The Ballad of Midnight Edge

The train moved at a slower pace, the weather was perfect, the road clear, there was no need to move faster in order to reach Dodge City on time. In fact the vehicle would arrive earlier than expected. It was a rather relaxing trip, the train was an example of modern Equestrian technology. Midnight Edge walked through the different coaches, taking notes on the vehicle and drawing depictions of the different objects within it. His notes compared it to passenger trains he found in other worlds, some advanced and others archaic in comparison.

As he walked, he noticed Babs Seed entering the restroom, looking around as if she was hiding, and then noticing him. As soon as the filly noticed him, she looked again nervously and beckoned him with her hoof. Once both were sure there were no witnesses, Midnight Edge went in and the door was locked.

"Is there something wrong? Why are we here?" Midnight Edge was confused and not precisely amused, he avoided public restrooms most of the time. He was pushed to sit on the toilet to make room for both. He was slowly starting to feel uncomfortable.

"About earlier... Were you planning something?" Babs Seed spoke quietly, it was clear she didn't want to be heard.

"So you were expecting me to ask something lewd?"

"Well... I was just a bit curious. I bet you could come up with something cool." Babs Seed blushed.

"What if I asked you something you won't like?"

"If that makes you feel better... You mean..." Babs Seed hesitated, she knew what that meant, she didn't want to do it. "Would you do the same for me?"

"I don't know. Maybe, I don't feel like licking your down there, but I would try just for you. But that doesn't matter. I won't make you do something you don't like. It feels wrong."

"Well... You can ask me something else then. – Babs Seed was relieved, she feared Midnight Edge would ask her to engage in anal sex. She was not uncomfortable with being touched there, but she didn't want anything to be put in."

"What about doing it here? That's the second thing I could come up." Midnight Edge already ruled out his chances of actually getting her to do something she didn't want from the beginning. He wouldn't force her.

"What if somepony hears us?"

"That's half of the fun." Midnight Edge kissed Babs Seed and lifted her up. He began to rub her intimates with his hoof, soon she began to get wet.

Babs Seed moaned, her heartbeat went faster. "Is it going in... You know... Your willy?"

Midnight Edge inserted the tip of his member, placing a hoof on Babs Seed's face. Sex was actually easier in that position. "As deep as you can fit it." Midnight Edge accommodated himself to kiss Babs Seed. The kiss made her tighten a bit, it was a new experience for both.

The filly began to move her hips following the pace dictated by her heartbeats as her mouth exchanged fluids with that of her beloved. The kiss ended, their saliva still connected as their mouths took distance, feeling the warm breath of each other." It's the first time we kiss while we do it. It feels amazing.

Midnight Edge began to rub her clitoris with his hoof as she moved her hips up and down, trying to take in as much as she could inside her body, the tip of the shaft rubbing her cervix with each push. Pleasure overflowed their bodies. The stallion kissed his beloved filly and a jolt of excitement flowed down her spine, her vagina clamped on his shaft as pleasure built in her body. Using his magic, the stallion began to play with Babs Seed's anal region. The surprise made her gasp.

"Should I stop?" The stallion asked softly as he continued playing with the rest of her small body.

"N- No... It's fine." Babs Seed's heart raced as they continued. Midnight Edge resumed, stimulating as much of her body as he could with his hooves and his magic. This time both dared to go further than usual, taking their bodies to the limit of pleasure.

After several minutes of pleasure and love both felt they were near climax, they kissed right as they reached orgasm together, the stallion releasing his load inside the filly as her insides moved rhythmically to keep as much inside as possible. Both were as one in those last seconds. Sharing a kiss that both would cherish forever.

They made sure to dispose all evidence the best they could, the only thing they could not hide could be the smell, which both hoped would not be strong enough to prove anything. As they left the restroom as voice announced they were about to reach the station. The last words echoed in a rather amusing tone. – Please refrain from using the toilet at the moment.

Midnight Edge smiled and looked at Babs Seed. "I am starting to feel a bit guilty. I think I heard somepony knock a couple of times."

