Chaos in the Gears

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four

Chapter One

Dex walked slowly over the ground towards the small town of Shire. His instincts shouted at him to run quickly, but his mind reminded him of the rumors and that caution was of utmost importance. It had been said that a creature of unknown origin had taken up residence and sent fear into the residents. The people had run a whole day to inform the princess, speaking of a two-legged creature that stood eight feet tall and ate incomprehensible amounts of food as fast as it could get ahold of it.

Beside the human knight, Sir Dex of the Solar Guard, were his two most trusted companions: Stone, lieutenant of the Canterlot castle guards, and Panacea, head nurse of Canterlot Hospital. They had crossed the border of the town a moment ago and met no response from whatever had struck fear into the population, but the trained adventurers were still on their guard for any attacks that might come from the shadows.

All their caution was for not though, as they quickly reached the center of town and saw no possible attackers. Relaxing a bit, Dex let his grip on the ever-sharp katana slacken slightly. “Boy, what are you doing? We are in enemy territory, get that blade up!” Stone reprimanded as the human stood from his prepared fighting stance, letting his gaze drift over the individual roads.

“Something feels... familiar...” was all that Dex could offer in response, trying to pinpoint the origin of this odd impression on his senses.

“What do you mean Dex, familiar how?” That was Panacea, always curious.

“I’m not.. quite.. sure..” Dex said as he turned to face a nearby building. The building was simple enough, its doors bearing a familiar image of a foaming cup as Dex recognized it as one of the bars he had been to when he had been here last. The human lifted his katana once again and walked carefully toward the bar door. With a nod to his companions, the human kicked the door open and immediately took a defensive position over the threshold.

Sitting at one of the tables, directly in front of the door, was the creature that had been reported, devouring all the various foods he could get his hands on. “Hey, whatever you are! By order of Princess Celestia, I am here to arrest you for terrorizing this town. I ask that you give up now.” At Dex’s words, the creature stopped eating and put his hands in the air. The act triggered something in the back of Dex’s mind, but he shook it off so he could pay full attention to the being.

Without warning, a chair was soon flying through the air, practically whistling as it sped toward the knight. This left Dex just enough time to bring his arms in front of himself to block the projectile. The wood splintered across his arms and Dex opened his eyes to see the biped suddenly planting a single hand onto the intersection of the knight’s crossed arms. The knight tried to break the hold, but found the grip of the right hand of the being to be insanely strong. Both bipeds stood at a stalemate; Dex was locked in position in the doorway with both his companions standing outside. He was prevented from moving into the building any further by the compression on his arms and if he tried to step back, well, Dex knew he would soon find himself airborne and flying back much farther than he wanted to.

Despite the situation the knight couldn’t help but wonder why the creature didn’t just use his left arm to finish the fight if his right was this strong. As his gaze looked to the biped’s arm, Dex noticed that, thanks to some light leaking in through the wooden walls, it was a silver coat the creature was wearing. Remembering his training with Stone, Dex let his vision drift away from the singular act of watching the creature’s hand and witness what he was doing with the other.

It came as quite a surprise to the human to find that this mysterious creature, who Dex now noticed stood only a little taller than himself, was actually quaffing a glass of apple cider as he kept the solar knight pinned. Dex discarded the height discrepancy as wild hearsay from terrified civilians and focused once more on the biped. With an inhale, the being stopped his guzzling and moved the drink, which had been obscuring his head, away from his face to see who had come to attack him. Drink promptly shot out his nose and sprayed lightly over Dex as surprise shot across the being’s face.

Both stopped struggling with each other for a moment as they looked at one another in silence. Then, in unison, both bipeds shouted “A HUMAN?!” Dex, thanks to his combat training, was the first to recover from the shock and promptly lunged forward with as much strength as he could muster. The being was caught off guard by the sudden move and found himself flying backwards away from the doorway.

The being tumbled head over heels backwards until he crashed into a table, leaving the table sideways and the biped slouched over the wooden furniture with the remainder of his drink soaking his silver coat. After a moment, the biped stood from his prone position to see Dex step fully into the building, allowing Stone and Panacea to enter as well. With a manic grin, the creature turned and quickly righted the table before sitting down.

“I really do hate battles, all this needless fighting.” The biped shrugged as he looked depressedly into the empty tankard. “What say you we just have a few drinks to lighten the mood. Tell ya what, I’ll even answer any questions you have while we’re at it. How does that sound?” The creature raised his gaze and smiled at the trio before reaching down next to his chair and placed a small keg on the table, a tap already in the side.

