Thirteen days had passed since Queen Chrysalis’ visit and Gerhardt had been working as hard and fast as physically possible. In fact he was working so hard that he had spent the vast majority of his time with his brain overclocked, which was something he only ever did in the most dire of situations back in the Human Kingdom when he needed to work as fast as physically possible. As a result he was actually forced to keep his hood lowered and have the emergency cooling systems installed in his head constantly active in order to keep his brain from overheating. Even so the extra processing power and perception of time had once again proved invaluable to him.

It had been an extremely complicated and difficult process given the fact that he had to do it all himself, but he had successfully managed to replace his frontal lobe. He had been forced to spend a few minutes as a ghost in order to accomplish it which had been one of the single worst experiences in his entire life, but he had done it. He was now fully artificial. He had disposed of the remains of his organic frontal lobe by burning it in his fireplace.

Before that he had completed and delivered the barrier generator and drones to Applejack within the first day after his shipment of materials had arrived. He had spent the rest of the time working on advancing his business as fast as possible. To that end he had built a laser printer and had already written several dozen books and treatises on science and magic. Obviously he had deliberately avoided giving the ponies any information that would allow them to start up businesses that could potentially compete with his. He wanted a complete monopoly on all things relating to technomancy and biomancy so he could make as much money as physically possible. He would eventually write books on technomancy and biomancy and let go of his monopoly, but for the moment he simply could not afford to have any competition whatsoever.

He had already bound all of the books he had currently written and sent them to the princesses in order to have them all published. He had also sent them a couple of specially designed printers to sell to the publishing company they were going through with instructions on how to use them. He hoped this would drastically speed up the production of the copies of his books so he could earn his money from all the sales even faster.

He had also built a few more advanced tools and equipment that would in turn allow him to build even more advanced and complex machines. Among these machines were the healing rays utilized by the Medical Branch to heal minor injuries and fractured bones so the medical mages could focus on tending to more serious injuries. He was not concerned that the technology or magic might be reverse engineered as it was too complex of a machine and the enchantments were too advanced and esoteric for the ponies to understand without prior knowledge of advanced technomancy and biomancy. He had already built a few such healing rays and had sent them to the princesses to sell to the hospitals. They wouldn’t be saving any lives but they would certainly help make the doctors’ jobs easier.

He had also swallowed his pride and had sent a letter requesting something of a loan from the Princesses. Just enough to purchase some land on the other side of the train tracks, hire some construction workers to build a factory building there, and purchase the materials to start building machines to mass produce augmentations. Then all he would have to do would be taking the measurements for each individual augmentation and send them to the factory to have the augmentation custom made for the individual patient. It would also be able to build his new more combat ready body for him as well as his secret personal army of golems, but the princesses didn’t need to know about that. He would have to look into redesigning it later on to produce weapons for him as well, but he had to be at least somewhat patient and take one step at a time.

Once the augmentation was ready he would then perform the surgery himself in a specialized room attached to the factory. That way he could get it all done the same day and wouldn’t have to go through any of the hospitals, thus maintaining his monopoly on augmentations and the surgeries involved with attaching them. That was another fact that the princesses didn’t need to know about. On a more positive note it would also drastically lower the cost of the augmentations and make them more easily accessible to almost everyone as his prices were apparently far lower than those of normal doctors. He also wouldn’t have to deal with trying to train every surgeon in Equestria to conduct such operations which would save him quite a bit of time and effort. Eventually he could build surgical golems to do all of it for him so the entire process could be automated and more patients could be tended to all at once in multiple locations all across Equestria.

These augmentations would range from internal organs, to eyes, to limbs, to wings, and even horns. The only augmentations the factory wouldn’t mass produce were brain augmentations as he had decided it wouldn’t be wise to let immortality spread too far. After all if too many people were immortal then overpopulation would very rapidly become a major and very complex issue. Thus the reason only members of the military had access to brain augmentations in the Human Kingdom.

