Mechon production was shaky due to the refinement process still being manual. I already had a few M108/SPADE units roaming two floors of the Central Factory, while I had many other Mechon units, both activated and wandering or deactivated and in storage. Production, both successful and faulty, was going so fast that the cylinderized magic gotten from that tree was beginning to run thin, using up cylinders slightly faster than they come out of the teleporter.

Despite the need for another source of magic to drain and the requirement of programming automation for the refinery, I was too distracted at the moment to consider it. My mind kept wandering as I operated the facility, questions that I couldn't figure out or answer continuing to circle in my head. It was because of this that I kept screwing up the refining process.

The other day, I had attacked another bug settlement to further provoke the maggot sisters into coming to fight me. The one bug kept annoying me with spells that did next to nothing to me, even with something enhancing her power.

I practically had her in my claws... so why didn't I kill her? She would of become an actual threat had I left that artifact on her neck, yet I only destroyed the necklace powering her. Was I so caught up in toying with my prey, so caught up in spreading my terror, that I didn't even bother attempting to end her life?

Then there was the question of the Elements of Harmony. Especially the white bug named Rarity, the one who somehow reminded me of my dear late sister. The accent I remember my sister keeping from our original world and was, as much as I hate to admit it, somewhat understandable, despite me still questioning why I didn't hear any resemblance back at the wedding.

Yet somehow a PONY, a filthy, stinking, cowardly bug, managed to somehow physically and psychologically remind me enough of my late sister and make me pause to the point of aborting my killing blow. Why did I react like that? I could of simply moved to another element bearer and murdered them instead, even if it was only to permanently disable the elements. Why did I abort the intent to kill entirely based off an unjustified and nonexistent similarity?

"Why am I being so INCOMPETENT?" I slam the console of the refinery with my arms in frustration. I haven't slept since my attack, ever since I couldn't keep my promise to that forest. The tiredness was beginning to muddle my thoughts, dampened my bloodlust over not killing anything, and amplified my enraged confusion over everything that happened. "Am I doomed to making stupid decisions? Am I doomed to play right into the hands of my enemies, into the hands of those who THINK they are always in the right? AM I?"

I breath heavily as I attempted to regain control of my thoughts, with little success. Stepping away from the refinery controls, I managed to order an M37/Worker Bee unit to scout for another source of harvestable magic, with strict orders to keep out of sight of the bugs as best as possible. With that, I return to my unit in an attempt to get some shut-eye.

"And why... why couldn't I kill ANY of them?"

"Big brother, don't you even think about it!"

"What? These racists little shits refuse to accept us despite the fact we clearly mean no harm. Can't I have a little fun?"

"We have to keep trying to convince them. One of them has to understand. One of them must!"

"You're putting a lot of faith into finding one out of a bunch of herd animals to understand us."

"Like I said, we have to keep trying, don't we? Then we can get their help in finding our way home. That's what I believe."

"You were always the optimist of us... and I trust and love you too much to say forget it."

"Then you promise not to hurt... or at least not kill any ponies from here on out... for me?"

"I promise, little sis. For you, I'll try my best."

I wake up to a beeping sound outside of my unit, discovering tears once again trailing down my face. I was not used to dreaming my memories since the stone prison was at LEAST kind enough to remove bodily needs, including the need to sleep, which allowed me what little mental capacity I had left to plan revenge and keep her memories close to me. Now that I was free, I kept being bombarded by the very same memories of my late sister, only in much fresher detail.

I wiped my face as I realized the answer to one of my questions, conveniently answered by that one memory dream. Because of the memories of my sister and another one of the promises I've made to her before her death, I subconsciously avoided killing ponies outside of the maggot sisters in my "attempts" to keep my promise to her. My own memories were starting to revolt against me, unless Mooncunt was somehow feeding these memories back into me in an attempt to get me to abort my threats.

The beeping started up again and I looked at the source in annoyance. The M37 I sent out had returned and wanted to transfer it's scouting report to me. I quickly transfer the data to my unit before shooing it away and thinking back to my current predicament.

If this was indeed Mooncunt's doing for said reasons, she can only do so much before I mentally degrade enough to break all promises. If I wanted to begin the murdering of the bugs sooner than that, memory wipes were always an option. However I didn't want to resort to that, as it would make me lose the very reason why I'm out for revenge in the first place.