Dex warily sized up the other human before righting one of the various chairs that were scattered about the bar and placed it directly across the table from the man. Even if the creature suddenly decided to attack, Dex figured that, between him and his two friends, they could easily subdue the other creature if need be. “Pour me a drink then,” Dex said, slightly relaxing when the man did so and handed a tankard across the table to him. After a few sips the knight found it to be alcoholic in nature and was even more impressed by the lack of inebriation by the human opposite him, especially given the empty, scattered casks laying about the bar.

“You drink like an Irishman.” Dex said with a grin. “I’m Dex.” The end was phrased in hopes to try and get the man across the table to say his own name; that hope was quickly discarded.

“Pleasure to meet you, Dex,” The man said with a grin, toying with the other man’s patience as he retrieved a tankard from the debris of the bar floor.

In short order, Stone received his own drink, never letting his gaze leave the human, even as he began to sip the cider. Panacea had declined the drink offered her; however, in response, the silver-coated man shrugged and quaffed the entire tankard easily before nonchalantly refilling his own and taking a few sips. Silence fell on the bar as Dex phrased the questions in his head and Stone started a staring contest with the other human.

“Alright, first question,” Dex said after the matter of the drinks had been handled.

“Fire away,” the man replied as he took a drink, breaking eye contact with Stone as he did so.

“What’s your name, boy?” This interruption came from Stone in the form of a growl and the mysterious man in the silver coat raised his eyebrow at the pony.

“Boy? I daresay I’m older then you.”

“I doubt it.”

“One hundred and thirty years, what you got?”

“You’re lying...”

“Am I?”

The two fell into another staring contest, the air turning tense as they glared. Eventually, it was broken by a casual statement by Dex.

“Just answer the question, Stone just calls everyone ‘boy.’” Dex paused briefly to look at Stone out of the corner of his eye. “Though he never told me why...”

“Inventor, of - Oh, I guess that won’t mean anything here. Just.. Inventor.”

“Of Earth?”

“Of what was left of it.”

“Left of it? What happened to my home?” Dex was assailed by memories of his family and friends from before he came to Equestria, a tight knot forming in his stomach.

“It ended with a lot of nuclear armageddon. Now look, don’t get all teary eyed on me alright? Jumping dimensions is impossible without also jumping timestreams. Unless you have something to anchor you to the time you came from, when you go back you could be centuries off either way. I think. Depends on how magic contributes into the theorem of dimension jumping...”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, it could be what happened to earth counteless millennia before you came here, it could be happening right now, or it could be in the very distant future.”

“What year... what year was it?”

“Spoilers.” Inventor said grimly.

“You can’t just tell me that the world is going to end and then not tell me when. My loved ones could be dying right now!”

“THEN I GUESS WE’RE IN THE SAME BOAT AREN’T WE!?”

Silence reigned as Inventor dropped his gaze to the cider in front of him and took another drink.

“Doesn’t matter anyway, since I can’t return,” Dex said soberly as he took another drink from the tankard. “J-Just tell me what you’re doing here. Princess Celestia ordered me to apprehend you.”

“Ooooh, this is something that the princess will want to hear first hand, er hoof, whatever. What say you we go on a trip to Canterlot, hmm?” Inventor said as his insane grin graced his face once more.

“That was the plan, but leaving you free doesn’t sound very safe, given that you almost overpowered me with one arm. I would rather we restrain you, in order to ensure you don’t do anything deadly while we’re on the road.”

“Alright, I’ll take the deal. It’s too bad though, the chances of a changeling showing up for a second time to free me is probably very unlikely.” Dex returned a raised eyebrow at the statement and glanced around the bar for something to bind the man’s hands. Not seeing anything of use, the knight turned to Stone with a shrug. The guard sighed and pulled a pair of chiseled-rock handcuffs from his saddlebags. They were a bit larger than human handcuffs, but they still fit securely around the man’s wrists.

It was at this point that Panacea spoke up, “Boys, if you’d like I can cast a sedative spell, for extra security, if you’d like.”

“I’d rather stay awake and undrugged, if you please,” Inventor said with a glance to the nurse.

Dex pondered over the security of letting the man stay awake, then slowly nodded. “But keep that sedative spell ready, just in case.”

