Lord Merciless

"Twilight! This is just gonna get us killed and you know it!" Rainbow dash yelled, her rage rolling with her emotions. It was just three weeks ago that she had woken up from her hospitalized state. And with the horrid screams from the night after she woke up, it was clear as day that no one was going into the forest unless they wished the same fate. Add the discoveries of the mangled bodies of the Royal Guards only indicated that they and the Sun Goddess was gone. Now that Luna stated that she is responsible for raising and lowering both the sun and moon, Celestia's death couldn't be any more clear. But for Twilight, she was just too stubborn to accept that truth. Celestia was everything Twilight admired and saw as perfection. To have the image of what is holy and good to be suddenly taken away and relapsed with death. Add that she's had years of the constant mindset, Twilight Sparkle was anything but a sane state with her mind.

"Do you want to die!?" The rainbow maned mare yelled, her muzzle mere inches from Twilight's. Moments later, Rainbow dash regretted ever saying those words as eyes finally met. Rainbow Danger Dash, the Fastest Flyer of Equestria, the Pony of Loyalty, was seeing Twilight broken with no hope. Her eyes were the same color, but lost in life and joy. Rainbow took a moment to reconsider what she was doing. Twilight was hurting, and she was yelling in her face.

"I'm... Oh no. I'm sorry Twi-" But it was already too late. Her eyes were empty. Not even recognizing or accepting what was going on around her, almost as if she was trapping herself within her own head.

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked, waving her hoof.

"I think ya broke her sugarcube." Applejack intervened, picking up the broken mare and moving her onto the wooden travailing cart.

"Ya'll need to move. I reckon those ponies aren't far behind." Applejack stated, glancing over in the distance, seeing burning torches up in the distance.

"Ya'll need to get a goin. Now." Applejack ordered, her bulky brother pulling the heavy cart without a word, the rest of the ponies following with silence. The group was made up of the Main Six, CMC, Spike, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Derpy Hooves, Dinky Hooves, Lyra, Bon Bon, and Vinyl Scratch.

"Where are we gonna go sis?" Apple Bloom asked, looking for signs of hope from her older sister. Yet as much as Applejack wanted to comfort her sister, she had no answers.

"I... I don't know... Get ya self in the cart with the others and rest up." Applejack nearly snared, getting the filly moving with a hint of fear. Apple Bloom got into the cart and joined the other two Crusaders.

"I wonder how Babs Seed doin in all of this." She muttered with her two friends as they quietly discussed with themselves. As the fillies conversed with each other, Rainbow Dash reluctantly joined the rest of the group, all of them knowing the imminent dangers that awaited them. Faced with no other choices, they ventured past the treeline and into the Everfree Forest.

It's been three week since I've awoken and claimed Malus Messor's throne. A throne made out of solid stone and engraved with bones of the slaver known as Iron Wall. Damn, talk about a guy that took his name too seriously! But according my assistant, Zeke, the throne represented freedom from the ternary of Iron Wall. Well, I guess it has some meaning. Anyhow, Zeke has been a huge help over the past 21 days. Informing me of Malus's deeds and his promises the made on the stone tablets. Of course I read through them and I might have altered them to my personal liking. But hay, I was the king and they were not fully law... Besides, my new subjects praise me like a real god or something. Oh yeah, Zeke did say that Malus had battle against a sun goddess and killed her... Damn he must have been a badass to take on a being the controlled the sun. But what he had left for me is spectacular. He had forged one hundred enhanced armor sets for his Diamond Dogs. This armor only worked for the dog it was given to and well... Thanks to some magic, it turned them into fully trained, obedient, and fearless warriors at the levels of Sparta. And they were now at my command, ready to serve their duty at a moment's notice.

While this took a while to fully accept, I've been rethinking Malus's words with seriousness. He gave the last bits of his humanity and ended himself to create his successor... And I'm that person. He must have been really devoted to his cause if he was willing to sacrifice himself. Damn, I might as well do what I was built for. I mean, what else is a seven foot tall robot in demonic armor with powers supposed to do? Wait, I've forgotten to explain what the hell I am! It turns out that I'm not human at all! Well, not physically. While my soul and mind have the traits of a human, my body is much different. My body is, well, a similar to a T-900 Infiltrator from the Terminator series. Just upgraded and more powerful than the original design. And man, I was armored up to, having no exposed parts on my body made me less vulnerable to suffering damages from attacks. But my arms have been changed the most is my diagnostics say anything. My protective case over my arms have been engraved with many powerful enchantments. I have these magical crystals covered in altered mimetic polyalloy that absorb magic in my arms, legs, and chest. These gems store and transfer the magic wirelessly into a diamond hourglass shaped engine in my upper chest. These converters transverse magic into Hydrogen Fuel for my body and vice versa. This absorbed energy can be transferred back into my arms, allowing me not only to radiate or blast magical energizes, but cast and control them as well.

Unlike other magical using creatures, I can perfectly control both the inputs and outputs I give, casting spells without giving any excess energy in said spell. This allows me to use my energy at maximum effectiveness. For example, an average Unicorn can only cast one or two spell at a time and keep it up for so long. But with my super computer brain, I could cast a dozen varieties of high level spells while using half of the energy a Unicorns would use to accomplish such spells. These enchantments and newly added magic-energy converters allowed me to instantly master any form of magic I deemed. While this might seem outrageously op and unbelievable, this actually makes sense. See, Unicorns and all magic using creature have to train themselves to measure the inputs and outputs of magical energy they transfer through their horns. For example, telekinesis is most easy for it's simplicity. To levitate, All I have to determinate the mass of an object and simply apply the right amount of energy around it. Now I apply the force in which you want it to go, and ta-da! There's Telekinesis for ya!

