Chapters

Venture to the castle
Sunset's response letter (Miscellaneous)
A mysterious "friend"
Something new

Venture to the castle
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A New Sunset

Venture to the castle

Something new

You felt the gentle breeze blow against yourself, enjoying it's mild current as it tussles your mane around before dissipating the next second. While trotting over the grass field, you also take-in the softness of the blades as they brush past your hooves when walking over them. You looked over to your left to see a patch of golden flowers cluttered together and swaying alongside the gentle wind too. But as soon as the sun's rays glisten through the crowding clouds surrounding it, the flowers began to open up one by one. A lone bumblebee passes by above your head, making you flinch momentarily when the sound of buzzing catches your ear. The insect makes-way to one of the blooming flowers, landing inside it's center and beginning to extract the pollen within it's tiny arms, cluttering it all into a massive ball.

Then another sound invades your ears again, which, again, made them flick. You craned your neck over to see tiny wings flapping at a swift rate, a thin, long beak adorning the creature's face you could hardly see it whatsoever. But you catch it once it flies over to the flower patch too. You didn't realize the 'fish out of water' within that patch: A bright red blossom. The hummingbird, like the bee, flew over to it's target, hovering around the closed petals. It then nestles it's beak inside the flower, letting it stay there for a second or two before removing it shortly and flying off elsewhere.

Watching it go you let out a sigh, "Never usually see those little guys around that often. Mostly cause those inhabiting ol' Everfree tries to catch them for.." you felt a goosebumps crawl up your spine when reminiscing, "dinner"

But nevertheless, you treasure the beautiful scenery around you, it's a shame you couldn't bask in it from YOUR "neck of the woods". Unfortunately, it's what you have to do if you wanted to continue your 'hobby' but keep other ponies from getting harmed by the hands of your mechanical "deathtraps". It was imminent from the beginning, you were just ignorant to find that outcome to be your current present now than you anticipated. And yet, you brushed it aside to focus on your main admiration and it only.

You gave a small shake of your head, thinking that, despite it being 100% true, it's nothing more then a giant loop; no matter how far you reach to the top, you always fall back down to square one, hard. Replaying the same reiterated cycle until, at a point, it stops. Abruptly changing things "for the better", you hoped.

I mean, sure machines were what granted you your cutie mark when you were a colt, and a discovery behind that wasn't something for you to simply ignore, yes. But at some points, you questioned if these contraptions were the REAL cause. You too wondered why your mark is just red '0' instead of something that'll make sense, like-let's say-a bionic limb? A mechanical eye? Or a gear?

Just like Gearlock's own mark, except it's just one instead of two. And maybe it could be red too, adding some "pizzazz" than just another drop-in-the-bucket.

Unfortunately, despite those suggestions sounding logical, legit by all means, you're stuck with this plain old number on your behind, making it a "clear" connection to your interest in bio-mechanics. But, overall, it did give you the inspiration into naming your creations what they are today, and give you this nickname that masquerades your real one; your not to fawned of it anyways. Really didn't suit you the slightest.

But, of course, you had to accept reality as it stands: You wanted to peruse your desires through any means "necessary", to which you did, surprisingly, it resulted in you becoming a psychotic maniac, and now you're isolated away from everypony, accompanied by your "failures". It's what life offered you and this is how you treated it, best not to argue with it and accept it, nevertheless.

Such as this squirrel fighting against this wooden figurine, with multiple gears sticking out from every corner, moving it's wooden limbs from their every turn. That's..life...

'Wait a second..?'

You gave the two a quizzical look, using your bionic eye to close-in on them to get a better look. It looks as if the figurine is trying to snatch an acorn from the squirrel's grasp through a form of 'tug of war', where the creature it itself was mustering all it's strength to prevent it's meal from being taken away by an unknown stranger. They give each other a tug back and forth, keeping up the pace until one of them looses their grip on the prized walnut, letting them walk away victorious. With a final tug, the stranger finally acquired the nut in it's grasp, quickly turning on it's wooden feet and marching away from the creature, who, fell on his bottom after being deprived of his "lunch". It raises a tiny fist and shakes it at the retreating creation, shouting a variety of scratchy phrases at it before letting out a defeated huff shortly and turning-tail, retreating back to it's home, empty handed.

You raised a brow at that little scene, keeping your gaze still on the figurine, watching as it heads into a crowd of large trees leading into another woodland you didn't realize existed right beside Everfree this entire time, until now. Your curiosity peeked at where it may be going? What's it going to do with that acorn? And why? Your hooves then mindlessly move onward behind the contraption, wondering where it's destination might be and what's waiting for it there.

And yourself

You two make it around the giant teaks, going through what seems like a maze, finding every corner to be the same and nothing different then your average, towering tree. Yet, it feels as though you two are moving in a specific pattern, possibly leading to the thing's stop you wondered what it may be. You've never seen this timberland as far as you can recall. It's atmosphere was calm, the woodland creatures seem to be peaceful, gentle, and harmless then the inhabitants of Everfree. You wondered why you didn't come by here to unwind instead of inside your shack for countless days, making you feel like more of a "trapped animal" then those abominations. But, on another hand, Gear offer you to relax at her abode, letting it be your "return into society" from the wilderness for too long. But her parents, unfortunately knowing the 'real you', decided otherwise. It wasn't a surprise anyways.

It felt as if the two of you have been going on for hours, not stopping whatsoever as the figurine just keeps on marching on with it's thin, twig-like legs. While following it, surprised that it hasn't noticed your presence behind it already, you gave it a closer observation while trotting: It's gears, as you saw earlier, were still continuously grinding together, keeping that motion still. It's front chest appears to be open, revealing it's insides which they consist of more rotating gears and pegs. The glisten of the nails that keep the it's limbs together brighten itself out once it steps within a ray of sunshine through the gaps of the trees. It's face bore a blank look, no carved facial features whatsoever but two vertical lines on both sides of it's face; seemingly it's eyes. Within them also revealed two small dots, which illuminated in a light-blue light while staring at the ground, unaware of it's color until catching a glimpse of sapphire shining on the forest ground.

This was pretty "sudden" for you to stumble upon after-what-15 minutes away from home? This was such a random occurrence that not even Equestria's daily dose of magical maleficence's could but in to intervene. But I guess this is what it's trying to hand-out for you to find and "make-do", you suppose? But what can you actually do then follow it's wooden..gear..crafted...behind...?

'THAT'S why it looked familiar..'

Realization hits you like a brick to the face when understanding the answer, especially when you two finally reach your destination shortly. There, sitting atop a lone stump, surrounded by mountains of acorns, was Gearlock. She held a screwdriver in one hoof while in the other held another figurine similar by comparison to the "acorn thief" in front of you. She gave it's backside a could of twists from every angle until confirming it's completion with an approving nod. She places it on the ground, letting it stand still for a second before it's mechanics begin to come to life, having it twitch for a moment or two before walking off in the opposite direction of the unicorn, possibly, like the one you're following, trying to go retrieve another nut for the piles lying beside Gear. And speaking of the silver-maned mare, she gave a glance to the other trinket who's returned, alongside it's "friend". The unicorn was surprised shortly before a friendly smile replaced it afterwards.

"Z. What a surprise to find you here"

"I can say the same for you" you replied, trotting over to the mare after she got up from the stump. "What're you doing out here all by yourself collecting...acorns?"

Gear looked over at her 'collection' and gave a light shrug, "Eh, wanted to test something out with these little guys here. New models I've created this week. They're actually quite successful in retrieving what they're functioned to do."

"And how does that work? You place an acorn inside each one of them, or you gave one to the original prototype so the others may follow it's lead?"

"Sort-of like that" Gear moved over to another figurine walking nonchalantly past the two. This one, unlike the others, adorns a large antenna atop the center of it's head, wobbling from side to side as it marches onward. Gear picks it up in her hoof, which, at the touch, causes the trinket to cease movement immediately, looking up at it's creator with it's sapphire orbs. "After I designed the outline for these guys, and created ol' junior here as the 'original', I gave him a little "command signal". So that after it's activated first, it'll send waves to the others to follow alongside it's order."

"Really? You implanted chips in all of them so they'd receive these waves?"

"Kinda. I actually salvaged some pieces from the local scrapyard right off the edge of Ponyville. The pony there was generous enough to let me trot off with a box full of scrap metal and what-not."

"But how were you able to function these guys with these pieces? I thought your main work was just wood and gears?"

Gear let out a light chuckle at that, "Oh, Z, don't you think from the time we've spent I wouldn't try to get a peep of your own work and copy it into mine? It was easy as pie."

"W-wait, you did?!" you asked, feeling the dread grow in your chest like Gear when witnessing another B0T's birth. "Y-you didn't go through the EXACT methods I do with my B0T's. Did you?"

"Don't worry about that. I made sure to actually see-through the prototype's blueprints and designs before final activation. It wasn't hard. Nothing much was found, anyways."

You let out a pent-up sigh when hearing the reassurance, "Thank goodness...But, hey, wait a second. What do you mean 'actually seeing-through them'?"

"Well, and I don't wanna rain on your parade, Z. But.." the unicorn reached a hoof behind her head and gave it a little scratch, looking downwards instead of at you to find the words she would like to "break down" to you. "Every time you've created a B0T, there's always seemed to be that one flaw that causes them to fall-in on themselves shortly. You say you're going to look into it every time afterwards, but there's no change whatsoever. That's when I made a closer inspection to identify what it may actually be. Which, surprisingly, it was the core-generators."

"What's wrong with them? I've tried to reconfigure them to power the machines up. How can they be the source?"

"Z, do you know what's inside them?"

You pondered at that question for a second or two, actually coming up with nothing then a mild concentrated-glare to the ground, both brows scrunched to try and reminiscence the ingredients to what gives your B0T's life. But, unfortunately, nothing came to mind at the moment.

"Uhh...Uh..Electricity?"

Gear released a sigh at that response, "No, Z, what's inside is actually a form of liquid silicon, which, despite it being powerful enough to power Ponyville on its own, there was one little blemish I've seen it CONSTANTLY reoccur inside your machines."

"And what would that be?"

"The silicon is actually EXTREMELY flammable"

"...Say what..?"

"Yeah. Apparently whenever you insert your energy cores inside every one of the engines, the exothermic heat causes the liquid to overheat once in contact with it, which, in a set of chain reactions inside, causes it to combust in a giant explosion."

"So, and let me make it clear, the energy from the silicon was too good to be true? It was but like a wolf in sheep's clothing?"

"When you put it that way-Yeah. Mostly."

"Well...that explains QUITE alot " You let a hoof fall on your face, scrunching it around your muzzle.

"Who knew THAT was the only reason why your things have been blowing up like fireworks. Where did you even find that stuff anyways? I've never seen powerful PCB like that around Equestria in my life. I was surprised to even find it existing whatsoever"

"Hm..Let's see.." You took a few steps away from the unicorn, but not too far from the mare. You trotted back and forth trying to, at least, jog that specific memory again. Then it all came flooding back shortly, "Oh, now I remember! I got it from the remains of this abandoned factory not to far from Ponyville."

"Where was it?"

"Apparently hidden inside the caverns of a cave within Ghastly gorge. I was surprised to see it still standing at all, even through it looks as if it was going to collapse at any moment."

"Was there anything odd about the stuff when you found it? Or the factory?"

"Not from the usual clique of 'abandoned chemical laboratory' shtick that could be used as someone's location for a cheep horror mov-"

"Wait." the unicorn halted you with a raised hoof when hearing an uncertain set of phrasings, "Did you say, 'chemical laboratory'?"

"Well, yeah. I thought it was pretty strange to find..it..in the middle of..the gorge..and...Oh.." another wave of realization knocks you upside the head, you feel as though it was a boulder instead of something smaller. You returned the same hoof atop your face, sliding it downwards as you let out a conscious groan. "I...I didn't..I.."

"You didn't realize that it was being tested for chemical research." Gear finished your sentence, already seeing the 'obvious' to which you cannot finish after having your mind scold you on your poor choice.

"That's why everything I make blows up..Why didn't I realize...Why...Geez, I really am an idiot."

Seeing this, the unicorn placed a gentle hoof on your shoulder, "But you're not, Z. Apart from any other pony I've come to know other than you, you've proven to show more with your machines than somepony else who'd-I don't know-build a plastic model rocket and make a hobby out of that. Which, to this point in time, has already been butchered constantly enough that everyone is getting tired of it already."