“If he keeps drinking like that, I don’t think we’ll need it.” Dex turned to the side to see Inventor currently drinking the remainder of the keg that he had placed on the table. Dex could only watch in amazement as the man placed the keg back on the table and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“Alright then, let’s go.” The man said, a slight slur leaking into his words.

“Wait wait, how did you do that and not die?”

“I’m superman!” The man said with a manic grin as he posed, his right arm jutting into the air diagonally.

“Right...” Dex said, turning away from the madman and leaning towards Stone. “Remind me to never pick up his tab, ever.”

“Don’t worry boy, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

Chapter Two

The walk to the pegasus carriage outside of town seemed like the longest walk Dex had ever taken. Behind him was a strange man who had gone from fighting, and somewhat winning, to drinking and answering questions. The mental stability of such a person could definitely be put into question. The worst part being they were questions that the man wouldn’t answer until Celestia was there.

The silence that stretched over the quartet was practically begging to be broken, but neither pony nor man broke the stillness of the air. A piercing scream cut through the heavy atmosphere, forcing the company to pause for a moment before breaking into a panicked run towards the sound. It was a convenient enough cry for help, coming from right where they were headed in the first place.

They arrived in the clearing to find the pegasus carriage under attack by a group of four griffon bandits. One of the pegasi had already been fought into submission, scars along his flank bearing the tale of his battle. The second had taken up a defensible position inside the carriage, allowing him to bottleneck his attackers through the tight choke point. Without waiting for a cue, both Dex and Stone jumped into the fray, attacking whatever target was close enough to get in range of their blades. The griffons backed away from the carriage in order to get a better look at the ones interfering with their thievery and rework their plan of attack. With the reprieve, the second pegasus exited his defensive position and joined the other two fighters.

After a moment longer, and a series of shared nods, the griffons jumped into action. They dashed at the group, but at the last minute, one of the four peeled away from the fight, leaving the battle in even odds. The sounds of battle echoed across the treeless ground and the combatants quickly became completely focused on their own fight, leaving the fourth griffon to sneak around the battle and approach Panacea.

A crack of a branch alerted the nurse and she turned to see the griffon jumping at her, his claw outstretched. On instinct, the mare let out a surprised cry. Dex’s blood ran cold at the sound, looking over his shoulder for a minute as he shoved his combatant away. With renewed vigor flowing through his veins, he went back into his battle, rage fueling his actions. Meanwhile, for Panacea, everything started to slow down as the half-bird, half-lion attacker approached her. Before she could begin casting one of her self-defense spells however, the griffon found a set of omnivorous teeth tightly clenched around her outstretched talon.

The griffon let out a high pitched shriek of pain and brought her other talon across the man’s face in an attempt to make him release his tightly closed jaw. The man refused and instead opted to bite harder onto the appendage. She brought her sharpened talons across his face twice more before spinning in a tight circle to send the bound man tumbling away over the grassy land. The griffon took a moment to spit at the man before turning to go after her target once more, only to find that a very, very sharp katana was now pointed at her throat.

She looked between the her associates, finding them beaten, and the man, whose weapon was poised to decapitate her at any moment. ”Who are you?” she asked in a tone that held a clear tone of fear.

“I’m Dex, of the Solar Guard. And you. You’re under arrest,” Dex said with a calm spite filling his voice.

“Let them go, Dex.” All present turned to see Inventor walking slowly toward the group, his face covered in a crisscross of red wounds.

“They are bandits, attempting to rob a royal carriage. They attempted to harm my friends and they wounded my charge. Why should I?” Dex said, angry at the sudden opposition.

“Because it’s two married couples who have children at home and they need money badly. Putting them in prison would potentially kill their dependants.”

“How would you know that?”

“Because, first off. They have to be extremely desperate to rob a royal carriage. Secondly, there is two of each gender among these four griffons and thirdly, that one has very real scars from a teething child,” Inventor said with a rising force behind his words.

“And what say you?” Dex inquired towards the griffon.

“I-I don’t know how he knows, but what he says is true. I-if you let us go I promise none of us will try this again.” The female said as tears started forming in her eyes. “I j-just didn’t know where else to turn.”

With a grunt of acceptance, Dex sheathed his sword and turned to Pan. “Check on the injured. The day I leave a parent injured of my account is the day I give up my knighthood.” Then, turning to Inventor, he continued. “The day I agree with a madman and a griffon bandit would have been up there too, but these are interesting circumstances.”