I don't want to forget her but I also, for now, don't want to break one of the last few promises I've made to her.

Pushing the dilemma to the back of my mind for the moment, I look at the scouting data. The M37 didn't have to travel far before discovering another massive source of magic power: The Crystal Empire. Reading further, The scout managed to pinpoint the heart of the source after much bug evading, which was a heart-shaped crystal that spun at a steady pace, occasionally giving off a pulse of unidentified magic.

Remembering that Sombra failed to reclaim it and that it fell into enemy hands, I knew that any above ground activity in an attempt to harvest the magic would alert the maggot sisters to the Central Factory's location. If I wanted any chance in hell to get more magic, I once again needed to get it from under the source.

To that end, because the Empire gave off far more energy than the tree, I decided on a pipe-line structure leading from the source to the factory's cylinderization system. Identifying the general direction of the city, I ordered a hole to be cut in the sphere and maintenance pathways to be built leading up to the hole.

The cutting was fast and clean, allowing air-born digging Mechon to immediately get to work. Because of the distance between here and the Empire, my calculations estimated a few days if ground-based digging Mechon were used, otherwise it would span a week to reach under the city. I took my chances and prioritized the pathway before truly getting to the digging, although I left some of the M30 series to chip away at the dirt.

Before I went to help with the digging, I went to check on the tree harvester. I didn't notice before, but now that I was somewhat rested, I realized that output from the tree was beginning to slow down. The Mechon on site were able to install cameras around the tree and underground, which allowed me to observe said site and tree.

The tree wasn't glowing as bright as it was before, now reduced to a flickering state. "Peh... so much for that tree bearing any connection to those cursed elements if it couldn't even hold up against some meager magic harvesting."

Sighing, I go back to the hole in the wall and started helping the digging process myself. The maintenance pathways won't be completed for eighteen hours and I want to get as much done as possible.

"Something's digging into our tunnels, broodmother Kylisia!"

The changeling broodmother looks up, her pony-like muzzle contorted in both fear and somber realization. "So the ponies have found us even here? It wasn't enough for them to fling us to our deaths, they now seek to destroy us personally?"

The drone looks up at her. "Isn't it a bit premature to assume that it's the ponies, broodmother? It could be a pack of Diamond Dogs tunneling by our--"

"And by now, the whole of Equestria and the other kingdoms will have known about our incursion, desperation withholding. What's to stop them from warning everything else of our presence here, less trying to kill us as well?" Kylisia shakes her head. "I felt Zaragal's death a little while ago. It's us Changelings against the world now and we're living on borrowed time. Us and our queen"

"Shall we marshal what little defenses we have left, then?"

"Yes. Ours is a doomed existence, but us broodmothers and our queen will be damned if we simply laid down and died. If we are to die, we will do so with honor!"

All of the nearby Changeling drones and solders chittered and hissed loudly in agreement before scrambling to prepare their make-shift defenses. Kylisia looked around the room with a somber look. The room and network of tunnels were hastily dug in an attempt to escape the cold of the frozen north. Some of the Changelings who survived being blasted out of the city perished to the unforgiving cold, something most Changelings had no tolerance to due to being from warmer areas.

She had the energy to continue controlling what's left of her brood, but she was unable to lay new eggs in order to try and rebuild her population; the energy she managed to gather from their attack already spent on her brood, trying to survive and see another moon. She had no harvesters and even if she did, many of the nearby settlements and cities would immediately catch them thanks to new measures. The broodmother had been caught between a rock and death itself.

She glared at the entrance to the room they were in, the deepest they could manage. "You may wish to see us driven before you, damnable ponies, but you will find that we will not go quietly into darkness. Those who survive WILL hold you responsible for what you've done to us."

I finally started working on a baseline program for the refinery's automation at some point. I was about a quarter of the way finished, working between digging and small amounts of sleeping, when the maintenance pathways leading up to the developing tunnel were finished. I received the notification and ordered ground-based Mechon to start digging along-side the flying one's already at work.