"Gear, I've done nothing more than make walking time bombs without my consent. It was MY responsibility for their actions and I was to dense to know that. If I did, I could've prevented anypony from nearly getting chard, electrocuted, or-goodness Celestia-chopped to mince-meat. But I didn't."

"Hey, don't think like, Z. I mean, sure you've just found out the cause of their "breakdowns", at the wrong time, but this can be a good opportunity for you to revamp them and finally prove to everypony that they're not dangerous as they believed to be."

"Yeah, but after a 3-year streak I'm pretty sure they've given up on the thought ultimately." you dropped your hoof as you looked up at the unicorn, your eye lingering with shame and defeat, again. "Just forget it, Gear. Even if I now know the problem, there's no way I can try to change it without anypony listening to me. It's all pointless."

"It's not going to be pointless unless you do something to turn it around. Come on, Z, this isn't the 'you' I'd befriended moons ago to later become a lump-on-a-log. I want the energy-filled colt back: Excited, adventitious, determined. My friend."

"But it's all true, Gear!" You shouted, your voice tinting in a bit of anger when trying to get the idea through the "ignorant" unicorn. "Don't you get it? There's no reason to keep this up without falling on my face again. It's all just a bit waste of my time!"

Seeing as she wasn't getting anywhere with you, Gear had to try whatever it takes. She placed another jasmine hoof on your other shoulder, pulling you to face her again, giving them a little shake to get your attention to be re-averted back to her golden eyes, now filled with seriousness.

"Z3R0. Listen to me and listen good, alright?"

Seeing the unicorn's look change to that of a stern glare, you decided to keep both ears open to hear what she's got to say. Why not, huh? This should prove noting effective anyways, just like your B0T's. You gave her a small nod to que her to continue.

"The first moment I've met you when I was a filly, I'd always think 'This guy does what I do! He can build things just like how I would do! And, they all seem pretty awesome!', all that boring clique nonsense. I was ecstatic to finally meet another pony that had an interest into mechanics just like me besides any other pony. They all found it to be nothing more than just gluing cheep junk together to see if they'll actually 'create something that could change the face of Equestria forever!'. Unfortunately, that didn't work out very well, and all their work now lies in the dumpster to rot. But not you, Z. No, you've proven that completely wrong when we started hanging out. You've shown me the depths of machinery I have NEVER even came across until I'm like-what-a mare. And I worked in a clock tower for Celestia's-sake. Finding out more about this has opened my mind to a broader-scale, yearning to understand more about bio-mechanics then I already do now with these guys here" Gear gestured toward her mini trinkets, who're still going through with their main objective. "Plus, we even decided to 'mix things up' at one point and we almost birthed a creation that could've gotten us big into stardom!"

"Yeah, before it blew up in flames.." you replied with a deadpan tone

"Besides that, the possibility was still big enough for us to actually take the shot then leave it alone. And that's another reason why I find you more intrepid. You are willing to take the risk then wait forever, actually making your dreams come true at an early age then an adult stallion, such as now. Er-well, sort-of.."

You rolled your eyes at that last remark, but still kept focus on the unicorn.

"It amazed me to see you pursue your 'pipe dream' and come out a success"

You let out a dry chuckle when hearing "success", "Yeah, sure. Like that did me any good"

"You're not getting it, Z. The determination you've committed was powerful enough to make me follow behind you with ease, willing to strive more on my work then the what I do now. I want to make one of these into something Equestria would reminiscence in it's history forever. It's a dream-differed, yes, but the idea just fuels me to do it nonetheless. And I have you to thank for giving me the confidence to try at all. So don't go blaming yourself for your mistakes when you know that it doesn't make you a 'failure', but an inspiration. And I'm sure of that completely, 100%. You can trust me after all. We're closer together like siblings, like two peas in a pod. Or something else relating to those similes. Whatever."

Seeing the appreciative praise for your work, despite their outcomes, made you feel a bit prideful about them, but also a bit warm when hearing it from a close friend such as Gearlock. You always appreciated your bond with the unicorn, wondering where'd you be in life without her beside you to help pick you back up when you cannot, at times. Besides, what she said was right after-all.

You moved the iris of your robotic eye to look at one of the returning figurines. Looking closely at it's metal implant you could've sworn you caught a glisten of light-blue catch your eye. You'd recognize that familiar material piece from anywhere. You're just surprised that the scrap yard was able to 'junk-away' the other remains of your 1C3-B0T, after Rainbow Dash destroyed it, while you kept the rest. I guess there was a tinge of positivity in your "loophole" then you intended.

What you've had "destroyed" was reused again, but in another body; still, your work was still up and running then lying in the trash bin forever. You let another 'sigh' escape your lips, looking back at the unicorn with softened eyes: One filled with relaxed comfort while the other one, of course, is filled with nuts, bolts, and wires; nothing out-of-the-ordinary. Matter of fact it just stays as it is, nothing more.

"I...I..guess you're right, Gear. I'm..sorry if I've been acting like a stick-in-the-mud"

The jasmine-colored mare shrugged at your response, "What're friends for?"

You grew a warm smile when hearing that, Gear replied with one of her own before standing back up on all four hooves, shortly helping you afterwards. The air felt gentle and calm again before something broke the silence. Another trinket returns with another acorn, walking over to one of the "mountains" to add it to it's massive size.

"So, how long you going to keep them up with this" You gestured to the giant horde of chestnuts, "I'm pretty sure some of the squirrels around here are starting to get pretty steamed when seeing that you've taken most of their 'meals'"

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just seeing how long they can do this before-"

The sound of small grunting catches you two off guard, silence replaces the calm atmosphere by this stranger, the two of you keeping quiet so you may listen. Giving each other a questioning look, you decided to follow the faint sound that seems to be right beside you. Circling around a tree you found another figurine "playing" tug-of-war with another woodland creature again, possibly another squirrel. But you were proven wrong when seeing the white fur, large ears and feet, and the little pink nose.

A rabbit was attempting to take back his carrot from the grasp of Gear's trinket, trying to rip it from it's grasp but it rebuttals quiet nicely with a strong yank.

"Oh dear.." came a hushed, quiet voice, coming from behind the rabbit but out of view from the two ponies. "Angel's carrot is being robed from him by...whatever this may be"

"I got it, Flutters" came another voice, oddly familiar, alongside the sound of wind-flapping. Just then, a sky-colored hoof came and knocked the trinket's head, causing it to fall on it's back with ease, having it detach from his body. "There"

"What in tarnation are these critters doing around here?" asked another voice, who's accent seem to be residing in an old-western fashion. "Looks as if they're trying ta steal whatever they can find, even from these here little one's too. It's odd"

"Odd, yes, strange, not so much. I mean, we expect something like this to happen every so often, Applejack. We DO live in Equestria, after all"

The mention of that name rings a bell inside both of your's heads, making it abruptly end when hearing the sounds of hoofs walking by grow louder next. You and Gear quickly look around before finding a nearby bush, free of any harmful spikes or dangerous creatures inhabiting it that wouldn't be a bother to you two. Quickly jumping inside, you both peeked your eyes out from a small opening, coming in view to see, as you'd expected, three ponies trotting down a dirt path right next to you and Gearlock.

Well, not ALL of them were walking, considering a certain rainbow maned one was using her wings to lift herself beside the other two. You, of course, recognize that to be Rainbow Dash. Alongside her was a tangerine-colored mare with emerald green eyes glistening from her sockets, and blonde hair flowing down her mane until being tied in a red knot at the end. Atop her head adorned a stetson hat, which, considering her accent, does suit her quite well. You'd believe that to be Applejack. Trotting next to her was another mare, with banana-colored skin, mane shaded in a light pink that waterfalls down her backside. One of her light blue eyes is shielded by the mass of hair, making the other one only visible at times, if she didn't try to hide it alongside her face though. Considering her timid behavior, and tone, whenever the pegasus replies her responses in a boastful-like fashion, this appeared to be Fluttershy.

I mean, her name comes hand-in-hand with her personality, after all.

"Eh, you're right there, Rainbow" Applejack replies, "But nothing like these little thieves just shows up, out-of-the-blue, when we trot through this here forest millions of times" she lightly shoves back another one trying to reach for her hair tie.

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders, "You get something new everyday, AJ. Just like how Twilight did when she decided to revisit that 'other world' again"

The phrase 'other world' caught you and Gear's interest shortly, keeping focus on the cyan pegasus as she continues.

"A-ah..She decided to return so soon...?" Fluttershy asks, her voice still quiet as ever, but still audible for the two ponies to hear.

"I guess so. She said that the other 'us' messaged her about something important about the 'magic running loose' over there while during some-sort of 'games'"

"Was Sunset able to help them before she showed up?"

"Apparently so. She was able to contain things before they've gone wild. And, check this, the cause of the whole thing was the Twilight from that world. Can you believe it? And Sunset was able to defeat her just like how our Twilight did with her when she first arrived there; the irony stings."

"Well you did say that you get something new everyday, and there is something Ah'd watch with some popcorn" Applejack responded, adding a light chuckle afterwards.

"Was..was Twilight able to lend a hand, nevertheless?"

"Unfortunately, no, Sunset did all the work in the end. Twilight said she had some trouble with some 'time-jumps', or something , making her show up WAY late before things could get any more awesome."

"Well that can be a blessing in disguise if ya look at it differently. After what everything Sunset has done, especially NEARLY ruling over Equestria with a zombified army, that opportunity was best left for her deal with, alone, and finally be able to redeem herself ta everyone that she isn't just a monster anymore. She's somepon-Er..someone different now"

"I-I agree.." spoke up the timid-pony, looking at her foalhood friend with a single eye, "Sunset wasn't ALL that evil in the beginning, she just had to endure with her jealously and envy before thinking that, to put that all behind, she has to overrule Celestia to prove her wrong.."

"Yeah, and look where that ended her up" Rainbow replied with a cross of her hooves over her chest.

"But ya can't blame her if it's something she couldn't control alone, Rainbow" Applejack added,

"Still, she shouldn't have let it get to her to let Twilight struggle in a different world and leave us behind. That's just wrong!"

You and Gear continued to watch as the trio continued their conversation, but the mention about this other world derailed your concentration to focus on it; and it only.

The idea of another world, which ACTUALLY EXISTS, stirs a new feeling in your chest you couldn't describe. A new world would mean a new start you could redo then what you've already made here in Equestria. You could re-create a new slate for yourself, start anew, try to reform your reputation then it is already.

Actually find "adventure" after all.

"Nevertheless, we should be appreciated that Sunset was able to stop things before it eventually involved us. Which they always do."

Rainbow let out a sigh at that realization, "Yeah, I guess you're right, AJ..But anyways, let's just head over to Rarity's to help out on the Boutique before she busts a nerve about our timing"

"Good point. Let's go, y'all"

With that the three mares continued their trotting down the pathway, Angel following behind his care-giver with a couple of high jumps, happy to have his carrot back from that thieving trinket.

"Well, that was weird" commented Gear, getting up from the shrub and making way over to one of her dismantled creations. "And now about most of these are destroyed thanks to them. Sheesh, I can't try to go ONE test-run before somepony eventually comes in and ruins them, making the entire thing go down the toilet. Which, of course, I know they sometimes tend to get in their way, matter of fact bother them out-of-the-blue, yet the least anypony could do is simply leave them be instead of breaking them afterwards. Man, it feels as though I'm walking in your shoes after all, Z. Except for the fact nothing is blowing up constantly every second. Right?"

The unicorn looked back to you, wondering what your response may be, but you just simply kept still like a statue, staring off across the distance with an assessing look. Almost as if you're expecting something to "appear" shortly; which is Gear's assumption.

"Z? Z?" Gear trotted back over to you, giving you a couple of pokes on the shoulder to get your attention. "Hey, Earth to dork, pick up"

"Another world..." you mumbled underneath your breath, repeating them again and again that Gear catches it momentarily. "Another world, Gear"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The idea of a whole new dimension, a fresh aspect to endure and explore. Somewhere which science has deemed 'imaginary'. And it's actually real."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with fixing the prototypes?"

"Everything, Gear! Everything!" You turned to her, placing both hooves on her shoulders as you stare at her with a look of excitement, "Don't you see? This can be something we can actually look-into instead Equestria's same old, same old. It's an opportunity we cannot miss for the world!"