“My thanks, and I don’t know why you’re so opposed to taking advice from madman. You aren’t too far off yourself. Just a trip down the rabbit hole is all,” Inventor responded with a grin, insanity dancing across his eyes.

As the humans fell into a conversation, Pan quickly checked over and healed the griffons. Afterwards, the ex-bandits left hurriedly, not wanting to draw any more attention to themselves, leaving the four ponies to sit by and watch the bipeds talk, one human to another.

“At least I don’t bite my enemies...” Dex shook his head.

“Well, that’s rude. If they have to taste defeat at your hands the least you could do is taste their hands as well.”

“Ugh, I think you’ve lived too long.” Dex looked around to find the area free of griffons. “Well, now that that’s taken care of... apparently... Shall we go?”

“Fine by me, wouldn’t want to skip asking your companions though.” Inventor said, his manic grin fading away slowly as he turned to look at their spectators.

Dex grew irritated at the man’s tone. “Yeah, let me humor you. Stone, Pan, random guards that fly our carriage, what say you?”

“I can keep going as long as you can, boy.” Stone was quite passive to the whole situation.

“U-um... If it’s okay with you, Sir Dex, I think we should take a moment to rest for a minute. Even with Nurse Panacea’s healing my fellow flyer will be unable to pull the carriage for a while.”

“That works for me, as I can heal Inventor’s wounds while we wait.” Panacea said.

“Hmm, forgot about the guards being wounded... Yeah, you win this round, Inventor.” Dex said as he moved to take a seat on the carriage’s outer shell. While he sat in silent irritation, Pan started towards Inventor, her horn glowing as she prepared her healing spell.

“Stop. Don’t heal me.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to.”

“Why do you have to make this so difficult for everybody. It’s like you want to make this as hard on us all as you can.”

“Because I’m a stubborn brute of a human; it was the norm when the world ended and for a while before that. Honestly, you don’t know how lucky you are to get Dex, relatively unscarred as he is.”

“Right, that’s me. Relatively unscarred over here. Pan, just let him be.”

“You don’t think so? You don’t think you’re relatively unscarred? I was there when the world ended. Children looking into the glowing green skies, no tears. Just blood and melted flesh.”

“As horrible as that is, do you have to ask yourself if you’re just a puppet every waking moment? Because I sure do, ever since Discord brought me here.”

Inventor glared into Dex’s eyes for a moment, looking at the truth and power behind his eyes. “At least you're still human. I’m hardly that,” Inventor said to the knight. Slowly, he turned away and walked off to the edge of the clearing. There he remained, gazing into the distance.

Dex watched as the ponies surrounding him looked between the two humans. With a heavy sigh, he stood and followed after the mysterious man. As the knight approached the madman took the opportunity to speak.

“You ever look into the sunset with some friends and relax? Just let the time pass you by in good company?” The man laughed to himself. “Here we are, two humans in a world of peace-loving ponies, and we can’t stop complaining about our issues.”

“Two humans? So you still consider yourself one, that’s good. If you want my opinion, humanity is more about the mind than the body.”

“Hah, good opinion,” the man said with a grin. For a minute longer, he looked into the sunset. “Well, I wasn’t lying when I said I hate fighting. What say we put this behind us? After all, if the only two humans in Equestria can’t get along, what kind of example is that?” As he finished talking, Inventor held out his shackled right hand, offering a handshake.

“Agreed, and, thanks. For protecting Pan.” The knight offered his hand as well and both humans clasped the others in a tight grasp. One vertical pump, then they both looked into each other’s determined eyes and released the handshake.

“Say, speaking of Pan. My face really stings. Think I could get her to fix me up?”

“...Why did you change your mind?”

“I was being childish, trying to seem like I was better than you. That was foolish of me though, and I realize that now.”

“It’s fine, not like I was acting any better. I’m not sure if Pan will let you now, though.”

“Only one way to find out then, right?” Inventor said, a good natured smile coming over his face.

“Yup,” Dex said. They glanced at the sunset once again before both turned to face the group behind them at the same time. Inventor gulped and tugged on the collar of his shirt before looking to Dex. With a nod from the knight both of them set back towards the group.