"If somepony asks, I got sick." Babs Seed giggled and pranced toward their coach.

...

Once they reached Dodge City, the group prepared everything for the next part of their trip to the badlands. They hired a wagon to take them closer to their destination, the wagon would follow the main road until they got near the location hidden in the map, then they would walk on their own. Midnight Edge was the only one who knew the exact location of whatever they were looking for.

They got on the road quite fast. As they approached their destination Midnight Edge noticed flying drones following them. They reminded him of vultures, but instead of waiting for them to die, these mechanical vultures were compelled to make sure they survived. They were not a hindrance, but their guides on the way to their fate.

Shortly after taking the road into the Badlands they finally reached the end of their path on the main road. The stallions pulling the wagon stopped and the group got of the carriage.

"Well, we will walk the rest of the way. It won't take long." Midnight Edge smiled looking in the distance. The drones were barely visible and easily mistaken for vultures, but he recognized their metallic gleam.

"Wait! How are we going back home? Did you ever think of that?!" Applejack was surprised he never mentioned his plan to get back to Ponyville once they were done.

"Of course I did! We are hitching a ride! See those things?" The stallion pointed at the mechanical winged drone, the ponies were surprised once they noticed it was not a vulture, it didn't even have a head or legs. "The pony who made those probably has some sort of sand ship or something crazy. That's how we shall return home."

"What are those things? They look like vultures waiting for us to kick the bucket." Applejack was scared, she was not able to trust those mechanical entities.

"I guess they are robots. Like those in comic books!" Babs Seed was curious, she wondered what kind of pony created those wonderful machines.

"You could say so. Don't worry, they will guide us. Babs, if you get tired you are free to hop on my back. The road ahead won't go easy on us." The stallion walked toward the place where the drones converged, following their path to an unknown destiny.

...

After hours of walking the group got close enough to their destination, allowing them to see the place they were heading to. The night sky reflecting on it's surface. Babs Seed looked into the distance, sitting on Midnight Edge's back.

"Look! Over there!" The filly was excited, the sight made her imagination run wild.

"What is that thing?" Applejack replied in surprise.

"Holly Cardinal chewing mother of vinegar! She did it! She really did it!" Midnight Edge's alien expletive made the situation stranger, but not more impressive. His eyes were fixed in the enormous city made of metal, as if it was cast in a forge and set in the middle of the Badlands.

"Was that a minced oath? It sounded like a half baked poem." Applejack giggled.

"It was a full blown curse in a faraway land. They are extremely religious, and their cardinal is the highest authority. Anything negative upon him is a severe form of profanity."

"What's mother of vinegar? Sounds gross." Babs Seed was not familiar with the term, she was not that familiar with vinegar.

"The thing of nightmares my beloved. The cumulus of organisms that corrupt alcoholic compounds and turn them into vinegar. Already bitter wine turns into barely bearable balsamic vinegar, strong cider into gross apple cider vinegar, and the lowly alcohols into the abomination known as white vinegar. The acetic horror that lives in a bottle!" Midnight Edge spoke in a speech which was mostly humorous, and found rather amusing for a group of nearby drones which recorded everything.

Applejack answered the question straight, stopping Midnight Edge from continuing with his theatrical disdain toward vinegar. "It's just the slimy thing that forms in vinegar bottles."

"Ugh. That thing is gross." Babs Seed understood why Midnight Edge disliked it, she knew he found the smell of vinegar rather unpleasant.

"Bottled evil! That is what it is. Or at least many think so. And in that world the idea of a cardinal chewing that thing was horrible enough to be considered profanity."

"Watch your tongue then colt. You don't want to talk like a pirate in front of a filly." Applejack warned the stallion expecting he wouldn't let out an actually foul term in front of her cousin.

"Big deal! I've heard worse." Babs Seed blew air on her mane after her sentence, taking pride in her knowledge. "You can't beat city ponies at that."

"Well. Let's keep moving. The city won't crawl closer to us... I hope it won't."