"'We?' I'm sorry, Z, but the thought about traveling to a new world is out of my charts to consider. Besides, how do you know that those three aren't just lying? Telling an old filly-tale for ponies, such as us, to get hooked into and later play victim to a cruel prank they've got set up to humiliate us with. And knowing Rainbow Dash, she loves pranking ponies, and we could be next if we don't avoid this pitfall carefully. It's nothing more than fiction, man, don't get yourself sucked into it."

"But you don't know them as I do, Gear! They're Equestria's saviors, the heroines that protected us from being imprisoned by the dark forces that terrorizes us each and every day. But thanks to them, we're not, we're free. And, if you weren't paying attention well-enough, they mentioned Twilight Sparkle; PRINCESS Twilight Sparkle. I'm sure they're not lying if SHE's brought up in the equation. Plus, they know her PERSONALLY, Gear! PERSONALLY!"

"It just sounds like manure to me, Z. Look, just forget about this and let's get back to working on repairing these little guys. I don't want their pieces being scattered around here, I need them for spare parts, ya know."

"I'm sorry, Gear. But I can't" you declined, facing away from the unicorn, who bore a look of surprise before it turned into a mild glare

"Come on, Z, don't make a fool of yourself and go through with this charade. It's nothing but talk, fake, nothing, zip, zero!"

"You don't know that" you rebutted, pointing a hoof in her direction, "This could change things more than what we're already used to everyday, and I'm getting sick of it!"

"You can't be serious?"

"Gearlock," you trotted over until coming closer to the mare, laying a hoof atop her shoulder again. "My time here in Equestria was enthralling enough already. I thought to expect the "action" to come by, out of nowhere, as always, and be presented for me to witness with my own eye, so I may take in the awe of every detail. Just as how the stories were told to me when I was but a foal. The lingering thoughts were intoxicating for me, and I've been holding that anticipation in until I became the perfect age to experience it all by myself. No more holding back, no more waiting, I was ready for the world. And what do I do? I've actually became the outcast of Equestria, having all the 'wonders' I've craved be yanked away from me without giving me a chance whatsoever. But then the realization came knocking on my door. It's all nothing but flukes. The magic..was just how it normally was, just "magic". No jaw-dropping tricks, dueling, spell-casting, nothing. Just nothing. And my "routines" are starting to become murder on my psyche, even my "failures" makes it worse when I wanted to simply give it all up then and there-but, of course, that was when you came in and turned things around-Yet this could actually make a difference to change everything for the better! I need to see through this to feel the endurance, the adrenaline, experience the excitement I've been craving for moons ago. And the discovery of this new world could cure that ailment! Come on, Gear, it could be better for the both of us"

"Why suck me into this?!"

"I know you already feel content here enough, I get that, but I just can't go through this without the help of my best friend. And I know you've already saved my hive more times then I can count, but this time I'm asking a favor from you just this once. Help me make it there. Come with me. Let's take a dive into the depths of the unknown and explore what we've wasted here. Please?"

The unicorn looked away from your stare, contemplating on wither to accept or decline, but when she gave a quick glance back at your pleading 'eye', glistening with a "pleading puppy look" she detested. Unfortunately, it bested her yet again. She let out a defeated sigh afterwards.

"I know I'm going to regret this...Alright, Z, I'll..come with you..."

"YES!" you gave the mare a quick, though tight, embrace. She responds with a puffed-up expression, prodding your shoulder with her hoof repeatedly as her face starts turning to different shades of color. Seeing this, and her color-changing face, you quickly release her from your hold, letting her drop on her hind-legs, trying to catch her breath with every inhale she intakes. "Heh, oops..My bad."

Sunset's response letter (Miscellaneous)
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A New Sunset

Sunset's response letter (Miscellaneous)

Venture to the castle

The sky dimmed into a dark jasmine, the stars glistening out one by one. From the balcony of the Canterlot castle, Celestia is seen pointing her horn at the shimmering sun, highlighting it in a banana yellow aura as she slowly descends it over the horizon, replacing it with the moon shortly afterwards.

You trot down the cobblestone path leading to Gearlock's home, beside it stood small silver lamps, illuminating the walkway straightforward for you to easily see. The atmosphere felt quiet around you, yet the crickets broke that with their nightly "cricketing, or however it's refereed to as. Nevertheless, at least it sounded relaxing, soothing your lingering anxiety as it grows with each hoof-step.

No, you can't back-out now, this is the time to actually take the leap instead of letting it go. You've waited your entire life to let this go to waste, and you're not going to let that happen on your watch.

You give your head a rough shake. Just go ahead and grab your mare before you head to the castle. Simple as that.

Well, more as in "best friend" instead of..that...terminology-Anyways!

You spot the home not to far from your position, the large shadow of it's silhouette being the first thing you catch before gazing at it. It's nothing different than any other home around Ponyville, simple integrity, structure, even including a 2-floor placement for Gear and her father to be suited with. You always wondered what ever happened to her mother though, as you can recall only seeing the older unicorn when you were just a colt and after that she just disappeared. Asking Gear made her stiffen, eyes dilating shortly before returning to normal, her tone switching to dismissive immediately. "She's gone" is the only response you'd get from her, and always is whenever you bring up the topic every once-in-a-while.

You'd then bring up on HOW she meant it like that. But as you did, she just stands there silent, keeping her mouth shut while staring at you with her golden eyes. You always could've sworn you'd see a tint of sadness in them, yet you decided not to question that since you've already made matters worse then it is.

Making to the front door you gave it a couple of knocks, a bit softly, considering a certain stallion is fast asleep at this hour, yet rough enough so the unicorn upstairs can hear you. You heard some shuffling on the other side, presumably from upstairs, followed by faint hoof-falls creaking against the hardwood floor of the home's floorboards and staircase, growing louder as Gearlock makes it to the door. But before you are able to see the mare again, you took another look at her home. You catch the sight of the giant gear sticking out from it's left side, obviously the cause of the home's giant shadow towering over you. Of course you'd guess this would be Gear's house from the moment you first spotted it, yet you wonder why she would make things a bit obvious when her name is GEARlock. I guess her father got the inspiration from his life in the tower to name her after a peg, though you'd expect him to dwell his mind into something else that doesn't involve with gears at least. I mean, the stallion's almost in his late 30's and he installed a giant gear to stick from the side of his home, he has to try something else.

The door then opens to reveal the unicorn you're awaiting, straightening her mane flat with one hoof, eyes boring a drowsy look, bags forming underneath her eyes. You almost forget for the fact that it's already 2 o'clock in the morning, and Gear here would always try to squeeze in whatever time she may have working on her figurines before sunrise. Which is sacrificing large portion's of her sleep to do-so.

"Great, you're still up." you said, feeling the excitement surge through you again, "Now let's get a move-on. I'm pretty sure the guardponies are already beginning their nightly scouting at this hour, yet there isn't much we can't evade through easily. I'll tell ya, Gear, this is going to be a piece of-"

"Let me stop you right there, Z." Gearlock interjects, halting you mid-sentence, her voice feeling tired and raspy, "Tell me again why in Celestia's name are we doing this again?"

"Did you forget so easily, Gear? We're trying to find this 'portal', or the 'Crystal Mirror' leading to the other world so we may see what it's all about. And it's located inside Princess Twilight Sparkle's Castle of Friendship, just at the edge of Ponyville, not too far from here. All the ponies are, sure-enough, inside their homes, fast asleep like your ol' man here, right now. Only the guardponies are out on patrol at the castle, and it's easy to get past them without breaking a sweat. This is the only time we can make it before sunrise."

You then see Gearlock's expression change to a stern stare at your chocolate orb and bionic implant. She, of course, seems to STILL have some discourages with the idea.

"Z3R0, this is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY a terrible idea to go through with. I mean, heck, we've been in that forest for about-I don't know-5 minutes before those three ponies showed up, mentioning something about some 'magical, different-dimensional portal, leading to some other universe we've never heard of until now'. It's out-of-the-ordinary to just have that information leaked to us when we BARELY know anything else about the Princess then what we already do know. But, by SOME miracle, we've managed to find her 'closest pals' trotting beside us at the 'perfect' moment when 'all seemed bleak'. This just seems like a stretch, even for you, Z. It's not worth it, there's no reward then just some unfortunate turn-of-events leading you to fall on your face, again, and I'm there to help your sorry butt when you cant. The best thing to do is forget about this entire fiasco, head back home-or crash with me, whatever-get some sleep, REALLY think about the concept of this entire, idiotic idea, and look forward to tomorrow and what we can do NOW that we've figured out the cause of your B0T's malfunctions. It's a good, NORMAL plan then this bland plot device. It almost sounds like we're in some-sort of terrible fan-fiction, just SPRINTING to the plot at a bad time, making it seem like we're just introduced to later become brushed aside for the main idea to roll in. It's poor writing. Don't you think?!"

After her blunt, though 'stretched', remark about EVERYTHING up to this point, you just simply stood there, your face not changing the slightest then your eyelids falling half-shut.

"...Your point?"

Gear felt one of her eyes twitch before she let a hoof lie on her muzzle, letting it slide down until reaching it's edge. "There's no point in trying to talk you out of this, is there, Z?"

"N-ope" you reply, feeling all the effort in the unicorn's statement to just fly through one ear and out the other. Your giddy smile returning to your face shortly.

Seeing this, Gearlock let out a small groan of frustration. "Of course...Of course..J-just wait here. Alright?"

You gave her a quick, energetic nod, watching as she closes the door. The sound of rattling wood, metal squeaking, and more hoof-falls is heard before the unicorn returns outside again. She locks up the door behind her with a set of 'flying' keys, later storing them back inside her saddle bag hanging from her neck with her magic. You didn't realize she had that thing, yet it suited her quite nicely. Of course, the gear emblem on the bag wouldn't make you question why.

"Alright.." the unicorn begins, her voice still exhausted to "pipe-up","Let's go, shall we...?"

"YES!"

But before galloping to the castle, you decided to make a quick pit-stop back at your shack again. Still cautious of the deadly forest beside you two. You thought that this was CRUCIAL to the task if you wanted to get it done "right". It was the most important element you got from a certain cyan, rainbow-maned pegasus. Your ecstatic smile still didn't dissipate, and neither did Gearlock's disproving frown as you two held the fabric in your hooves.

"You have GOT to be kidding me, Z?" Gearlock asked, her stern look still digging holes in your head. She still picked at the same spot where the black fabric is ridding up her hide continuously while it hugs her body tightly.

"This is perfect, Gear. These jump suits are sure-enough for us to make it past these ponies without them spotting us easily in the blink of an eye. To them we'll just be the shadows, moving off to every corner quickly, efficiently, and nicely. Nopony would know it would be us at all!"

"...Who's the moron you got that idea from?"

You scoffed when hearing that question, a bit baffled that she hasn't obviously know who. "Rainbow Dash, of course. Don't you EVER pay attention? She always does this whenever she needed to 'get by' as quickly as she is."

The unicorn still stared at you with her unimpressed expression, still stuck to her features like glue. "...You're an idiot, Z3R0"

"Nevertheless! We must make hast before it's too late! Come, Gear!"

You bolted down the street leading to the Castle of Friendship, Gearlock shouting your name, but in a loud hushed voice before ridding behind you. As you two trotted down, you made sure to look around to see if any guardponies will be around as you expect. But In your favor, none are around the castle, possibly inside instead.

"That would make sense" you murmured, gazing at the large, crystallized tree, looking around it's design and integrity. You're surprised that this, despite it being rooted to a tree, grew from a small shard in the ground into this giant in front of you two. It's simple as planting an acorn and having it sprout into an oak tree, minus the tiny magic fragments within it, of course. With your robotic eye you close-in on the castle, your vision through the device was a ruby red as you dart the iris back and forth. Everything you catch, glance, and take-in becomes analyzed by the eye, trying to find the perfect "entrance" to "walk in" through. Unfortunately, nothing was found at the moment and the data came up to nothing. Plus, by the looks of all the sealed twin entrances, and how they wouldn't budge no matter how much you jumble their handles, everything is sealed tight.

"Man, looks like this place is secured nicely. Can't find anyway to get inside. Maybe we could climb-"

"No, we don't.." Gear interrupted, again. Looking over at the unicorn, you were surprised that she wasn't there anymore, you looked all-around yourself to find the jasmine pony, but to avail.