Chapter Three

The ride to Canterlot went by without any distractions and the flight was mostly silent, Inventor sitting almost perfectly still with his hands bound in front of him. With this atmosphere of practical quietness, it was easily audible when the carriage came to a halt on the platform that jutted from the side of the city. As the two humans stood from their seats, they both quickly became aware of the fact that they had landed on the opposite side of the city from the castle.

“Hey hey hey, what’s this? I thought that we were going to be landing at the private castle docks,” Inventor said as he turned to look to their escorts.

“We were originally scheduled to do so, but one of the pegasi that passed us informed us that those docks were closed for an emergency.”

“What emergency?” Dex asked, readying himself for a run if needed.

“We weren’t told that.”

“Of course.” The knight turned to face his comrades. “Stone, could you run ahead and check on the situation? We’ll be along shortly.”

“Screw that, they’re my princesses too. Hurry along now!” Inventor yelled as he broke into a run down the street towards the castle.

“Ugh, come on guys. Now we gotta catch him, too.” Dex ran after the madman, the others directly behind him.

Inventor’s headstart left a sizeable gap between the two humans before Dex got into a steady run after the insane biped. As the first of the men ran through the city, the ponies moved aside in allowance for the odd figure they had come to recognize as a member of the solar court. When Dex ran past the same ponies, several of them did double takes to check that they had indeed seen two of the odd creatures run past.

It was only at the doors to the castle wall that Inventor came across any kind of resistance. Two guards stood at the door and tilted their heads to the side for a moment as they saw the madman approaching. Just as they were about to move aside for who they assumed was Dex, they spotted the familiar body of the Solar Guard running behind the approaching biped. The two stallions moved next to each other to block the gate, but were quite surprised when Inventor jumped over them.

They managed to move aside for the actual knight and his subordinates, allowing them easily into the castle grounds. By the time that Dex cleared the gate, his charge had already made it to the actual front doors of the building. The two separate wooden doors were closed tightly and were barred on the other side, the guards in charge of it having seen the intruder. Inventor was not swayed and jumped toward the door with all his might, ramming his right shoulder into the wooden obstruction.

The doors shattered to splinters with no sign of having even slowed the biped. Both guards inside were caught off guard by the show of force and were unable to stop the man in their confusion. Some of the shards from the door managed to lodge into Inventor’s face as he forced his way into the castle, leaving his recently healed face decorated with scars from his new endeavors.

The man had made it onto the second floor before he faced his first real challenge, a patrol group of guards who had decided to inconvenience him. The guards quickly drew their weapons at the signs of an intruder and waited for the man to make the first move. Much to the surprise of the guards, the man ran up to a wall on his right and rammed his shoulder into it. The wall cracked immediately but didn’t give away. The guards were shocked still by the sudden action, allowing the man to ram into the wall one more time and tumble through into the room beyond.

As the dust cleared, the man’s sight showed him the occupants of the room he had just busted into. Two alicorns, one white and one blue, as well as a lavender unicorn. Realizing that he had stumbled across his goal, the biped quickly spoke up. “What seems to be the emergency?”

“....Dex?” Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow in confusion. As if on cue Dex ran into the room and tackled the madman.

In the tussle that followed, the knight managed to pin his opponent. He looked down at the man and spoke. “Maybe I should have taken Pan up on her offer after all. You not only ran ahead, but caused significant damage to the castle!”

“It was an emergency! Though, looking around, I don’t really see the issue.”

“That’s why I asked Stone to run ahead!”

“Well, maybe if that old codger actually had some speed in his legs, you could have caught me before I felt the need to decimate the doorway decisively!”

“A-hem?” The two bipeds looked over to see Stone standing within the new entryway with an aggressive look.

“H-Hey look!” Inventor said in an effort to distract. “Princesses!”

The distraction proved ineffective, as the outburst brought the princesses out of their shock and cast their gazes upon the man Dex had pinned. “Care to explain why there is a second human in our fair country who destroyed a wall, Dex?” Celestia said, gathering magic around her to subdue the intruder entirely.

“Fine then. I tried playing the weakling,” Inventor said as a hum filled the air. Before either princess could act, a shock wave was sent through the air. “A.M.P.,” the being said in a low tone. With sudden force, the man stood from the ground, sending Dex backwards as he tried to regain his footing. Despite the fact that the shock wave had done seemingly nothing, the man looked at the princesses with an air of calmness. “I just want to explain myself, since apparently there was no reason for an emergency to be called.”

“I should send you to the dungeons, but I will allow you a chance to explain yourself.”