The only reason a factory like this was even possible in the first place was because of what Gerhardt had learned about how unicorns’ horns functioned. That information would allow for the automation of enchantments, which had been completely impossible in his world. In his world each and every individual arcane machine had required one or more technomancers to be involved in the process of making it. That was not the case here in this world which made things much easier for him. He wouldn’t have to be directly involved in the process of building each individual augmentation.

Of course he explained his reasoning behind requesting the loan so they wouldn’t think he was just trying to leech off of them. He also informed them he would be willing to pay them back with a full 30% interest per month. He was only willing to have such a high interest rate as he fully intended to pay back his debt as soon as possible thus not allowing it to pile up too much. He also built two small portal devices and sent one to Princess Celestia with instructions on what it was and how to use it so they could exchange letters directly rather than having to go through Twilight.

Princess Celestia used the portal device and sent him a letter back stating that she was a little reluctant to loan him such a large sum of money. However she still agreed due to the potential benefits his augmentations could have for the citizens of Equestria. She also said that because she viewed him as a friend and she trusted him to pay it back in a timely manner she was willing to lower the interest to 25% rather than 30%. However she requested that he try his best to pay it back as soon as possible. She also specified that she wouldn’t be sending him the money directly but would be buying the land and hiring the construction workers for him. She would then have the materials he would need to build the machines delivered to the factory once it was finished being built. After that she would send him the bill. He would have to buy the materials for the augmentations on his own however, and he would owe Celestia a favor.

He was completely fine with this arrangement. He was a bit ashamed that he had to ask for even more help from the princesses like this and he hated owing anyone anything, let alone something like a favor. However, it would advance his business drastically. Far sooner than if he had to do it all entirely on his own. So he would just have to deal with it. As such he sent her back a letter saying that he agreed to her terms.

After that he had built himself a very powerful and somewhat ornate rifle similar in design to the one he had during his first encounter with demons 802 years ago. However it was significantly more advanced and it had six barrels instead of three.

The first barrel fired 1 in bolts of magic that could cause even the largest and most heavily armored Heavy Combat Golems or Heavy Tanks to either implode or explode like bombs depending on how much collateral damage he wanted to cause. The second barrel was essentially just a more powerful longer ranged version of his teleportation pistol except with fewer firing modes. The third barrel fired 1 in particle beams. The fourth barrel fired 1 in beams of concentrated coherent photons and could easily be calibrated to shoot at any frequency ranging from microwaves to gamma rays. The fifth barrel fired bolts of weaponized necromantic energy which could injure or destroy souls in order to combat ethereal creatures like King Sombra in his shadow form. And the sixth barrel fired specialized 15 mm smart projectiles at Mach 9 that shifted their spatial dimensional axis when fired in order to slip past most defenses before shifting back to the standard three dimensional axis once they were past the enemy’s defenses. Sometimes they would even shift their spatial axis and reappear in normal three dimensional space already inside the target’s body depending on the type of defenses the target had.

Spatial dimensional ammo was some of the most advanced and devastating kinetic ammunition in humanity’s arsenal. However it was extremely complex, was difficult to manufacture, was all but impossible to mass produce, and was extremely expensive. As such it was only ever used in special circumstances such as assassinations. Particle beams were the most commonly used kinetic weapons in humanity’s arsenal as they were the second most advanced kinetic weapons they had and were significantly cheaper and more efficient to use in most circumstances. Gerhardt had no idea when he would be able to manufacture even a single bullet of this ammunition or if he would ever even need to use such weapons in this world. However he had decided it would be better to at least have the option to use spatial dimensional ammo in the extremely unlikely event that he ever did need it. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The barrel that fired spatial dimensional bullets could also fire antimatter bullets since it was essentially just a regular telekinetic barrel which could fire pretty much every type of physical bullet. However antimatter bullets were far too dangerous to actually use except in the most dire of circumstances due to the bursts of gamma radiation antimatter explosions released. While he and Pixel would survive the bursts of gamma radiation since they were both fully artificial there was simply too high of a risk that it may kill or seriously injure innocent bystanders. Thus while antimatter bullets were far cheaper and easier to produce than spatial dimensional bullets and were quite destructive, he had zero intentions of ever using them.

