like you because you’re you, not because of what you’ve done. I’m happy to be your assistant because of your generosity and humor, not for your intelligence and grandeur!”

Inventor looked back at her from the corner of his eye, rubbing his jaw once again. “Yea?”

“Of course!”

He looked down at the ground. Equal parts shame and thought.

Derpy gazed on silently, the tears fading away slowly and her rage dying down. She sat down on a nearby chair. “You didn’t act like it was a big deal when you hired me, Inventor. You just gave wanted to help a pony who was down on her luck. For no reason other than the fact that I told you my troubles. You didn’t do it because you trusted I was telling the truth. You didn’t do it because you knew me as a friend in need. To this day, I don’t know why you did it, just that you saved me from a lot of problems.”

“I didn’t have anything better to do with it.”

“You laughed off my mistakes and helped me through my fumbles. You kept your patience and held your temper when I set things askew.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’d hired you, after all. I didn’t want to have to fire you.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Inventor.”

“I’ve seen what happens to people who give themselves too much.”

“So you starve, instead of gorge. It’s still not healthy.”

A sad smile touched Inventor’s face as he gazed at the ground. His robotic arm flexed slightly as if out of reflex. “You’re a lot smarter than you let on, Derpy.” He lunged forward immediately, and Derpy tried to shove herself back in surprise, but was too slow. She felt the man wrap his metal arm around her neck until he had the inside of his elbow directly to the right of her neck... and then he let it rest there. She relaxed and returned the gesture with a smile, overcoming the tears and sadness that were still whirling in her heart.

“Don’t ever change, Derpy.”

“I don’t plan to, Inventor,” Derpy replied with a smile, petting his head like he was a colt. “Don’t you change, ever, either.”

His hug tightened a little bit, squeezing her ribs lightly. Obviously showing great care not to hurt her. “I won’t.”

They hugged for a minute longer, then Inventor broke it. He stood up taller and straightened his clothes. “Now, then, I believe it’s time for you to get off, and it’s about time I escort Luna from her room.”

“Are you sure—?”

“I’ll be fine, Derpy.” Inventor smiled back, a glimmer in his eyes that Derpy hadn’t seen in far too long. “I promise.”

She smiled in return and moved towards the window. “See you tomorrow, then.”

“Of course Derpy. Always.” He said with a smile.

He watched as Derpy left, waiting until she vanished from sight, then straightened his clothes once again. He looked at the bird resting on his counter, looking more sleepy than dead in the light of the sunset peeking through the window. He glanced to the window where Derpy had vanished from sight and back to the bird again.

“You would love her, Amy, if you were here. You’d get along so well. Share all those times you helped me out of the ruins of my shattered psyche and salvaged my soul from all the scrap heaps I throw it into.” He lifted the bird carefully and placed it in the cage once again. “I can practically hear you chat with her some days, when the wind is just right.”

He left his room and moved through the halls, the old swing in his step making itself known. The kind, sly smile was on his face once again, always planning something, working out problems and troubles. Solving the math that haunted his head, putting it at ease until it wormed its way back up again. A guard noticed and elbowed his partner, pointing out the old friendly Inventor. The two guards were smiling as well, soon enough. It was shortly thereafter that Inventor reached Luna’s door and knocked on it lightly, waiting for the proper response before he swung it open.

His arms were clasped behind his back as he waited, and as he stood there, an unexpected guest passed his gaze, her wings and horn of pink identifying her almost faster than her face. She looked at him with curious, doubting eyes, to which Inventor responded with a half-hearted grin. Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything, moving past him without a halt in her step.

Out of the sight of the alicorn, his hands had begun to fidget behind his back and he softly rocked back and forth on his heels. When Cadance at last moved beyond the corner, he let himself relax, calming his mind and his body with a few breaths, collecting his thoughts once again.

He heard the door to Luna’s chamber begin to slide open and turned to watch her come out. She bore herself as a princess, and he stood taller in her presence. Her crown and necklace sparkled faintly in the fading sunlight, only adding to her shining appearance. Luna looked around the hall before she turned her attention to Inventor fully.

“You look better today.” Luna said with a small, almost imperceptible, smile. “Am I to suppose you had a talk with Derpy?” Her tone was regal and imposing, but her face was smiling and caring. Causing Inventor’s own smile to widen slightly.

“Yes, I did. It was a rather nice discussion.” Luna’s smile’s widened a bit as she heard him speak, that familiar ringing happy tone she’d grown used to. He waited patiently for a moment before he began to act again. Inventor glanced around the hall with strange overly-jerky movements, his sly grin prominent on his face as he did so. “Well, it seems that this stretch of the path is entirely devoid of threats, doesn’t it? We should probably be headed for your court.”

“Yes,” Luna said with a joking tone. “I suppose we should.”

Author's Note

StapleCactus, as always, was the editor for this long overdue chapter.