The group walked toward the city, following the winged machines in the sky.

...

The group finally reached the city, it was made of metal and glass, the floor composed of metallic tiles which spread beyond the city, machines threaded all over the city, some imitating life, others serving functions. The machines had varied shapes, some were quadrupeds, resembling ponies or entirely different creatures, others bipeds unfamiliar to most ponies, there were quadrupeds with extra limbs serving as arms, arachnids, and many familiar and unfamiliar shapes. Drones flew in the sky, showing their round winged bodies with shining single eyes and bright lights on their bodies, entering a large tower in the city.

A bipedal machine approached the group. It had two thin arms with smooth fingers, an almost featureless head with a single blue eye, and a body which revealed many gears, pistons, and other mechanisms protected by shining crystal surface, a mix of magic and technology which evoked a distant future and unfamiliar lands. On it's back there was a banner with an unfamiliar symbol, a city with gears under it.

"Welcome to Mechania, City of Steel! My name is Bernardt First of Twenty, how may I serve you?" The machine approached greeting the ponies, staring at them with his shining mechanical eye. His reverberant voice sounded like an exact mimicry of organic voices, if not for the mechanical pitch on it. It extended its hand before the ponies expecting a greeting.

"It is sapient. But, is it sentient?" Midnight Edge extended a hoof to greet the machine which rejected his hoof, expressing discontent.

"It has a name good sir, and considers being addressed in third person rather uncouth. I should also make clear that I consider it more fitting to be treated as male since I am no mere automaton like most of this city."

"A sassybot!"Babs Seed made a humorous remark about the machine. "Toy stores in Manehattan should sell those things!"

"How unpleasant! The first ponies to ever visit my dear city are rude savages!" Bernardt was not pleased with the statement, he considered himself a masterpiece after all.

"Take it easy. It was just a joke."

"Your attempt at humor was rather rude. I am fond of a good joke, but you are quite insensitive."

"It is clear you are sentient. Quite an improvement over the last time. A masterpiece indeed." Midnight Edge attempted to calm the mechanical biped with his words.

"Have we met before? As far as I remember I have always been sentient Of course I am a masterpiece, the other nineteen sentients were in fact mere copies of my greatness, and not half as charismatic. At least that is what they say. I am their leader after all."

"Take me before your maker, I have no time for this. I have a very important reunion and I intend to attend it on time." Midnight Edge spoke changing the tone.

"I understand now. You met with the Princess of Artifice before. I assume long before she built me. I will take you to her, but not yet. You must see her work first. This fine city was not built overnight."

"Who's that princess of artifice? Do you know her Midnight?" Applejack responded a bit confused by the situation, she found the machines a bit unsettling and was surprised Midnight Edge spoke with familiarity toward it.

"The Princess of Artifice, with the deserved capital letters in case you write about her, is our maker, she built the first of us, she commanded the creation of this city three years ago, and she built me with her own hooves and horn. It was her magic that gave me life! A truly fascinating being!" Bernardt responded the question joyfully as his mechanical eye changed in color to a clear purple, he was excited and extremely joyful, he took pride on his maker.

"I am actually surprised she didn't smash you in a fit of rage. I guess the one on the floor was your prototype."

"You met mark zero? Quite a disappointment indeed. He lacked actual sentience, he could only imitate emotion. The Princess is not fond of failures. His fate was more than deserved."

"Not fond of failure? I would rather say she has a short fuse." Midnight Edge continued, testing the sentient's temper.

"She is... Quite temperamental. But she loves her creations. She would never allow any harm to be inflicted upon us. She only destroys those who have failed on their first activation. She will even tolerate my mistakes. Not that I make many, but well, organics have tastes which are harder to satisfy. Of course she would no longer allow me to cook ever since then. I guess I was never meant to cook in the first place."

"So you know each other. Right?" Applejack asked, expecting an answer from Midnight Edge this time.

"You could say so. I also know she got better at crafting toys compared to the last time. She even made a sentient one, and nineteen more if he is not lying."