One other thing that kept being brought to my attention was that one of the Mechon, an M37/Worker Bee Unit, kept picking up life-signs somewhere along the intended path to a spot below the empire. I stationed a few offensive units nearby in the event those life-forms are hostile, though I wouldn't cry if they were ponies.

Still, if they ARE ponies, it begs the question of what they're doing so far deep underground.

I had managed to calm my bloodlust down enough to manage things as properly as I could, although the weight of my earlier incompetence hanging over my head continued to cause problems. I felt a twinge of anger at my sister for making me promise something like that.

But... if I'm doing all of this for her, why am I starting to...

Another notification snapped me out of my current thoughts. The digging Mechon had breached into what appeared to be a small network of tunnels. When I got there to see for myself, I saw the main portion of the tunnel heading in the direction MY tunnel was going.

"Well, that certainly cuts down on digging time. Still, I doubt whatever made these tunnels would appreciate me putting in a metal shaft here. I'll just make sure they... take their leave."

Heading into a network of tunnels could spell out inconvenience if I decided to rush into it and get lost, so I sent some M37/Worker Bee Units into the tunnels to have them mapped out. I kept the other Mechon on stand-by in case something was to go awry before the scout returned.

As I waited, I took another look around the Central Factory. From my vantage point, I could see a few Mechon installing another generator in order to keep up with the energy demands of my army, even though I currently have no more units being made. Because of the ever decreasing flow of cylinderized magic from that tree, I had to finally run production to an all-out halt until the current project is complete. Spending all of my harvested magic on Mechon production at once, to me, is suicidal in the case of an event that could use it for something important.

It wasn't long before I received an incoming transmission from said scout. Imagine my surprise when it was a video feed showing a bunch of confused Changelings, small in number judging by the current feed. "Some of them must of been blasted all the way out here after that little invasion, although it now begs the question of how they managed to get down here. I guess they couldn't handle the cold."

I thought back to when I was released from my infernal stone prison. The Changelings were attacking the bug capital of Canterlot and made the princess of 'lurve' activate the blast that freed me. I realized that I owed these creatures my gratitude, even though the blast presumably killed many of them.

They also would make for interesting allies against the real bugs of this world if I could convince them of it. I was, however, worried about how loyal of allies they would be, considering their... "gimmick" and what had happened at said wedding. Ultimately my strategic side won over my cynical side, as any information on Equestria from supposedly 'native' beings who had a knack for stealth would prove to be infinity helpful.

Bringing another Worker Bee Unit to guide me, I disembark from my personal unit and follow the path that the first unit took. As I walked, I noticed that the caves were a mesh of naturally occurring cave systems and hastily dug out tunnels, some areas containing a green goo clinging to the walls.

It wasn't long until I happened upon the large room the Changelings were in. When they saw me, some of them got into defensive stances and looked prepared for a fight while others merely looked around, chittering in confusion.

I smile as I fold my arms. "Well, I never expected to see your kind around here." This seemingly surprised them, judging by their reaction, but they only became more cautious. "Oh, is that how you treat all your visitors?"

"What choice do we have?" I look to see a slightly bigger and more... "detailed" changeling in the back, presumably the leader of this rabble. She, judging by the voice, gives me a suspicious glare "How do we know you aren't trying to kill us?"

Ironic that the creatures of deceit would become paranoid.

I motion my arms in an attempted calming gesture. "Now, now, let's all calm down. I can assure you that is not the case."

She hissed in response. "Where's your proof? For all I know, you could be a ponies little slave boy."

That certainty made me top out in disgusted anger. "Do I LOOK like someone who would be a messenger boy for those maggots? You'd best--"

She held a surprised look for a few seconds before holding up a holey foreleg, cutting me off as the Changelings between us scattered. "Hmm, my apologies. I never knew you held such burning contempt for the ponies, to the point where one such statement makes you fly into a spicy rage"

This made me look at her in exasperation. "How did you even... oh right, emotion feeders." I give her a glare. "Still, why did you even suggest something like that?"

She sighs. "Please understand; ever since a few weeks ago we've become a hunted race. Up until this point, we've always assumed that all of the other races would kill us on sight because of what we had done."

"Let me guess, you crashed a royal wedding in an attempt to feed on love?" I chuckle at her own exasperated look, which looked amusing considering her race. "I know this because I was trapped in stone at the time."