Hearing her sigh, she adds, "Up here, Z."

You craned your neck up to find her at the top of a ledge beside a set of two large, golden doors, staring down at you as if "nothing happened". You looked back to where she once stood and up at the ledge, constantly repeating back and forth before you gave a shake of your head. Of course, you forget that she's a unicorn, she has magic on her side. Duh.

You gave a light chuckle afterwards, "Right..Well, nice work, Gear. But any chance you'd-"

"Don't. Finish."

Gearlock's horn glistens in a purple aura, later illuminating you in the color before you felt your body become like paper; feeling weightless. Your body then lightly hovers off the ground, though only about an inch up, then everything flashes in a bright white. Shortly, you're met with Gearlock's tiresome face again, the aura around her horn dissipating shortly as you felt all your movements and senses return. You wouldn't say you're not used to teleporting, yet you're not to fawned of the it when it feels as though you've entered a "subconscious tank" and just stepped out of it.

You give your limbs a good shake, getting some stretching done with your hooves to get the nerves working again. "Alright. Good one. Now, all we have to do is make it in to find that mirror." You trotted to the golden twins in your way, which, when closely inspected, could see their crystal integrity glisten at you from the shine of the moon's faint lighting. Just like the main entrance beneath you, you gave these handles a shake, finding the same results; no surprise. Gearlock can already guess that when staring at your hunched backside.

You gave an annoyed grunt at this, seeing that they wouldn't budge at all.

"There, ya see? It's locked. There's no way we're going to find that portal when we're shut from the outside. Oh well, too bad, so sad-Let's go home, Z." Gearlock said, sarcasm obviously in her tone as she tried to fake a "defeated" trot back to the edge of the balcony, expecting to hear your hoof-falls behind her. Yet, she heard nothing.

"Now hold on, Gear. I'm not giving up when I hadn't done..much yet. Just you watch." you turned back to the handle again, leaning your head closer, inspecting it's corners and edges, even with the help of your implant.

"It's locked, Z3R0. How're we going to get..in..without...Uh, what the heck are you doing?" the unicorn raises an eyebrow when seeing you move your good eye closer to the door's keyhole, piratically fitting it inside it snugly. Yet you craned it back before any harm could befall it.

"Like I told you, Gear, I ain't giving in. I got the perfect 'key' for this here keyhole"

"Oh? And prey-tell, where is it? Did you make it out of one of your B0T's? Will it just blow up the door?"

"Funny. But, no. With-this!" you tapped the tip of your hoof to the side of your implant, feeling it's iris shift slowly and shortly. It flattens itself out to a thin rectangle shape, rotating to stand upwards as the eye slowly extends forwards a few centimeters. Returning your head in front of the keyhole, you now placed your bionic eye first, having the changed-iris stare at the hole this time. And after at least a minute or two, a light beams from the iris, glowing in a crimson red, just like your vision through it, as it passes trough the locks and tumbles with ease. Gearlock then sees smoke slowly rise from it, becoming darker and darker with each passing second. This made the unicorn perplexed at the sight, yet the sound of snapping broke that confusion shortly.

The giant doors slowly ajar, smoke still trailing from the keyhole, now having a burnt aftermath around it, which the crust forms quite quickly. Gearlock stared at the broken lock with a puzzled stare, wondering what you've done to 'break' the doors open, even with your technology.

"How...How..."

"I told you I got this under control, and I told you I wasn't going to give up"

"But..the lock.."

"It's a little insurance policy I've been saving for this such an occasion. Too bad I wont be able to use it again considering it's recharging takes about 24 hours to restart. Plus, it's temporary in-use for about 10 seconds only. It's all I can work with now."

"But...You know what-Whatever. Let's just go anyways. I mean, why not, hm? It's not like this story's plot is going anywhere and we're just the 'side characters' helping it get to that "good point". No, no, we're really making it 'story wise' without revealing more background on us, or-I don't know-make this chapter into something else that actually commemorates SLICE OF LIFE!"

"Geez, you're such a downer, aren't you?"

Once again, Gear felt the twitch return to her eyes again, eventually letting out a sigh, trotting past you and into the open doorway. "Just..Just shut it and come on"

Seeing no point to object, you followed behind the unicorn. As you two stepped inside, you were at awe once seeing the castle's insides, surprisingly much bigger then what you'd imagine when arriving. You two passed more doorways similar to the one you've broken into, all shimmering the same crystal illumination while posing your reflections as you passed by every one. Yet you could see that the crystal itself is see-through, and you can look into every room to see what they really are then taking guesses.

Down the hallway you've only managed to pass a library, another library, library, library, conference room, library, library, library, and the bathroom.

"Oh my Celestia, how many libraries does the Princess need? It's like walking through a giant book store."

"Well you did mention it was Twilight Sparkle. And knowing about her interests, now that she's the 'Princess of Friendship', you wouldn't be surprised if her entire castle isn't filled to-the-brim with books. She's obviously a book-worm at best, yet this is a whole new level for her."

"Heh, got that right. But does she live alone or with other ponies?"

"Why are you asking-Z, she obviously lives with her pet dragon, Spike, and owl, Owlicious, who else would she live with? Why did you even asked when you knew the answer?"

To explain why, you pointed a hoof in the direction of another door, yet this one isn't crystal see-through, but contained a symbol of two aquamarine swirls, almost resembling toothpaste "squirts", and a purple star with a white one behind it.

This made you tilt your head in question and thought, wondering what could it be; or, as a matter of fact, who's cutie mark that is. Because, and you couldn't catch it, you'd suspect it to be somepony else's when you always find the Princess' one around the pathway you and Gear trotted down when entering, yet this one's is sticking out like a sore thumb. And looking all too familiar.

"I don't believe it." Gear murmured, eyes fixed to the mark on the wall, "This is Starlight Glimmer's cutie mark"

"W-wait, what? You mean THE Starlight Glimmer? The Starlight Glimmer that nearly turned Equestria's timeline's into a heap of despair, chaos, and mayhem? THAT Starlight Glimmer?!"

"Don't act so surprised, you dork. Of course it is. Yet I wonder what she is doing her at the Princess' castle, and living with her too for that matter."

"I don't think it's best to wake her up and ask. Let's just try to find the portal before she hears us."

Making each of your hoof-falls more quiet then the last, the two of you tip-toed yourself's away from the room until you're clear enough your out of sight and earshot.

You let out a sigh, while sweeping your forehead to wipe off any nervous sweat building up. "Thank goodness she wasn't up at all, otherwise we could've been done for."

"I don't think that's the least of your worries, Z."

"Why do you say that?"

Gear points a hoof to the multiple doorways ahead of you two. Just like the one with Starlight's mark, these doors contain other cutie marks plastered upon their surfaces too. But when looking closely at them, the familiar "ting" rings in your mind when identifying them; they're the Element's cutie marks.

"Oh, shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Now the whole crew is here?!" you whispered-yelled, trying to keep your cool as to not wake anypony up with your disturbance, "This is going to make things more worse!"

"No, that is." the unicorn then gestures to the growing shadow coming from the end of the hallway, heavy hoof-falls following shortly; sounding like heavy metal being lifted and dropped repeatedly.

"Oh, sweet Celestia! Come on!" you grabbed Gear's hoof, making a beeline to another hallway corridor behind you two, thankfully to your right just a couple of paces upwards. You tried to keep your steps quiet as a mice, even if you're frantically running through a giant, "empty" castle; which, in your ears, sounded a bit louder with the echoing helping. Another shadow of another guard then comes into view, coming from the next turn you and Gear abruptly stop at, only watching as it became larger and larger, closing in on you two. Seeing as there is no hiding spot to evade the guard, you decided to place yourself firmly against the wall, still holding the unicorn's hoof so she may do the same. Holding your breath, you try to hold in the air in your lungs, including scrunching up your internal organs so you may "blend-in" with the shadows, thankfully, with the wall's wide length, you're able to with ease.

The guardpony then rears the corner, moving down the hall you and Gear were recently at, unaware of the three eyes staring at him as he passes by. He then stops shortly, raising a brow after believing of seeing something "colorful" behind him just now. He quickly turns his head back to see-nothing then the empty hallway, no signs of any misplacement worth questioning anywhere. Just the regular hallway as it is.

He shrugs and decides to move-on down the hall, taking the next corner and disappearing shortly. Seeing that he was finally gone, you opened both your eyes and mouth with a gasp, letting the sweet oxygen return back to your lungs, refilling your system again. You wheezed and coughed afterwards, yet you try to keep quiet so you don't attract the guard back again.

"Whew, I think he's gone" you said, placing a hoof on your chest to maintain it from caving-in from that "close call", mixed with the lingering-anxiety of being caught so soon.

"Yeah, you wouldn't expect this to be a cake-walk, did you, Z? Oh no, no, no, it'd be much easy to BREAK INTO the PRINCESS' castle to find some 'MAGICAL MIRROR' where, of course, it wouldn't be GUARDED by GUARDPONIES from INTRUDERS LIKE US. Oh, oh yeah, and did I forget to mention the fact of the entire gang being here alongside Starlight Glimmer to lend a hoof, did I?"

"Man, Gear. What's up with you tonight? This is really unlike you."

The unicorn let out a sigh, recomposing her breathing with smaller ones before she spoke up again. "Look, I'm really sorry, Z. I really am, but I'm just trying to tell you that this whole charade is completely nuts. Considering for the fact that we've got information about this 'portal' out-of-the-blue when we were in the forest talking about machines! Machines, Z! Machines! This is just a boring straightforward thing to even GO THROUGH WITH when you don't know if it all could be a one giant lie, yet here you are now, going with it like a gullible dork."

"But it's coming from her CLOSE friends, Gear. Especially Applejack, and that pony tends to be honest with every word she says, and not a lie would be said without the truth following afterwards; it's her bad habit! Besides, I'm tired of the same old, same old manure that brought us nothing but grief and frustration."

"What're you talking about? I'm perfectly fine with my everyday life, you're just the one that's complaining and whining like a foal than just expecting the best like you'd always do, but when hearing about this 'new world' totally threw all that out the window. This isn't you, Z!"

She's right on every word; spot-on with no signs/clues of lying or 'stretching'. It's true you're taking this to a whole different level then you'd expect, really contradicting your old-self quite brutally, making you cringe internally for having to do that. Yet another part of you wanted to brush off that contradiction and focus on the task at hand. Your time in Equestria that causes you to become an eye-sore is no more; you've had enough to this point. You wanted to start a'new. You wanted to remake who you really were instead of a "mad pony". And you weren't going to turn-tail now.

"You're right, Gear. I am...yet..yet..."

"What?"

You released a pent-up sigh too, looking down at your coal hooves before looking back at the unicorn's golden eyes. "Yet..I want to finally show that I'm not just a failure, Gear."

"'Failure'? What're you talking about, Z? You're not a failure."

"Oh, don't play coy, Gear, you know I am!" You retorted, your tone now dipping in a spicy agitation, self loathing entering your brain's thinking-circulation, slowly coursing through your veins. "Ever since I've created my first B0T to present to Ponyville of it's talents, all it did instead was cause fear and mayhem then what I created it to do; and I'm it's creator, darn it! Every other one followed suit, making my reputation fall flat into nothing, shriveling up into dust and blown away!"

"Yeah, but now you've found the cause of it all and can prevent it from happening again next time. I don't see why you would think this could change anything then you doing that here, in Equestria!"

"That's because in this new world, nopony would know me from heart, understand my mistakes that nearly costed lives! Plus, the ponies around Ponyville, especially Mayor Mare, wouldn't listen to me whatsoever then shun me like the idiot I am!" You stomped a hoof to emphasize your growing anger, unaware that the echoing filled the empty hallway again. Gear looked behind herself and behind you, hoping that no guardpony overheard that.

"Keep it down, Z. Don't go alerting the guards already"

"Why bother, huh?! It's best I'm thrown in prison anyways for what I've nearly done to everypony here. I've made nothing but destruction instead of being the 'helping hoof', making me become the REAL problem then the actual one. I've let my anticipation for this ridiculous land turn me into a psychotic stallion, living alone around the Everfree forest!"