“You don’t have much of a choice in the matter, Princess. Regardless, here’s my story. In the world I come from, the princesses foresaw an attack on Canterlot in some kind of mirror. Apparently, said mirror can’t show future events for your own world, meaning that you weren’t aware of it here. They mentioned that they saw the castle getting absolutely demolished and were quite upset about being unable to come and help you here. With this in mind, the Luna from my world, I’m her bodyguard you see, asked me to redevelop my dimension jump machine so I could come help here. I did. Here I am.”

“Wait, really?” Twilight inquired as she raised an eyebrow.

“No, I just got bored, so Luna gave me a vacation week or so to test out my prototype dimensional shifter,” the man said with a grin as the ponies all looked at him. Inventor then suddenly broke into a laugh. “Oh, you should have seen the looks on your faces; that was hilarious!”

The room grew silent, except for the man’s chuckling, for a few moments. The initial shock from the first explanation wore off to that of irritation all around. “You take a vacation to bother the citizens, destroy parts of the castle, and then joke when the princess wants you to explain yourself. Ugh, I just want to beat you to an inch of your life right now.” Dex’s head turned to face Celestia. “He was the cause of the disturbance in Shire and as we landed, he rushed ahead when we heard of an emergency.”

“If what you say is true, human, you should be aware of basic security protocol and etiquette in such situations. Why did you not stop at the gates?”

“I thought there was an EMERGENCY! I’m not going to wait around when I could help!” Inventor said, insanity dancing across his eyes.

“Protocol is there in case of emergency, Inventor. Did Luna make you her bodyguard before explaining anything to you?” Dex responded with a shake of his head. “Your Luna,” he quickly added at the night princess’s glare.

“I really don’t have to deal with protocols,” Inventor admitted. “The guards usually back away when I’m around, or run away if I’m running. Yours decided to be heroes though, and now I have to fix a door and a wall because of a false alarm and overzealous, useless, protectors. I’m going to need liquid adhesive; duct tape, if you have any; some scrap metal; and my arms unshackled.”

The princesses and the knight looked between each other, Inventor, and the destroyed wall, before coming to a consensus. Without another word, Dex unlocked the stone cuffs while Celestia and Luna simply set the stone back in place and fused it together. Then, the gathered ponies and knight stood back to await the madman’s response.

The man tilted his head a bit and smiled to himself as the insanity disappeared from his eyes. “Even in a different world, all the tough stuff gets done for me.” He then lifted his head and looked to the princesses, his grin still on his face, and said, “Well, have fun then, I guess. It’s clear that you can take care of yourselves.” As he finished speaking, Inventor put his hands in his pockets and headed toward the door of the room.

On Inventor’s way out, Stone placed himself between the biped and the door. “We aren’t done yet, boy.”

“No, we are,” Inventor said with a glare to the earth pony. All sense of joviality was gone from his eyes as the man stared daggers at the stallion who blocked his way.

“Princesses, this man has terrorized your citizens, made a mockery of both your guards and yourselves, and now wishes to walk away unpunished. If you wanted any proof that humanity is chaotic, there he is,” Dex said loud enough for the other man to hear. “Now, I could take care of him myself, but I’m sure you’d give him at least one more chance to prove himself.”

“When I said you didn’t have much of a choice earlier, I truly meant it. If you would like to try and challenge my choice to leave, princesses, come at me,” Inventor said as he shifted into a defensive fighting stance.

“Inventor.” Princess Celestia spread her wings and cast her full gaze upon the man. “Answer the next question carefully if you value your life. Are you here to help us or plague us?” Her knight set himself for battle.

“The full truth? The full truth is, I’m here on orders from MY Luna. I’m here to ensure the safety of this castle and this Canterlot during my vacation here. And if this castle is too crowded already, then I will just as easily protect from the shadows and alleys of the town as I will from the posh and polished halls of this building.” His gaze was unwavering as his eyes settled into their normal calculating glare. A hum had started to build in his arm as he looked at the princess, standing wide in all her glory. “And if you’re going to stand in my way of letting me do my duty to MY princess.... I have no problem in roughing both of you up in my escape.”

“Finally!” Dex shouted, before wilting a bit under his liege’s glare.

“Luna?” Celestia inquired towards her sister without looking away from Inventor.

“We believe this one,” the princess of the night said with finality.