Regardless he now had a far better weapon than the simple concealed teleportation pistol he carried around for self defense. So he felt far more confident in his ability to defend himself or Pixel in the event they were ever attacked. He was a technomancer not a combat or war mage so while he could use combat or war magic they were not his specialty. As such he was far more effective in combat whenever he had a proper weapon in his hands rather than having to rely solely on his magic like he had to while fighting King Sombra back in the Crystal Empire. This weapon would help immensely with that.

When he was finished building his rifle, he made sure Pixel couldn’t easily get to it by hiding it in the underground level of his lab which was nearly finished. All he had left to do was convert one last wall from dirt into granite, build and install some lights, move some of his larger pieces of equipment and machinery into it, and use a couple more empty crates in order to build one or two more work tables. It would be a relief to finally have space to work without having to hunch over just to be able to barely fit inside the room.

Currently he was in the above ground section of his lab and was using both his hands and telekinesis to build more healing rays for the hospitals. His hands and the parts were all moving so fast that they appeared as little more than a blur of dull colors and copper light. His brain was currently overclocked so from his perspective they all seemed to be moving quite slowly. As such he had more than enough time to focus on all of the devices at once to ensure he didn’t make even the slightest mistake in their construction due to moving at such a fast pace and having to focus on multiple things at once. If he had a couple of general purpose golems or extra bodies to control remotely then he would have been working on building even more of the devices. Unfortunately he did not so he was limited to working on about five devices at once.

Using his magic like this was actually very draining for him so he would eventually have to slow down and work on one machine at a time with his own two hands so as to let his arcane energy reserves recharge. However until then he intended to finish as many of these devices as possible as soon as possible. He had spent the past few days working like this so he had already finished almost a hundred of the devices and was about ready to send them to Canterlot to be sold. Then he would have to order more materials because he was about to run out.

In the meantime until his next shipment of materials arrived he would either work on the love generator for the changelings or he would spend his time studying the Alicorn Amulet. He had already learned a lot from the amulet. Apparently magic worked even more differently in this universe than he had initially thought as this amulet violated several of his universe’s most fundamental laws of magic. So it would appear that this universe’s laws of magic were much more flexible than his universe’s. Whereas his universe had extremely strict rules by which magic operated, this universe’s magic seemed to allow for a surprising amount of freedom. As such, many things that were impossible in his universe should theoretically be possible in this universe which explained why it was actually possible for mortals to teleport in this universe. He still had to experiment to find out a functional arcane equation for teleportation but he expected that shouldn’t take more than a month or two considering how forgiving this universe’s laws of magic appeared to be.

He would have to experiment to find out just how flexible this universe’s laws of magic were. Depending on what he learned, he couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of weapons or machines he could make that would be completely impossible in his universe. Would such weapons or machines even have any practical use? He honestly had absolutely no idea but he was very excited to find out!

He had also found something odd about the Alicorn Amulet. It was enchanted with some form of magic he was not familiar with. It had some similarities with chaotic magic but was somehow extremely different. He didn’t really know how to explain it. For some reason he couldn’t help but think of the Pony’s superstition about “Harmony” except the exact opposite. What would that even be called though? Discord?

It was so strange… It was completely alien to anything he was even remotely familiar with. Either way, he hypothesized that this magic is what caused the corruption of the user. He had no idea how or why this “discordant” magic corrupted the user but he was pretty sure that it did somehow. He still needed to study it and experiment with it a bit more in order to prove or disprove his hypothesis but he was fairly confident that it was true. He still had no idea how the hell it increased the power of the wearer so drastically, that made even less sense to him than the fact that this “discordant” magic somehow corrupted whoever used it.