"You're not alone, Z3R0. I'd always come by to visit you everyday for the past 4 years, straight! I'm your best friend for Celestia's sake!" Now it's Gear's turn to become angered by your "whining", "I am and will always be your best friend, so don't go crying saying that you're 'alone', cause you and I know that's MANURE!" she then stomps her own hoof, deciding that she doesn't care if they get caught or not; she's starting to loose her patience.

"I know that! Yet I'm still labeled as a maniac by everypony in Equestria, and I'm tired of having that follow me everywhere I go! I..." you stopped yourself shortly, feeling the warm liquid slide down your muzzle and drip down on the crystal floor, slowly creating a puddle, where you can see your reflection through. Just like anything around this castle. You didn't realize you were starting to cry at all, the stream only coming down your good eye, your face scrunching up in a sad-angered grimace. You hate having to break down like this, it's humiliating, yet your mother always tell you that "crying helps let everything out", reassuring that it doesn't always show weakness but repressed feelings. And it's "unhealthy to keep inside", which is true.

You brought a hoof to your eye and quickly scrubbed the tears, and any pre-formed ones before they fall, keeping your angered glare at the puddle beneath you instead of at Gear. Who, at the sight, now gained a look of surprise, not one to usually see you cry, even when you two were young, yet this is a "first" to her.

"I want to actually become sompony...I wanna make myself into who I want then what I've became, Gear. This is becoming tiresome for Celestia's sake! I just.." You let your hoof drape over your muzzle, covering your good eye from looking at Gearlock's golden ones, now reverting into a softened look then her earlier glare. Your body shakes slightly as the water-works continue to slide down, making the pool grow larger and larger.

You suddenly feel something warm envelope your body, looking up to find Gearlock gently taking you in an embrace, having both her hooves gently lay on your back; one lightly caressing your mane, keeping it flat, slow, and nicely.

Silence filled the air again, later dissolving when Gear spoke up again, "You are somepony, Z3R0. You've made the best out of bio-mechanics then I've seen anypony do for my entire life. You've created machines that outdo anypony's own lame replica, ranking yours as the top winner; hands down. No matter if they combust in a ball of fire or not, it's integrity is still excellent as it is."

"B-but.."

"But, nothing. Look, at me, Z." she pulled away so she can stare at your wooden-colored orb and mechanical one with both her yellow ones, with honestly lingering within them; almost as if you're talking to Applejack, except with a WHOLE different makeover.

"Your my best friend ever since foalhood, and the ride to this point was exhilarating, I've always thought you'd have more in store to surprise me with, actually making the adventure you'd crave for be in your own hooves then somewhere else, Z3R0. And I'm the only audience that's been cheering it on from the beginning, and it's best to just have it like that then with anypony else. It's like I'm you and you're the mirror. And you wanna know why? Because I care about you so much, Z, and I hate to see you cave-in on for the fact of the mistakes you've done, but that doesn't make you any less than anypony around Equestria."

"But it's been constant..." you whisper lowly, keeping your eyes affixed down again, which Gear returned back to her eyes with a readjustment of both her jasmine hooves beside both sides of your head.

"That doesn't matter. You've shown to everypony the proportion they'd never realize coming from somepony who has a red '0' for a cuite mark involving mechanics; which, of course, makes NO sense. Yet it's something new and exhilarating they're expecting more of then you to just give it all up over a couple of 'hiccups'."

You had to hand that to the unicorn, it was a bit surprising, yes, yet your self-loathing derails that shortly. But Gear turns that around again when speaking up. "And every day afterwards, you've tried to fix those mishaps with some improvements which, at some points, work extraordinarily or fail miserably, but you're still putting your work into it then giving-in. Which I know the real Z3R0 would always do when it comes to machines. I'd expect the real Z3R0 to just get back up and keep doing what he loves, no matter what anypony may say about it, because it's coming from the 'real-you' then trying to make that all up with this 'new world'. This is your world here; your home. With me, Z. And I will be always beside you to reassure that you're never a failure to what you do best, yet a success for trying to make-big as you'd always dreamed of. And now you know the main cause for those 'hiccups'-you can change everything."

You felt her retake you back in her hooves, resuming to lightly caress your mane, "Everything..." she whispers lightly, making your body slowly take-in her embrace shortly, later having you return it; with a warm smile plastered on your face while the tears returned. Yet this time they're of happiness instead of self-loathing and regret.

A minute or two and you two part from the hug, staring at each other with big smiles adorning both your faces.

"So, what do you say we just go home, eh?" Gearlock extends an offering hoof, waiting for yours to touch it.

Giving a split-second of thinking, you sigh, looking back at Gear, your smile slowly disappearing; determination refilling your veins again.

"Thank you, Gearlock, but..I want to go to this new world"

"Z3R0, I told you-"

"NOT, for redemption, though." you interrupted her, raising a hoof and letting it fall afterwards, "I want to go so I can explore what it really is. Really see if it's the real deal after all. And if it's not, I'm pulling out and leaving immediately. Forgetting this entire thing as if it never happened. Letting life go as it is. Nothing more."

Seeing the determination return again, yet with a twist Gearlock cannot force you to change, she sighs again, her smile still firm and bright. "Alright, Z3R0. I..trust you. Don't go doing anything stupid you'd might regret, alright?"

"But didn't you say that about this entire thing though? Am I not just a hypocrite after-all, or clueless? Make up your mind already."

She chuckles at your little 'joke-turnabout', you following shortly, later having it die down; still trying to be cautious of the echoing hallway you two are still in.

"In that case, let's go find that portal."

You gave a confirming nod to her, trotting back down the hallway, turning the corner the guardpony first arrived around.

"Oh, and by the way," you spoke up, looking over at the unicorn with a raised brow, "How did you learn that teleportation spell anyways? I thought that was for high-ranking unicorns only? Sometimes alicorns."

"Well, you can thank Starlight for that"

This made your eye widen at that answer, "Starlight? Why?"

"She's the one who taught me the spell when we ran into each other one day after I tried buying some more supplies. She was kind enough to lend me some bits when I was short on some, really helping me on my latest design for the week. Then she saw how far my home was from the shop, and how I couldn't multitask when my dad needed some help on the clock tower at times, that's when she taught me the spell to make transportation more easy."

"Wow, awesome"

"I know, right? Now I can use it to get by anywhere without breaking a sweat. Plus, we can use it to grab some supplies for some of YOUR B0T's, give em' a couple of new styles, extra attachments, and so-on. WITH, the exception of that silicon that is."

"Alright. But how am I gonna power them without it? It's their only source of energy I possess, at the moment."

"You leave that to me, Z. When I was over by the scrapyard, I've managed to spot some leftover heaps of frozen yogurt machines lying around, almost shriveling up with rust, yet it still looks in good condition to take some chunks out of, maybe create some batteries out of them. Hey, you can try creating a fro-yo-B0T whenever anypony is hankering for some frozen yogurt."

"Hey, that does sound like a good idea, Gear. But, why are there dispensers lying in the scrapyard? Who's were they originally?"

"The owner said that the Cakes didn't need them anymore, on account of some 'technical difficulties'"

"That being...?"

"There was some cake batter clogging up one of the pipes, jamming the entire thing to fill itself up with fro-yo."

"Makes sense. Though, I wonder why were there cake batter clogging the pipes to begin with."

"Z, do you remember which Harmony Element lives with the Cakes? And I'l give you a hint, she's pink."

You gave a light chuckle at the unicorn's hint, already guessing the answer the moment "pink" was mentioned. "Oh, I'l save you the energy, Gear."

Gear let out a chuckle afterwards too.

You two turned another corner into another hallway corridor, this being similar to the one's you've trotted through. More golden gates beside you two, and the hallway being stretched afar again.

"So, which room do you think the mirror is in?" you asked, looking through every passing doorway, hoping to find said-gateway through the crystal-clear screens.

"If by any chance it could be around the 'main lobby', because I'm pretty sure we've been walking around in a giant circle."

"You noticed that too? I've been seeing the same library rooms for about 15 minutes now."

"My guess is that they're ALL libraries; except the bathroom."

"Right. Yeah-I guess you're right. We should try to find the main lobby around here. Hopefully it's not too far, right?"

"I don't think so."

The unicorn gestures her answer with another point of her hoof. One of the twin doors is opened slightly ajar, creaking to let you two peak in what's inside. The room held a large, circular table, the chairs around it being towering giant, all with the same cutie marks embedded in them that were last seen on the room doors you and Gear passed; obviously the Element's marks.

"I wonder what this room is for?" you asked, trotting slowly inside, looking around at the vast emptiness the room held, seeing dozens and dozens of scrolls stacked neatly atop a high shelf above you and Gear's heads. Possibly all containing letters issued to Princess Celestia, considering they all have the red and golden ribbon tied around them; signifying the royal colors.

"Could be the consul room for the Elements to round up and discuss some important matters. Maybe even friendship problems, I mean, they ARE the wielders for a reason, after-all."

"Probably" you let a hoof touch the marble texture of the table, letting it slide left and right, feeling the material as if it's a waxed, hardwood floor. Polished and clean. It felt nice.

"Alright, so the thing's not in here, might as well try looking somewhere else." Gear stated.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's try another room." But before you turn back to leave the room, Gearlock stops you in your tracks with an outstretched hoof blocking you.

"But before we keep looking, answer me this, Z. How were you so sure that it'd be located in here to begin with? And how didn't you know it could've been around in-I don't know-Celestia and Luna's old castle within the Everfree forest?"

"Here's why, Gear. One: I got some prime information from a "reliable" source into knowing it's location. Two: Even though it would make sense for something as 'unrealistic' as this to be inside one of Equestria's deadliest forests, I'm sure Princess Twilight would reconsider leaving it for just ANYPONY to get there hands on it, evil or not, when she's been welcomed to a new treacherous world nopony ever knew existed. Plus, she didn't want anypony else to be endangered too. And, after Princess Cadance took over her role in Canterlot, where it originally was located, she relocated it into Princess Twilight's possession this time."

"Alright, alright, I gotcha. But..wait-What 'reliable source' told you about it being here?"

"Pinkie Pie" was all you can answer the unicorn with a straightforward response, "When I was down by Sugarcube Corner on one of my 'off-days', I overheard her rambling about something 'magically amazing mirror' hidden inside Princess Twilight's Castle of Friendship she couldn't keep a lid shut about. Originally, I thought it was just Pinkie pie just being..Pinkie pie, but when Rainbow Dash mentioned something about a 'portal'-through my interpretation-and the Princess being the first to enter through, that's when the puzzle pieces started to come together."

Hearing this, Gearlock gave a shake of her head, "Of course. That pony wouldn't keep a secret even if her life depended on it. She just HAVES to tell somepony by then."

"Heh. Right. Not even if it's a 'Pinkie promise'."

"No, those she keeps her WORD to absolutely. Not making a single peep whatsoever."

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that."

"But, and one more thing-How are you so sure that the gate wouldn't be closed at this moment? I mean, something such as an inter-dimensional portal cant just stay open for forever, it's just illogical."

"Oh, but that's just it, Gear, it isn't sealed for long."

"What makes you say that?"

"From Pinkie, I also heard that the Princess can control the portal's opening's by the use of some book she possess to do-so, making it more dependable then waiting for another thirty moons for it to reopen. And frankly, it's lucky for her, and us, since waiting THAT long would have everypony in their late forties by then."

"I would believe to say you're already an old pony, Z."

"How so?"

"Well, you're always cranky and whiny whenever you're awake or asleep, and you sound like you have SOME wisdom in that coconut-head of yours when I bet the rest is just empty space."

You rolled your eyes before giving the unicorn a light shove to the side with a grin on your face as she let out a humorous chuckle at that.

"Funny, you're such a comedian, Gear."

"Hey, hey, I'm here all week, ya know?"

"Pfft, not for long you will. Let's keep on searching before sunrise."

Gearlock nodded before the two of you exited the room, returning back into the maze-like hallway. Continuing to trot down through the same set of corridors to find the same thing, over and over: Libraries, libraries, and more LIBRARIES!

"We've looked through NEARLY about every room in this castle and not ONE had the darn thing in it." Gearlock said, groaning in impatience, "Maybe the Princess hid it somewhere 'secure'?"

"Maybe, Gear. Yet I doubt it wouldn't turn up soon enough. If we've managed to look through EVERY square inch of this place, I'm sure it'll show up eventually. We just gotta keep a sharp eye out." you emphasized your point by tapping your metallic eye, to which Gearlock responds with an eye roll.