“Very well, I will trust your judgement. Inventor, I do not trust you to be alone, but there is only so many guards I can send to watch you. Dex, you will be his chaperone. Do not let him out of your sight, but do not hinder him unless he poses a threat to the safety of Equestria.”

“Your command is just. I will be this man’s shadow, as he is a shadow to others.” With those words, Dex stepped towards the madman that had, only moments prior, stood against him and his rulers. “Be on your way, then.” Stone stepped aside at the knight’s words.

With the cold expression frozen on his face, Inventor turned around slowly and exited the room with a steady gait. The following days would be interesting to be sure, but whether that was a good or a bad thing was yet to be determined.

(Tune in next 'week' for another exciting installment of "The authors are totally making this up as they go along!" -N64Fan)

Chapter Four

“Once you’ve had enough, say when,” Inventor said, looking at the man he had pinned to the ground with a wooden sword. His mechanical appendage was fully visible as it held the practice blade stiffly against the neck of his opponent, as the sleeve of the shirt had been torn off before the sparring match took place. Several guards looked on worriedly, but Inventor didn’t pay them any attention. He was busy looking at Dex, who lay on the ground staring up at the madman who bested him in combat.

“Step back, boy. I’ve had enough of this nonsense.”

Inventor glanced over his shoulder as he took the wooden sword back, letting Dex rise from his position on the ground. Stone stared back at Inventor with a dark glare. He'd brought with him two new swords, steel, sharpened to a pin point. Instinctively, Inventor knew what they were for, but he thought he'd let Stone answer the question that Dex was about to ask.

"Stone, what—?"

"I'm sick of seeing this fool run around thinking he can do whatever he likes, boy. I want to let him know his place." Stone grabbed one of the swords in his mouth and tossed it hilt first towards Inventor, who caught it expertly in his metal hand. He swung it through the empty air a few times before holding it out in front of him flatly, loosening and tightening his hand around the hilt to see how quickly it would tip towards the ground.

"Fair enough, then…" Inventor said, watching as Stone moved to grab the other blade in his mouth.

"Wait, Stone. Why steel swords?" Dex looked between Inventor and Stone, whom glanced back at him. Inventor waited for Stone to answer, but Stone merely looked at Inventor.

"Because, this is a lesson in holding back, isn't it?" He looked to Stone, who nodded. "If I'm as good as I think I am, according to Stone's line of thought, I should be able to stop short of any fatal or lethal wound while still showing dominance in the battle. This isn't about winning; this is about subduing. If I would have to resort to killing him, then that simply means I'm better. If I can defeat him without killing him, that means I'm better on a higher level."

Inventor looked to Dex for a minute to see if he understood, then looked back to Stone. "I assume you'll be playing by the same rules?" Stone nodded.

Inventor took a step back and tightened his grip on the blade. "Back of the hooves, heart, and head. Anything I’m missing?"

"No. Wrists, ankles, heart, and head. Anything on my end?"

"Nope." Inventor watched as Stone picked up the sword in his mouth. He moved it around a bit by clenching his jaw, then nodded towards Inventor.

There was something like a blur as Inventor lunged forward from his standing position, bringing his blade in a sideways arch and aiming for the shoulder of his foe. Matching the speed, Stone managed to block that attack. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, judging each other silently. Inventor blinked first and pulled back from the attack. He took a step further back to avoid the counter attackStone attempted to pull off without giving up his defensive position.

Inventor glanced darkly at Stone, contempt in his eyes. He swung again, mimicking his previous attack move for move. Stone blocked again, easily. His sword unwavering even under the force of the swing, sparks flying from the blades at the point of contact. "What's the matter, boy? That magic arm of yours reach its limit? I suppose you can't really flex the muscles, can ya." Anger sparked in Inventor's eyes as he pushed on the block with additional force, sliding Stone barely a centimeter before he reinforced his stance and returned the force in kind, causing the stalemate to come back in force.

"Want to see me flex?" Inventor asked with a dark tone. There was a whistle of steam as it burst forth from around his shoulder area. "Let me show you how I flex." Inventor pulled his blade back again but neglected to step back for the counterattack. A shallow cut decorated his lower torso, cutting cleanly through his outfit.

Inventor, however, didn't seem to care. Another blow was already coming for Stone and he only just managed to get his block up in time to stop the sudden retaliation. He clenched his jaw tightly around the hilt, but felt a much stronger force behind the hit than time. However, old soldiers don't stay enrolled by seniority, and he managed to withstand it easily.