So if I have already perfected the transfer of magic to it's fullest and instantly recognize the cantations with what I’m doing, I can master anything I come across. Whether it’s being done by another or learned in a book, with my computer processing brain, I can become a master at anything I deem. As long as I know the hows and have the energy to fulfill the cast, I can accomplish it. Now add that Malus gave me all of his knowledge on equestria’s magic and all aspects of basic science, I have the ability to do anything. Only power and knowledge can stop me. On the power side of things, I have a Twin Power Hyper Hydrogen Fuel Cells battery that has the equivalent power output of four Large Tactical Nuke. For if I was going to release 1/4 of my raw power, The entire Everfree Forest would be wiped out with an extra ten miles of blast damage. And the best part is that I have ability to recharge it by converting magic to fuel.

"My Lord. Durus Rex." My deep thinking was brought to a halt as I gazed down at Zeke with burning red eyes. He seemed not to cower at my dark appearance like any mortal would. Yes, he had fear, but it was used as to respect my power and wishes with absolute loyalty.

"Yes Zeke?" I asked, my voice deep with power, yet with a calm and rested tone.

"The patrols 11 and 12 have reported a group of Equestrians within our borders." Zeke said, showing me his Orb of Watch. The Orb of Watch was a baseball sized crystal ball with a creator that cast a very detailed and large 3D holograms of our land and forces.

"They dare send their forces at us? Have they learned nothing?" I stated, disturbed by this news. After the flinging the remains of what was Royal Guard’s corpses outside of the Everfree, I was sure that this would keep them out for good. I should have had more time before they started interrupting my plans.

"Yes, it seems that they don’t know your word is rule, but this is where it gets interesting my Lord." Zeke said, zooming upon the group of Ponies. Expecting a squad of heavily armed Royal Guards, instead there was a group of 16 depressed ponies and a small Drake. Now this was interesting.

"Have they encounter our patrols?" I asked, observing the ponies, noticing that all of them were female with the exception of a Dragon Hatchling and one big Stallion pulling the cart.

"No, they haven’t my lord. We’ve been following them for a good ten minute and found no sign of them being armed or being a major threat. They have broken off the main path and are going to the Tree of Harmony. What’s your orders my Lord?"

"Tell Patrols 11 and 12 keep following the ponies and stay in the shadows. Let’s see what they do next. Alert patrols 1 to 10 to keep alert and be on the lookout for any other ponies." I ordered, Zeke bowing with respect.

"It will be done." He simply replied, giving out my orders through the Orb of Watch.

"Also, what is the status on Project Seeker." I asked, wondering how much progress has been made with my new workers.

"Your Droids are making some progress on the rockets as we speak. But we need more materials as we are running low on Steel. We simply cannot build these.. Rocket with what little we have."

"Okay then. Tell them to halt their work and wait for further orders. Also, how are the Gem Crops going?" I asked again, Zeke fulfilling out my commands and looking back up at me.

"Thanks to your holy Purification, the land is now seeing the beginnings of the first crops. If the gems continue to grow at this rate, we should have a plentiful harvest within the week." Zeke said, pleasing me with this news. The once toxic and bloodied battlefield was now being used for agriculture. Soon we will be able to pay our debts with Alpha Rook. I had bought more food and better tools from the shaggy Diamond Dog. Tools such as to maximize our crop outputs and build more livelihood needs for my people. Soon we could pay it off and begin to bring in more metal from the mines.

"How are my subjects and their commitment to the Kingdom?" I ask, getting a serious look from Zeke.

"To be honest my Lord, we... Well, have a two sided coin with you." Zeke stuttered, think and choosing his next words carefully.

"And that is?" I questioned, smelling the suppressed yet lingering fear within him.

"You and Malus Messor have been the best thing that has happened to us in years. Yet some feel that their still slaves with the amount of work demanded from us. My Lord." The dog said rather bluntly, not regretting his choice of words with me, yet readying himself for a beating. This slightly disturbed me as he would feel that I would act out harsh to the truth. This needed to be corrected. [b]Now.

"This is discouraging to hear." I said, standing up from my throne, Zeke backing away while still bowing.

"I guess it is time to take a... Break." This seemed to catch the dog’s attention.

"My Lord?" He asked with relief while looking up at me, dumbfounded at my words.

"A king is no king without his people, but people without their king would be lost as well." I quoted, walking down the steps and walked down the throne room, Zeke eagerly following behind me.

"What I mean is that I must show that I am a fair and true ruler while having my people's faith to stay in power. To accomplish this, my people must know that I am willing to hear and fulfill their needs too live in my future and ever growing kingdom. Activated the droids and tell them to prepare a feast for tomorrow. Feast will start at noon tomorrow and all my subjects will have the rest of the day off." I commanded. But before Zeke could thank me twelve times over, I continued on.

"And we need to set up a work schedule and how much we should pay each subject. After all, money fuels the efforts of the common man." I added, looking back at him to see delight and joy in his eyes.

"But know that I am no slaver nor will I ever be equal with such scum. Never call me by such slandered ever again. Are we clear?" I finished with my words sounding as if they were laced with malice. I don't know why, but parts of my being just go against all that revolves around slavery and other means of abuse to the weaker and innocent. It just defied all I felt I was built for. And if I encounter such scum, I would not hesitate to rip his or her blackened heart out. Being built as Malus's successor means I must live by a few of his codes. After all, I am the reminisce of his very damned soul. Zeke gulped with his fear rising as he digested my words.

"Crystal clear my Lord." He croaked, looking up at me as we walked down the hallway.

"Good." I finished, now walking into my room, closing the heavily enchanted door. This leaving Zeke alone to fulfill my wishes. As he was left to do my bidding, I began looking over the schismatic for my future rockets. Going into my deep thinking, I started planning for future outcomes and how to proceed with my plans...