One of the Changeling drones spoke up in confusion, "I never saw a stature like yours during our invasion." This caused their leader to stiffen up and the others to return to a defensive stance.

"Let's just say, I have two separate bodies. I'm like this when I'm forced to explore small caverns, but I'm in my other one most of the time."

Their leader cocked her brow before shaking her head. "You speak with sincerity and I do not believe you are lying. If the ponies have gained your ire, then I hope you will, at the very least, let us live for a while longer. I am Broodmother Kylisia and I lead what's left of the Changelings in the frozen north."

I bow my head to her. "My real name was lost to time, but just call me Metal Revengance, or Metal Face if you wish."

I would like to say an enemy of my enemy is my friend... but I don't know if they can be completely trusted. We have a common enemy, nothing more, nothing less.

The Broodmother nodded before having her eyes glaze over for a second and close. When she reopened them, the blue eyes were now green. When she spoke, a different voice came out. "So you say you are not out for our blood as well?"

This confused me greatly. "What the... who are you?"

"I speak through Broodmother Kylisia via our hive mind connection. I am Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings... or what's left of them anyways..."

"Well met, but... what do you mean by what's left of them?"

"I haven't got time to explain. I'm currently with the remaining Changelings of the hive and I've been informed of sand monsters heading our way." The Changeling queen looks at me with pleading eyes. "We cannot hold out for long against such constant attacks. I beg of you, if you have any sort of heart, please help us. We have... we have nobody left to turn to anymore!"

How she spoke earlier managed to mask her panic and make herself seem almost cocky, but to have her suddenly start pleading for my help threw me for a loop.

Outside of these changelings, she's with the remaining... wait, is she implying that...

I didn't need to finish that thought; I knew what I had to do, if only to have more intelligence of the rest of this world. "What's your location and how many Changelings?"

"We are currently situated in the Badlands of Equestria, with numbers totaling four hundred and seventy Changelings left. If this means that--"

"Then conserve your energy, Queen. I'll be there as soon as I'm able."

Surprised flashed across her face before bowing. "...Thank you."

"From one victim to another, I swear I'll get there." One final nod before the Broodmother regained control of herself. "Order the changelings here to relocate to the Central Factory where I'm situated for the time being. I'll lead you all there, MOVE."

Kylisia didn't need to be told twice. She quickly chittered something to her drones before following me out of the tunnels and into the Central Factory. I ordered all active Mechon units to treat the Changelings as friendlies before entering my own unit, causing one Changeling to somehow hiss, gasp. "I remember THAT thing!"

"Now you know." I look around the factory before my eyes fell on a pair of Mechon transport units. Knowing I had no other alternative, I quickly made mental comparisons before estimating that one storage unit could hold sixty Changlings, though it would be a tight fit. I ordered them to start carrying four each of the empty storage units and had them fall in behind me as I exited the factory.

Inside my cockpit, I open my current map data on Equestria in order to get my bearings straight. I had almost all of it filled, save one corner and, by process of elimination, knew the Badlands had to be there. The unfortunate problem come from the fact that we were on opposite ends of the map, with many bug settlements, including the accursed Ponyville, sitting in the middle.

Knowing I was pressed for time, I charted a course that allowed me to pass through with little detection before grabbing the transport units with my arms and speeding off with it. I did pass over an unlisted bug settlement on the way by, but I doubt they got a good look at me with how fast I was going.

When I reached the Badlands, It wasn't hard to find a mass of black figures running across the sulfur-infused sands. All of them balked when I flew over them and let go of the transports, allowing them to land. "Hope I'm not late!"

A bigger Changeling with green eyes, Chrysalis, approached me with relief on her face. "Not only did you come for us, but you brought us a way to escape this place?"

"Did you expect any different? Now get everybody in the storage units. I didn't have any time to specialize them for you, so they will have to make do."

She nodded. Just as she turned to presumably address her subjects, a few of the Changelings got flung into the air by a blast of sand shortly before getting devoured by what looks like a purple-grey serpent with a hot-pink head. Judging by the crunch I heard, the Changelings instantly died. "The Tatzlwurms are here!"