As Inventor went for another attack, Stone went for an easier target, hitting his opponent in the leg before immediately sliding into his guard again, blocking the attack that was already coming down towards his shoulder. Inventor felt the force of the block and took it as a queue to swing once again. He could barely feel the wounds on his body accrue as he swung again and again. "You think me a fool?!" he shouted angrily. "I'll show you what a monster I really am!"

Dex wanted to intervene, but between the clanging swords and the building headache that was hitting him in the head, he couldn't quite manage it. As hit after hit was blocked and dealt, it only grew, a migrane of pain that he could only clench his ears against. He wished Panacea was there; he didn't know why it was happening, but she would. She was always good with this.

Inventor swung and swung, whittling down Stone's defenses until the guard was forced to drop his blade, the ache in his jaw becoming utterly unbearable even for him. But not before he landed one last hit on his opponent, who was decorated with dozens of shallow and bleeding wounds over his entire body. Stains of red accompanied every slit in his clothes and he was breathing heavily as well by the time that Stone finally dropped his sword.

Inventor brought his sword up one more time and pointed it at Stone's face. "Admit it. Say it aloud. I want to hear you say it." Inventor's grip was steady even while the rest of his body shook from fatigue. "Say I won."

Stone looked at Inventor with contempt. Despite all the wounds he'd inflicted, his opponent still stood. He'd been beaten in a game of endurance. Inventor had outlasted him, but just barely. The stuck-up human had used the rules against him. If Stone had been allowed a fatal hit, he would have won. Inventor had left himself wide open after every single hit, knowing full well that Stone couldn't go for the kill without breaking the rules of engagement.

"The rules you set entirely determined the course of the battle. Killing does not represent a lesser degree of winning than forcing surrender on your opponent, as if they are on the same kind of scale. They are two entirely different win conditions that can both be achieved to pursue victory. You thought I would attempt to disarm you or wound you into submission. I chose a third route of fatigue and I won now SAY IT!" Inventor shouted, moving the blade closer to Stone's face in rage. Inventor was shaking from blood loss and anger, but he remained standing as he waited for the admission from Stone.

Instead, he got a shout from Dex who was off to the side clutching his head. "STOP IT!" he screamed. "I can't take the clanging anymore!"

Inventor and Stone shared a glance, their swords hadn't connected for a minute at least at this point. Inventor was the first to speak.

"Go get Panacea," he said simply.

"Why not you, mister speed?" Stone asked with a bitter tone, regretting it immediately after as he watched another fit of shivers rack Inventor's body and almost lose his balance.

"Guess," he said simply, a bitter tone of his own staining the word. With a nod, Stone left and went to the castle, seeking Panacea for her assistance.

After Stone left his sight, Inventor dropped his blade on the ground and fell onto his knees. He crawled over to Dex with shaking movements, barely managing even that. He got next to him and sat on his pockets, lifting Dex's head with soft movements from his steady mechanical arm and glancing into Dex's eyes.

"You remember, don't you. It's at the edge of your consciousness, but you remember."

"What do I remember?" he asked pleadingly, his mind still filled with the violent clanging.

"Well, that's a bit complicated. You see, unlike me, you care quite a lot for everyone here. Everyone in general, really. You've got more heart than me in more ways than one. Thing is, you remember one of them dying, just barely. Something changed this timeline without warning. That mirror about shattered from all the crap that was happening here. Some force is attempting to change the past, and it's doing a fairly good job. I'm here to make sure it's benevolent, since forces of time rarely are. It's already made everyone forget the old timeline. Except for you. You care SO MUCH that whatever it is can't erase it from your mind, at least not completely."

"Unfortunately, I'm barely a doctor and I don't have any sedatives on hand for you. You'll have to tough it out until Panacea gets here and helps numb the pain anyway. It's a good thing you won't remember any of this when all's said and done though, because I'm about to pass out from blood loss in a moment. That old codger didn't know about my compromised blood flow and I didn't want to tell him. Turns out, converting most of your body to machinery really puts a damper on how much blood you can have in your body. "

Inventor smiled, but Dex didn't see it. "Go figure." And then he woozily fell onto his back. His body would keep him alive, just barely, but only after it limited blood flow to other areas. Like the brain.

Author's Note

Don't get too excited neither me nor Staple know if we're gonna go anywhere with this.