"Well, you get my point."

"Uh-huh"

You then resumed your search, looking around closely if anything would reveal it's location sooner then never. Yet a lingering thought brings itself up shortly, making you voice it out afterwards.

"You know, I wonder if there is ANY other guardponies out on patrol then the two we've nearly evaded."

"This is the Princess of Friendship, Z, I'm guessing they'd keep their eyes open in large numbers about every night. Those two was just a drop-in-the-bucket, there's bound to be more around."

"How so-"

"Hey!" shouted a gruff voice located behind you two, cutting you off and making you jump in surprise. You both turned to find a guardpony levitating a, half bitten, sandwich in his magic before he caught eye of you two just now. "Who are you two, and what're you doing here?!"

"Oh, I see..."

"Halt and do not move an inch! Otherwise you'd be trailed for trespassing on behalf of the Princess of Friendship!"

"Yeesh, now that doesn't sound friendly.." you coughed into your hoof after that remark, raising your voice so the guard may hear you, "Right, well, we'd love to do that bud, but we have other plans to attend to-GEARLET'SBOLT!" You quickly dashed to the opposite direction of the guard, Gear following shortly with some tumbling steps.

"Stop! Immediately!" The sound of heavy hoof-falls catches your ears, knowing that he's gunning on your tails, trying to increase his speed with every other second.

As you two dash down the hallway, a split set of corridors approaches you two, causing you to panic at the unfortunate circumstance, deciding which way to take. Your mind thought otherwise.

"Quick, split-up!" you exclaim, taking the right corner, trotting at your full speed to evade the on-coming guard.

"Wait, what?! Z!" without any choice, Gearlock, not wanting to get captured and be punished at the mercy of the Princess, took initiative and ventured to the left corner.

Seeing this, the guard stopped at the intersection and looked at both directions, debating on who to peruse first. Finalizing on Gearlock's direction, he goes after her.

You begin to pant when feeling your hooves tire at the excessive running. Hopefully you're able to find the darn mirror at this rate before you pass out from exhaustion. Looking back, you'd anticipate that the guard didn't pick you to chase after, allowing you the chance to relax and catch your breathing. You leaned on one of the many doorways, panting with a slumped form, trying to get as much air back in your lungs as possible, again.

"Man..Oh sweet Celestia...I can't breathe.." as soon as you felt the succulent oxygen returning to your system once more, you maintained your balance while trying to get back on all four of your hooves. "Man, that was TOO close. Shot." you looked around you, hoping to find a certain purple unicorn beside you, but found nothing, to your avail. You looked back where you once ran to, believing that Gearlock had actually taken the other way than you anticipated.

But what can you say? She isn't dense when being chased by ONE guardpony, and you did say "split up!"

You sigh as you placed your full weight on the door with your back, trying to collect your thoughts on what to do now, or explain to the Princess on why you broke into her castle when she hears this. It's inevitable.

But the door suddenly gives away, opening completely as you fall back with a yelp. You quickly try to catch something to prevent from falling but unfortunately failed and landed at your side, groaning quietly at the mild-impact and pain that shot through you; and your rib cage.

"Ow.." rubbing your aching side, you got back up on your hooves to find yourself stumbled within, what seems to be, another library. Books, surprisingly categorized and arranged by alphabet, line up the shelf's around you, circular tables surrounds you, nothing surprising.

Yet the only difference was a large tarp sheet lying in the corner, covering something big underneath it. Closing-in with your bionic eye you can see some openings from underneath it, gold and plywood is all you can see from your position, including some wires sticking around them. You then also catch an open book lying on a table beside you, which, when trotting over to it, you find a finished letter scribbled inside it, possibly from Princess Twilight.

Considering her signature is signed at the bottom left of the page, of course.

'Dear, Sunset Shimmer,

Is everything going okay after the 'games'? Is the other 'me' doing well? Hopefully so, I can tell that, in your guy's hands, she's alright. Better, even. I cannot thank you enough for helping out in that dire situation, who knew what could've happened if she came into Equestria with all that magic. Could've been catastrophic for even me, the others, Celestia, and Luna to handle all at once. It's like King Sombra, Disocrd, or Queen Chrysalis all over again. But, you know, things like this is always a "usual", even in different worlds. It's a living we both share now.

I hope you do well, even now that you've decided to stay there from now on. I honestly will miss you, Sunset, you've proven so much from your time there I can't say I'm not impressed with how you've changed quickly and positively too. I just hope you will do better and take care of the your friends there like I do with mine here. I mean, it's like we're mirrored, you and I.

Anyways, I have to get going before Celestia messages me again about something important.

Hopeful wishes,

**Princess* Twilight Sparkle'*

You try to process everything into your mind while rereading every word, wondering what these "games" were? Or what happened over there to reenact some creature as malicious as those three?

And who this 'Sunset Shimmer' is? What relationship does she have with the Princess that you weren't aware about? You never even knew her up to this point, and it sounded like she used to live..in..Equestria...

You looked back at the covered item with a quizzical stare. Curiosity slowly taking control, making you trot over to it and gently tugged the giant tarp off, revealing it's hidden content.

A large contraption surrounding a mirror in it's center, with multiple tubes, two pumps on opposite sides, and a giant gold horseshoe, hovering the mirror while being supported from the back. And just like that, the mirror itself shapes in a horseshoe too, making you tilt your head at the sight. Atop the shrine showed a picture of a galloping mare, standing on her hind-legs; her silhouette only showing.

You moved closer to the mirror until facing it, gently placing a hoof on it's surface to feel the glass panel. But what you didn't expect was a light pink/purple spark tickle your hoof, changing it's reflection to a limb you've NEVER, EVER seen around Equestria, EVER. Looks just like a small octopus, yet this one has about 5 arms instead of 8.

The realization then dawns upon you.

You've finally found it.

The 'portal' you've heard much about over the past month-and yesterday.

The Crystal Mirror stands before you.

A mysterious "friend"
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A New Sunset

A mysterious "friend"

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Something new
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A New Sunset

Something new

Life in Equestria

You stared blankly outside the window of your home, watching as it's pane gets drenched and coated with rain droplets from another "little" shower. You weren't surprised, you'd always expect one every once in a while throughout the week. I mean, you DO live beside the outskirts of the Everfree forest after all. All of the storm clouds that "rolls by", originally formed over Ponyville, were relocated elsewhere by weather ponies to the request of the town's residences, so they themselves may not be bothered, or harmed, by whatever that could befall them: Such as thunderstorms and/or hailstorms (mainly). And said-relocated area is, none-other, than the Everfree forest; right above your "home".

You always asked yourself the same question, constantly, 'Why even bother LIVING near the Everfree forest in the first place?! It's already infested with Equestria's most deadliest creatures, including Changelings, who would tear you up to shreds in an instant! Why not settle for a nice, quiet place over in Ponyville? No paranoia about what's watching you at night, n'or plotting for your imminent demise at their hands/claws. No unfortunate weather conditions that can quickly, and unexpectedly, destroy your entire household with nothing but a lightning bolt. No carnivorous plants ready to swallow you whole in one gulp. Nothing...' You released a sigh, already knowing the same old repetitive answer to that. 'We cannot afford rent with the amount of bits we own at the moment. Considering how nopony offers us a job that matches up to our skill('s). That, and the other residences aren't too fawned of our company there concerning our history. Which results in somepony nearly getting, either, obliterated or terminated. I'm pretty sure Mayer Mare has issued us a three-strike warning after our little "incident" that nearly leveled the town into rubble. And if memory serves, we already got two tallied up. One more and we're hereby "banned from Ponyville for eternity!"..'

It sounded silly how the Mayer would go as far as to account "eternity", but you can't go against that decision. They are all right anyways...

You gave a side glance to the metal pile lying in a corner across from you. There lied your failed experiments, piled atop one another in a heaping mess of nuts/bolts, shredded shrapnel, and exposed wires. Some pieces are torn from every angle, withering away from rust and weakening to the ash-crust adorning them. You never knew, even with your finalized data and observations, that the prototypes would erupt in a ball of fire after a second of activation.

'A second..'

Looking at it now, you wondered if it's been growing larger by each passing day, or if it's simply just your imagination playing a hoax on you.

Yet, you highly doubted that.

Like the weather, you weren't surprised about finding ANY type of cinder atop your machines whatsoever. Everything you've built and or created always-eventually-blows up in your face, leaving you to stew in your own failure and shame. Though, the next day you've managed to pick yourself up and start a'new again. Might as well, right? They're just machines after all.

And yet, machines are your only source of interest when apparently nothing else seemed to poke you 'intriguing'. You leaned your head onto your hoof, eyes still staring at the shower outside. There's still that one purpose you've always kept and held-dear to ever since moving into Ponyville: Excitement.

When you were but a small colt, you've always heard tales about the "magical" history Ponyville has shared every moon after moon. Such as: The invasion of the Changeling army, commanded by the infamous Queen Chrysalis herself, the reign of both Nightmare Moon and King Sombra, and the-near-extinction of Equestria by the hands of a malicious pony named Starlight Glimmer. You were so filled with glee when hearing all those tales of action against the forces of evil, you nearly wanted to immediately dash from home and head towards the middle of the action, getting a front row seat of the entire thing bestowed for your own eyes to take-in entirely.

But, of course, you obeyed your mother's wishes, and concerns, and stayed patient until becoming the perfect age to move on through life by your own consent now. And so, here you are, a "fully grown" stallion, living the "absolute dream of adventure" you've waited so long for...

You let out a disappointed sigh, "Oh, who am I kidding..?" You climbed out of your bed and trotted over to your disasters. "Nothing has been going on around here that's 'exciting' then the usual routine: The daily creation of a B0T, it's imminent disaster, a shower/thunderstorm, and another warning letter addressed to us on the behalf of the citizens of Ponyville, concerning our 'assistance'.."

You refer to your models as "B0T's" (Bio-mechanical Testing units) since you always favored and questioned the anatomy of machines and wondered what's it's like to create your own, how they function "properly", and what use('s) they could be for.

You picked up a large chunk of your 1C3-B0T's chest piece, looking at the holes adorning it, both large and small, from every angle. Not only that, but, and like your other B0T's, it grew a black moldy crust due to the fire, had some wires sticking out from the openings and rattled every time you moved it around, due to the many loose screws, nuts, and bolts.

Your intention into creating such a machine was to have it solve the intense heat wave Ponyville endured a while back.

As you can recall...

1 month ago

The sun beamed down all over Ponyville, showering the town with it's immense rays and heat, which, according to the temperature, was a scorching 105 degrees.

Ponies all around were sweating profusely, trying to come up with any solution that would cure their common situation. Such as: Multiple uses of many fans, ice water bathing, and 'umbrella shielding', while sipping on some clique beverages (lemonade, ice tea, and or fruit punch).

Weather ponies, especially the Wonderbolts, have been trying whatever they can to turn the weather around by adjusting the remaining clouds to give-off any form of a "chill breeze" that'l shower the residences in a nice, gentle, cool current, eventually picking up soon afterwards to last for the remainder of the day. But unfortunately, they've come up with nothing at the moment but small puffs.

Among them was none other than Rainbow Dash, Equestria's # 1 top flyer of all time, and Wonderbolts team member, who is seen assisting the ponies in the sky by bouncing through every cloud she can get her hooves on, hoping that, with what minimal "puffs" emanating from them, could combine into a large wind gust that'l do the trick for everypony below.

And yet, her results were just like the Wonderbolts'

"Ugh, this is pointless.." grunted Rainbow Dash, as she let her tired hooves drop to her sides. "This is nearly every cloud around Ponyville and not a single one can give anything then..THIS.." she emphasized her disappointment by lightly squeezing a cloud, which lets out a small squeak, similar to that of a rubber duck.

"I don't blame you, Dash" commented Soarin, dropping his goggles from his eyes and lets them dangle from his neck. "Because of today's heat wave, and the weird wind patterns that's been throwing cloud after cloud all over the place, it's no wonder we couldn't get anything out of these at the moment, it's not enough"

"I have to agree" added Spitfire, appearing besides Soarin, "And by the looks of it, the water in these ones here are starting to evaporate and shrivel up in just a matter of minutes, so they'l be pointless to squeeze out anyways. Looks as if there wont be another shower for about a week or two from now"

"But, hang on a second. Didn't we had some 'darker' ones floating around here earlier last week?" Asked the rainbow-haired pegasus, "I could've sworn I've seen some around here before any of the other weather ponies showed up?"