The worm barely got to look around when I flew towards it. "Hey, ugly! Have a taste of claw instead!" I managed to decapitate it, getting orange blood all over me.

Realizing they were tunneling monsters, I switched my sensors over to detect seismic activity while I kept an eye on the boarding Changelings. I detected tremors heading for the back ones and went to intercept. This worm barely poked it's head out to devour a few Changelings, though I managed to blast it's black tongues with pin-point shots from my Jade guns and save them.

After a few more times, I managed to nail another worm in the head with a killing blow, although it already bit down on a victim before-hand. One Changeling had separated from the boarding group and used himself as bait for another worm. He somehow expertly dodged out of the worm's gaping maw, causing it to surface fully in confusion and allowing me to blast it with a few scatter-shots. One even tried to devour me and cover me in some sort of green liquid, though I managed to avoid it as well and blast it's head off with my pre-charged Metal cannon.

Thank the gods for my Nemesis jets, otherwise I wouldn't be able to dodge some of these attacks. They still couldn't help me save some of these lives, though...

When nothing but a far off seismic tremor was registering, I landed near the transports. Chrysalis was the only one outside now, presumably doing a mental head-count. "Everyone accounted for?"

She grunted. "It's hard with all this sulfur in the air. It stings my senses and prevents me from properly connecting with my hive."

"Yet you were able to contact me through a Broodmother..."

"I was underground at that time. We had to vacate the tunnels, lest we become easy prey for those Tatzlwurms. Still, even with my muddled connection, It feels as though I've..." She squeezes her eyes in concentration before widening them in horror. "No... I couldn't have... what have I done?"

"Mommy!" I look across the sulfur-sands to see a small Changeling that looked like Chrysalis with another Changeling drone. My sensors blared at that very instant before the both of them were thrown into the air by a massive Tatzlwurm.

The anguished cry Chrysalis let out at that very moment and seeing the Changeling filly flailing in the air in a silent scream...

I briefly saw Chrysalis as myself... and the filly as my little sister.

The little sister who I couldn't save.

I snapped.

"YOU WILL NOT HAVE THEM!" I launched myself rapidly at the worm, knocking it clean out of the sand before it could eat the little Changeling. She was caught by her mother, who quickly flew back towards the transports with the drone in an attempt to avoid me and the worm.

The Tatzlwurm, now stuck on the one solid piece of rock in the Badlands, roared at me in fury. I let out my own savage cry before I started blasting it with laser fire while dodging some strikes and spit. Some of the spit got on my foot and I picked up virulent activity on that location, though it quickly diminished when I buried it in the sulfur-sand.

Despite being a massive size and not being able to burrow, the Tatzlwurm managed to start dodging my laser fire while in sniping mode, forcing me to get up-close and personal with it with claws and scattershots. I kept strafing it, though I had to start randomizing my pattern when it figured me out and got a few hits in.

It actually managed to put a few dents in my reinforced armor.

"Why you!" I fired scattershots at the ground before it, kicking up a lot of dust and rendering the Tatzlwurm temporarily sight-blind. I rushed at it with a feral cry and impaled it through the torso with my claws before slowly ripping it in half. It continued to screech in agony until I split it's head in half, permanently killing it.

Breathing heavily and my unit covered in orange blood, I flew back towards the transporter unit. When I landed and chanced exiting my unit, I was suddenly hugged by a tearful Chrysalis. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much for saving my little princess!"

"Well... I couldn't exactly stand by and watch her life end so cruelly short."

She let go of me for giving me a tear-riddled smile. "I can't believe it.. we've finally found someone willing to take us in and help us... after so... so long..."

I pat her on her back. "I'm going to have to hear your full story when we get back to the Central Factory. Better make yourselves comfortable, because it's going to be a long ride."

"I don't care if it's long. If it finally means salvation for my race, I'll gladly take it."

Author's Note

First of all, to all of you who read my "other" Chapter 7, I apologize for suddenly taking it down like I did. I was at the tail end of my last writing mood and I had written and published for the sake of doing so, without thinking the consequence. It was not the direction I wanted my story to go.

I hope this newer Chapter 7 will serve to be somewhat better, even if the 'gore' content is nowhere near what it originally was. The 'dark' part of this story will still be applicable before the end, so don't worry about that.