"Of course I wouldn't lie. We are the Princess' direct subordinates, all the automatons are under our command, we serve her directly. And I was tasked with being the major and her right hand." Bernardt spoke, if he had a mouth it would have been shaped in a large smile. "We are all irreplaceable, but I am the first, and so I am her favorite I assume."

The group was partially forced through a tour into the city, the different locations seemed quite interesting, each one directed by a sentient with an individual name, the Council of Twenty. A recreational facility designed for visitors and sentient locals. A large factory which produced varied forms of machines, which Midnight Edge recognized from the vision the mirror revealed. A water treatment facility which handled water collected by the drones from all over Equestria. A farm meant to provide food for all organisms that would ever enter the city, which also used resources collected by the drones. A residential area which had no inhabitants but was expected to be populated by ponies. A power plant, using different power sources including solar energy and compost from surplus produce. A mining facility which extracted and processed metal from an underground mine. A weather control plant imitating Cloudsdale's weather plant. A garden entirely composed of machines imitating life. The city was a perfect imitation of an urban environment minus the waste and imperfection of city life, replacing it with clockwork accuracy.

As they walked through the city, the ponies conversed with each other and with Bernardt who proved to be not only capable of conversation, but quite fond of it too.

...

Finally they reached a tower, the tallest building in the city, where many drones converged to bring information from the outside to the mysterious Princess of Artifice. There were little signs of her other than the tower, monuments, no decorations with her depiction. All monuments and depictions of relevant figures depicted Princess Celestia, who was admired by the Council of Twenty as the one greater than their maker. The only sign of the Princess of Artifice was a symbol, a gear with two curved pieces on it's side which looked as if they kept it locked. That same symbol was in the front door of her clockwork tower.

"And here we are my little ponies! The Tower of the Artificer! Home and workshop to our dear maker, the Princess of Artifice herself. Entering this place is an honor only a few ever earn. But you are the first ponies to ever come, so I assume you deserve a meeting with the Princess. Consider yourselves fortunate for nopony other than her ever comes through that door."

"Is she an alicorn princess?" Babs Seed asked, she wondered what kind of pony that so called princess could be. She also assumed it could be Midnight Edge's sister since she was the one they were meant to meet, however he never told her his sister was other than an average pony, therefore she assumed she could be somepony related to her.

"She is not supposed to be one." Midnight Edge responded, he would be surprised if the so called princess turned out to be an alicorn.

"All your questions will be asked once you meet her. She is the most impressive pony you could ever meet, unless you already met Princess Celestia, then she is the second most impressive pony."

"I am pretty much sure she can't be as impressive as Princess Luna, Cadence, or Twilight Sparkle." Applejack stated, she was surprised the mechanical being did not recognize the other pricesses.

"Princess Luna? You mean Nightmare Moon right? Sorry, but we refuse to acknowledge such dark power as a princess, and we do not know who those other ponies are. Maybe the Princess knows them, we have not requested updates on the Equestrian Princess population ever since the city was built. And unless they have their own palace as our Princess does, I doubt they would be recognized by the Council."

"You totally need that update." Babs Seed stated in response to Bernardt's apparent ignorance. "Princess Luna is not Nightmare Moon anymore."

"Oh. Is that so? I guess I should remind our Princess to stop procrastinating relevant updates. What if a new princess was crowned and we didn't find out? What if she forgot a princess in our first databank? Oh the thought terrifies me indeed."

"I'm afraid it all happened already." Applejack stated while Midnight Edge and Babs Seed laughed uncontrollably. "She missed Princess Cadence, Twilight Sparkle was crowned princess, and, well, Babs already told you about Princess Luna."

"Say no more pony! My core might not be able to take the weight of more bad news. I shall take you to your meeting with our Princess as soon as possible. The sooner she is done with the meeting the sooner she shall update us."

The sentient opened the main door and guided them through the tower going several floors up before reaching the throne room. Once they reached the throne room all of them were met with an unexpected surprise.

...