"Hey, yeah, you're right" replied Spitfire, "There should be some more after the last 'clean-up'..." A realization then piped up inside the captain's head, making her look over to Soarin with a mild glare in her eyes.

Seeing this, Soarin's brows raised shortly in question, "What?"

"Soarin... If I can recall, the last 'clean-up' crew that came by here to round up any active thunderclouds was supervised by someone from YOUR department. And I'm quite sure that the others weren't out on patrol duty before we preformed over in Las Pegasus, but a certain somepony did..."

Getting what Spitfire is narrowing down, Soarin grew a guilty glint in his eyes, trying to avert his gaze from Spitfire's.

"W-well.."

"AND, I know that this particular somepony also had let HIS team finish the task early so HE may take an EARLY lunch break.."

"I-Uh..."

"And when we returned back to HQ, HE was 'snacking' on, none other than, APPLE PIE!"

The Wonderbolt felt tiny sweat droplets start to form around his forehead, slowly trickling down for every second he remained silent. "Urghh-OKAY! Okay! I did it! I accidentally told the team to relocate the storm clouds somewhere else then what you've instructed!"

"Oh, Soarin.." sighed Spitfire, placing an aggravated hoof on her forehead while giving a shake of her head. "Where did you guys put them?"

"Uh..The Everfree forest..."

"Well that's just perfect" commented Dash, "Now how are we gonna cool down Ponyville without any water?"

Just as that question was asked, the echoing sounds of squeaking wheels caught the attention of the three pegasuses. Their eyes widened shortly before another sigh was followed, but from Dash this time upon seeing 'another one'. "Oh no, not again..."

A large, vertical-rectangular machine is lightly trundling down the road of the town, gaining uneasy stares from other ponies on the sidelines, while some mumble to one another about itself; AND the pony behind it.

His fur was coated in a coal-black, adorning a short, hazel mane; to which his tail was a "bit" longer by comparison. His cutie mark, which was "odd" to other ponies, pictured a red '0' with a dash through it. Some question the stallion on what talent brought him to earn such an strange-looking mark, and why a '0' for Celestia's sake? The pony can only respond to that with the presentation of his latest B0T, which, at the sight, only struck fear towards them then what he intended.

Nothing else made the stallion more different then the average equine, except the robotic eye-implant in his right socket that is. The earth pony's only explanation for that was simply to "remember an old friend". Most ponies accepted the fact, to which they themselves share a similarity with their own memorabilia's, but others tend to disagree; considering the fact that it involves a robot.

Or, a "B0T"

He didn't mind that. His machines were all the company he needed throughout his foalhood and things went by pretty well afterwards. His parents, on the other hand, preferred him to forget about these apparatuses and go out to befriend ACTUAL friends instead of "inanimate contraptions". Of course, the stallion did as his parents wished and went out to socialize with the other colts and fillies around, including those at his Elementary school. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to share interest in his "work", but gave some liking nonetheless to show empathy. It was a nice gesture, but the pony decided gloss them over, seeing no point in interacting when machines were all he could concentrate on nonstop. He thought he was never going to find anypony that would share in his own fondness, and that he will just discuss his, future, cooperative ideas to simply himself.

That was until he met a certain unicorn afterwards, with her own "gadgets" roaming around too.

This perplexed the pony, seeing as how she's witnessed EVERY failure his creations undergo constantly, for about 3 years now, and yet she stays by his side nevertheless. He'd expected her to just run off, away from him to prevent herself from being caught in his luckless web, snared from hoof to hoof, hind-leg to hind-leg. Instead, she doesn't move an inch at all but keeps still.

He couldn't understand that from her, always asking, "Why?"

Apparently, "Friends never leave each other behind"

And speaking of which, she made a sudden appearance in front of the stallion, making him stop when seeing the shadow of two hoofs appear underneath his machine. He craned his neck around to see two golden eyes staring back at his brown, and mechanical, one's with a worrisome expression; just like the townsfolk's.

"Oh, hey, Gear. Didn't see you there"

Gearlock, or "Gear", is but another unicorn, colored in a purple-jasmine from head to hoof, to which her daffodil-colored eyes are the only ones that seem to brighten herself out. Her mane lengthens over her forehead and splits just above her muzzle, but her left half is a tad longer than the other by an inch or two. Her tail was a bit similar in length, but still short enough to not get caught in-between the mare's steps. They both shine in a dull iron grey, glistening almost as if her entire mane was actually MADE out of the element. Of course, that's idiotic if it EVER was true, but the stallion didn't mind it whatsoever and actually think it's interesting than un-ordinary. Her cutie mark, like her name, resembles two gears in-sync with each other; or "locked" together. How she was able to acquire it was with the assistance of her father, where, at a point, he had trouble with the town's clock tower after something jammed it's insides to suddenly stop at an unfortunate hour. As soon as Gearlock made-way inside to lend a hoof (mainly through the use of her own magic), her technique of replacing the damaged mechanisms, while racing against time in order to match the time of Celestia's sunrise, granted her said-cutie mark.

It sounded silly to the stallion how just fixing a clock before sunrise can get anypony a cutie mark in an instant. It's simply would do no harm to the ponies of the town that their tower would be out of commission for a short period of time. But, and from Gear's explanation told to her from her father, the tower has been Ponyville's ancient relic to which Princess Celestia granted with her own magic to make it account time precisely and accordingly, so nopony may be derailed to the ACCURATE time for each and everyday.

Gear's father witnessed the tower's creation and was awestruck at it's glory, and just how Celestia's magic make it as Ponyville's prime "clockwork". But, and on an unfortunate side, the magic wasn't able to affect the tower whatsoever, making it vulnerable just as a regular clock tower. And in that case, it's gears has been getting jammed from time to time by whatever-means, making multiple ponies resort into taking shift after shift to come by and repair it before sunrise or nightfall. And to spare that excruciating decision from everypony, Gear's father volunteered "full-time" and took the position as "clock watchpony".

But as soon as another 'jam' stopped the tower from functioning yet again, and the elder pony wasn't able to repair it by his hooves, despite his repetitive solution('s), in entered Gearlock.

Ever since then, Gear grew into a hobby of bio-mechanics, wanting herself to also understand the anatomy of clockwork's more then what she already knows when working with the tower. So, she broadened that to newer heights. Such as creating miniature gadgets out of 2x4, springs, and wind-up mechanisms, similar to wind-up toys ponies regularly buy for their children at the markets, only to have them eventually break apart because of it's cheap materials. But not Gearlock's own. Surprisingly, they've been able to withhold the passing hours of time, despite withering away chip by chip, they still function as if they've been created once again.

Plus, it's another form of an opportunity for Gear to practice her magic. Her mother did tell her that "practice always makes perfect". But the unicorn already knew that shtick, she was able to master her control by the age of 12, still continuing to try nevertheless afterwards. Had SOME slight setbacks here and there, but Gear still tried to keep her focus, and mind, clear and straightforward in order to keep her creation's constructions "right".

Though, one day, her latest wind-up stumbled upon sompony else's. But this stranger was made out of metal, screws, and bolts then Gear's own lumber, gears, and nails. That's when the jasmine colored unicorn met the stallion standing in front of her, later tying each other as friends when finding out about their main commonality: Bio-mechanics.

Unfortunately, as time passed on by, Gear grew a feeling of dismay when staring at *another B0T again. And what the outcome may be THIS time.*

"Another one, Z?" Gearlock asked, with a hint of disappointment.

'Z', a nickname the stallion acquainted himself before moving to Ponyville. Which is similar to the names he deems his B0T's: Z3R0

Nopony, not even Gearlock, knows Z's REAL name, to which he's been keeping under-wraps for quite some time now, but everypony gave up the chance when the stallion wouldn't drop the slightest of hints than the repetitive, straight-forward answer, "Z3R0".

'Z' got along with the idea pretty well, thinking that he's going to keep it until he'd POSSIBLY reveal it in the near-future; if the odds are against him that is. It's nice to have a change-of-things by your own control this time, you finally feel free; for once.

"Yeah, what of it?" responded Z, "This baby here's gonna solve today's heat wave in a flash"

"But..how are you so sure this...time?"

"BECAUSE, and unlike OTHER times, I've managed to avoid my earliest mistakes with the other prototypes and reconfigure that into this one here" Z tapped the machine's side with a prideful look in his eye, "Meet, the 1C3-B0T"

Gear gazed upon the robotic device, looking over it's features carefully, HOPEFULLY not to find any "mishaps" that could end this whole idea in *another disaster. It held a light blue screen atop it's front half while the bottom adores a vent shaft. Nothing else is seen around it then it's front-end, looking 'simple' enough. Well, apart from the robotic eye staring back at her with a cold, empty stare, almost similar to Z's own implant, but the iris on this one is blue.*

Nevertheless, the jasmine-colored mare still had a bad hunch nonetheless.

"Z, can you be REALLY certain that this thing will-you know-ACTUALLY do something useful this time? Unlike...other times.."

"Well of course!" retorted the stallion, "I haven't wasted my time looking over the statistics, design outlines, and data to create a hunk of junk that'l just do NOTHING. Just you watch, it's gonna change everything"

The mare never enjoyed going against her friend's passion for machinery, but the history they have made that nearly jeopardized the lives of everypony in Ponyville, including herself and Z's, may contradict that.

But before Gearlock could utter another word, Z reached a hoof behind his creation and flipped a small switch, causing the device's engine, or core (however it may be), to start running, letting out a low humming sound.

Then a blue smog slowly ventilates outside of the machine, cluttering itself up into one massive cloud, nearly enveloping the entire ground-level in it's giant haze; almost as if it's going to swallow anypony in an instant if they come into contact with it. Considering how desperately they try to evade it by whatever-means. Unfortunately though, it's to no avail as it reaches them anyways.

The fear in their minds, causing their limbs to shake and hearts to pound immensely against their chests, slowly begins to loosen up when feeling a cold chill slowly withering away their excessive heated bodies with ease. The source has been from the ventilated sapphire gas, continuing to expand even greater throughout the town.

Yet, despite the "refreshing" solution the ponies have been waiting for all day, some still try to keep-away from the smog, still unsure of the downsides that's bound to flip upwards in a matter of time.

The Wonderbolts watch as the machine does it's work, and just like the civilians below, they all had insecure looks themselves when watching it ventilate that ominous smog from itself.

"Should we do something before things get out-of-hand?" asked Soarin.

"I say we make it down there and destroy it before it does the other way around!" Dash proclaimed, about to take off towards the device before a tangerine-colored hoof stops her in her tracks.

"Hang on a sec, Dash, let's not jump in just yet" Spitfire responded, despite her own doubts, still held a calm composure when seeing another B0T do it's work again. "Nothing seems to be going on at the moment then..this. We should just stay back until things REALLY turn hairy. And when they do, THAT'S when we make it down there. Right now, let's just see if this one can actually turn out 'better' then the others"

"But they never do!" Dash shouted, her tone spiced with vexation. "They always wreck havoc the next second they're turned on! It's best to get rid of it now before it does any harm! Come on, Spitfire!"

Spitfire doesn't respond to the mare but keeps her gaze remained on the "B0T", her silence telling Dash to stay-put for now. Grunting in compliance, Rainbow folds her hooves across her chest and watches alongside the other two Wonderbolts.

As the device kept on pumping the gas, the cooler the temperature began to decrease, letting everypony relish in the new 'change', despite it comping from an unfortunate pony.

The stallion still kept his prideful grin plastered on, finally watching as one of his creations ACTUALLY function properly instead of breaking apart. He can finally understand his mishaps and make-do with the same changes for further-

That's when the B0T's engine then powered down shortly, ceasing it's cooling ventilation. This surprised both the earth pony and unicorn, even the Wonderbolts.

"Hm?" Z made-way behind the device, giving it a couple of light taps and shoves to see if it will start itself up again, but to no avail. "That's odd. It seemed to have shut itself off all of a sudden"

"'All of a sudden'?" Gear remarked, re-phrasing his words in a sarcastic manner, to which Z responded with a half-lidded glance and frown.

"I..was sure to keep it sustainable with it's battery core to keep on going for more then this long" Z opened up the B0T's back panel, looking over it's insides to find any noticeable deficiencies, moving some wires aside while observing.

"And I'm pretty sure that's the cue to pull it's plug before anything else happens"

Z let out an aggravated sigh, understanding what she meant by her tone. But he knew, deep down, she didn't REALLY mean it at all, yet STILL held her doubts nonetheless. He kept focus on finding the culprit to his machine's "unexpected" power down, but finds nothing then the usual's he outlined before constructing the contraption.

Without warning, once again, the device sprung back to life, the ventilation resuming normally again as the smog returns shortly. Z arched a brow at this, including Gear, a bit unsure if what occurred was a temporary mishap or something else unaware to them. Nonetheless, no harm was caused to put anypony in jeopardy.

"Ya see?" Z asked, closing the back hatch and taking a few steps back to return beside the unicorn. "Nothing more then a couple of 'hiccups' and it's still going fine as ever. I don't see what you were so worried about anyways"

Gear didn't respond but still kept a skeptical look at the B0T, waiting for whatever is to unfold already arrive now. But after a short five minutes, or more, there wasn't any more "hiccups", "interruptions", or "spontaneous combustion's" whatsoever, it was working.."fine". Seeing as her friend had SUCCESSFULLY created something that doesn't get them nearly obliterated made the mare release a pent-up sigh.

"Well, I guess you were right all along, Z" Gear spoke up, "You really made something that'l cure Ponyville of this heat wave. Congrats" she gave the stallion a pat or two on his backside, growing his prideful joy to which he responds with a fist-hoof in the air.

"Alright! Hey, maybe next time we-"

But before Z could utter his next 'constructive' idea, the ventilation suddenly shuts down again, cutting off the cool haze afresh. The two ponies looked back at the B0T again, confusion re-etched to their faces, except for Gear (of course). Once again, it's motor restarts, resuscitating it's faint humming. Except, it is now running at a quickened pace, sounding as if it was going to fly out of the device at any moment. Z quickly returned back to the B0T's rear panel, but as he tried to reopen it he was only met with an army of sparks.

"Agh!" the stallion retracted his hoof, seeing a burn mark burn through his fur from the inflicted flickers, but that didn't stop him from trying to reopen the console again. "Come on, come on, come on..."

"What? What's going on?!" asked a, now, worried Gearlock, "PLEASE tell me nothing's going to explode again! Will it?"

"What? No. It just need some rewiri-" Then, out of Z's surprise, a wall of fire erupts at his end, pushing him back on his hind-legs. Slowly, it begins to grow, swallowing the B0T in a blaze of flames. Z was unaware of the sprites coming towards them as his gaze fixed to the flaming contraption.

Seeing this, Gear quickly made it behind Z, picking him up from his front-hooves with her own, dragging him away from the, soon-to-be, incinerated 1C3-B0T.

"N-no, no!" Z got out of his Gear's grasp, trying to return back to the machine before he felt a strong yank from his tail. He looked over to see Gear, having it in-between her teeth, trying to prevent him from going back. "Gear, let go! I have to head back! I-It just needs some minor repairs!"

"Minor repairs?!" Gear exclaimed, a bit muffled from having the stallion's tail against her incisors. "Are you kidding me? For Celesta's-sake, look at it, Z! It looks as if it's going to explode! I'm not going to let you become chard pony meat by my watch!"

"B-but-"

"But nothing!"

As soon as the fire finished consuming the B0T, Spitfire finally got the signal she needed to finally head down. "Alright, it's on fire. Come on, guys"

"Finally!" Rainbow Dash cheered, cracking her hooves and flexing her wings, about to make another attempt at a nose-dive before being halted by Spitfire another time. "What now?"

"I say we try to make it to the spot where it ISN'T on fire. Unless you want to become Equestria's # 1 FIREBALL"

Rainbow gave a look at the blazing machine again, sighing a "no".

"Right. Well, just follow my lead, okay?" Spitfire slowly descended towards the B0T, but on the opposite side from the wall of fire. Rainbow and Soarin followed behind afterwards. The three Wonderbolts now faced the machine, wincing as some flames roar at them intimidatingly. Soarin slightly flinched at it, but not the Wonderbolts caption or rainbow-haired mare.

"So," Dash began, "what do you suggest we do to get rid of ANOTHER one?"

"Well," Spitfire responded, rubbing a hoof underneath her chin while examining the "monstrosity" top to bottom, "looks as if the only solution to this would be to extinguish the fire and destroy it before it, I don't know, 'self-destructs' after being tampered with. Or however HE programmed this thing.."

"I don't think it will be THAT risky" Soarin protested

"Do you know the creator, Soarin?" Dash asks the Wonderbolt, with half-lidded eyes and a flat line across her mouth. "When will it NOT explode sooner or later?"

"..Good point" responded the Wonderbolt, changing his opinion at the mention. "But how are we gonna get it dry without any rain clouds to begin...with...Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Spitfire and Dash gave Soarin a look that deems 'You know how', making the pony sigh in defeat upon realization. "I got it.."

With a stretch of his wings, Soarin shot upwards into the sky and made-way towards the only place he knew where said-rain clouds would be. Which, of course, was his fault to begin with.

The Evefree forest.

Upon making it there, the Wonderbolt was met with strong gusts coming left and right from an, unexpected, thunderstorm brewing. Momentarily, they strew him off course with a ruffle of his feathers, making it as if he was going to be propelled to the far ends of Equestria in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, Soarin was able to manage his task and retrieve as much of the raging-storm clouds as his hooves can carry and return back to Ponyville before anything else could befall him there.

When returning back to the other Wonderbolts, he watches as they try their best to keep some of the town's civilians to stay away from the flaming contraption, preventing them from getting burnt, scarred, or chard from the rising flames. The trio then "kick-starts" the clouds to release their pent-up showers above the B0T, slowly extinguishing it before, by a matter of time, becoming a giant fireball. The other ponies of the town cheer at the Wonderbolt's deed, watching as the last flame sprite die down. And, on a positive note, the remaining storm clouds were placed on every gaping corner of Ponyville, letting them release their minimal showers, allowing some of the citizens to finally rapture the cool water raining down upon them; despite if it's temporary.

Rainbow Dash, seeing an opportunity open up for her, quickly makes-way to the remains of the 1C3-B0T and grabs it with both hooves; relieved to not have it burn through her cyan colored fur after 'lighting up'. As soon as she was at a good range away from the town, she, with all the strength she musters, tosses the B0T high upwards into the sky, watching it hover for a couple of seconds. In a split-second, the mare quickly bolts towards it, leaving behind a multi-colored trail behind her. Careful as to not cause any form hemorrhage upon herself, Dash bursts through the B0T, leaving a gaping hole that looks as if it'l split the machine apart at any moment.

The machine lets out some short-circuited sparks before enveloping itself in a large explosion, raining down bits and pieces of it's remains all over Ponyville below.

Z's jaw dropped once seeing another one of his creations be destroyed into smithereens, again. But, of course, it was imminent anyways, the stallion slowly started to accept that fact as the pieces hit the ground, one by one.

Seeing the self-loathing disappointment course through her friend, considering his slumped posture, Gear gave him a sympathetic look, releasing his tail before placing a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. He looked back up at his friend, seeing as she gave him a small smile despite what happened; a form of 'Cheer up, buddy' and 'It'l be okay. The next one will be better then the last'. Notwithstanding the sheer signs of chagrin the mare shared too, the stallion returned her smile with a miniature one of his.

Unfortunately it quickly dissipated once hearing the sound of multiple hoof-steps heading towards the two. They looked up to find the citizens of Ponyville, including the three Wonderbolts, and, of course, Mayer Mare staring down at Z with disproving glares, obviously indicating that the latest B0T was yet *ANOTHER** failure. And if it stayed any while longer, sitting at the center of town, ignited, it could've caused a catastrophic explosion that would've incinerated them all in an instant. That is If Dash hadn't beat it to that point, of course.*

Z let out a nervous chuckle, the multiple stares was starting to make him more uncomfortable than he already feels. "Uh.. Eheh. W-whoops..?"

And here's where you ended up. Stuck living beside the coast of one of Equestria's most deadliest forests around the land. It wasn't an immediate 'kick-out' after..THAT, but by your own choice. Deciding to not keep endangering everypony with your mistakes, you thought it'd be best to keep your distance from them so nopony would be harmed when you STILL continued your work.

Yes, you resumed your "hobby" into creating disaster after another, but what else could you do? It's your own ambition in life that makes you feel fulfilled then simply doing...nothing. You'd hate to resort to that when taking, multiple, breaks on your everyday "job".

But, on a brighter-note, you DID get to see some action at that time when Dash obliterated your 1C3-B0T. And it was exhilarating when it was from her, since, of course, she is one of Equestria's saviors from the ominous forces trying to conquer the land(s). So, it was KIND OF a sight-to-see at least. Right?

Sighing with a disappointed tone, you knew what you meant was just horse manure, but that's how advance through life. Despite the darker times coming to "ruin your day", a positive turn-of-events is on the other side of it all, reassuring you that, in the end, life isn't, EVER, as terrible as it seems unless you make it out to be.

Plus, your little home-or, in reality, your lucky finding-wasn't so bad. You get to have some cool air seep in whenever your trying to sleep and cold sweat builds up out-of-the-blue, making it UNBEARABLE to sleep when it feels as though your being blasted by a heating fan at full-capacity. That, and Gearlock always came by to visit you whenever she had the time, helping you improve on your other B0Ts as you do the same for her trinkets, really spending quality time together. Plus, the inside-surroundings are quite nice looking to not pass up. Everything is furnished, cleaned, with the exception of some dust build-up, and spaced-out for ANYPONY to just reside in at whatever time they please. The outside wasn't that bad either. Just an ordinary brown coating, with a rear door to boot, making it resemble a log cabin; in your perspective, that is. And, it's structure is so sturdy you can whack the walls with a sledgehammer and nothing would leave a dent.

But, of course, you'd NEVER do that; both being insane and ridiculous. Notwithstanding it's "stronghold" appearance of course. You just couldn't think of any analogy then that.

You gave your "home's" surroundings a nice glance or two, even closing-in and out with your mechanical eye. It was TRULY lucky that you've managed to stumble upon this place when you were out house-hunting. Surprised that nopony was already sheltered inside, or already settled-in and off on a trip that'l go through a month or two before returning, catching you in the act; red-handed. The usual "TV cliques". Or, if you'd like to think all "paranormal-like", the place is haunted by some unfulfilled, or vengeful, spirit, roaming the world of the living until it is satisfied and can finally rest in piece. The 'icing' to the cake.

But, nope, it was empty from the inside-out. So, you'd might as well take the chance while it was given for your own take. Just like how Rainbow Dash did with your 1C3-B0T.

You let the ruined chest-piece fall from your hoof and onto the ground, thinking that it's best to not dwell in the past any more. It's best to get out and clear your mind.

Making sure to keep some of your personal possessions away from plain-sight, you made it to the door and exited outside, taking in what the outdoors has to offer today.

The "usual" has already begun before stepping out: The flowers are starting to bloom and the wildlife, mainly the birds, who are flying all-about, singing their usual melody, all are preforming their daily routine's to make it through the day. You watched one fly over your head, going over Everfree forest, thankfully out of harm's reach. You hoped that nothing would befall the innocent creature by whatever dwells inside. And, surprisingly, nothing has for at least a minute or two, making you sigh in relief.

That is until a purple tentacle emerged and grabbed the small creature, dragging it back from where it surfaced, watching as some feathers floated from the spot where the bird once was for a second or two before descending down slowly. You wince when watching that scene, and when hearing a loud "CHOMP" afterwards.

It was a beautiful day to take a walk anyways, you needed it. But somewhere FAR AWAY from that accursed forest by any means, you are sure of that. Seeing a large patch of grass up ahead, you trotted over to it, following it's emerald-colored path as far as it goes. Thinking that you've distanced yourself away quite nicely from the forest behind you, you decided to finally take the next steps at a calming pace. You didn't want another day being spent trying to avoid death by the hands of the unknown, again. It's getting tiresome.

Some time alone out in the outdoors will lighten you up from a trip down memory-lane, it always does.

And you never know, something "exciting" could reveal itself for you to watch in awe with both eyes; organic and mechanical.

"Hopefully..."