He would have to find a way to safely utilize this “discordant” magic in such a way that he wouldn’t get corrupted by it, if that was even possible. He could only imagine the possibilities that he could potentially unlock if he could find a way to safely harness it given what this amulet was capable of. Of course, he wasn’t stupid. He knew full well that he was effectively playing with fire and there was a very serious risk of him being corrupted if he used it himself. So he would have to conduct a lot of research on it to ensure he knew exactly what he was doing long before he risked trying to find a way to harness it safely. He wouldn’t dare risk allowing himself to be corrupted by it. The potential consequences were far too disastrous for him to allow that, especially given all of the extremely dangerous weapons and technology he was already planning on building for himself. If only he had a few imprisoned criminal or enemy mages to use as living test subjects to experiment on like he had back in the Human Kingdom. It would make the whole process so much easier. What a shame…

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when his sensors detected two presences approaching his front door. One he immediately recognized as Pixel due to the tracking systems that he had built into her so he could always find her. The other was a unicorn.

Gerhardt suddenly stopped what he was doing and set everything down. He then let his perception of time return to normal. Sighing in frustration he decided this seemed like it might potentially be important enough to temporarily stop what he was doing. So he opened a portal to just behind his front door and stepped through it. Closing the portal behind him he opened the front door and saw Pixel with her hand raised to open the door with Twilight Sparkle standing next to her.

Seeing the door open Pixel lowered her hand and looked up at Gerhardt with a somewhat forced smile. “Hi daddy!” She said in a tone that sounded as though she was trying her best to be happy but was clearly less cheerful than usual.

“Hello. May I inquire as to why you are here, Miss Sparkle? I am very busy at the moment and as I told you before I would prefer not to be disturbed.” Gerhardt said in a frustrated tone. Though he took note of Pixel’s change in demeanor and decided to ask her what was wrong as soon as possible. He had noticed she was acting a bit odd earlier that morning during their daily lesson but had dismissed it as her having had a nightmare the previous night or something to that effect and decided not to bother her about it. However, the fact that she was still acting this way hours later concerned him greatly.

“Er… Well Pixel and I have both noticed that you’ve been acting a bit odd recently… Uh… How… How did you know we were here before Pixel even opened the door? Were you about to go somewhere or…?” Twilight inquired, apparently either very confused or very unsettled by this fact. Possibly both. Gerhardt couldn’t tell and he didn’t care.

“Oh? I’ve been acting strange? How so?” Gerhardt asked, completely brushing off Twilight’s question about how he knew she and Pixel were there before he opened the door. He did not have the time nor the patience to explain to her about his sensors. Besides if he let her know then he would be giving away a major tactical advantage. It was better to keep the knowledge of his sensors limited to himself and Pixel so no one could attempt to find ways around them as his enemies did on a regular basis back on Earth. Had she asked him a few weeks ago there was at least a very slim chance that he might have told her. After Queen Chrysalis had threatened to use Pixel against him, however, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in the core of a neutron star that he would be telling her anything about things like his sensors.

In war secrets could easily decide who won or lost. Of course the greatest vulnerability of secrets was the human element. So there was a risk Pixel would tell someone about their sensors. While not preferable it wouldn’t be the end of the world if someone learned about their sensors. Those were only one small piece of technology which only provided a small advantage given the fact their range was severely limited due to the vast quantity of lifeforms with a connection to magic in this world. However, he was going to be keeping all of the truly important technology secret from everyone except himself. He would be the only one who knew about any of it.

Actually he might use what he learned about where he went wrong with Pixel to build one or two more sapient golems with the minds and bodies of adults. On the extremely slim chance that he did decide to do so, he would have them act as both generals for his army and assistants for research that he needed to keep top secret as they themselves would be top secret. They would likely live in a top secret facility that was either deep underground or in orbit of the planet completely isolated from civilization. They would only ever leave that hypothetical facility if he was ever truly forced to go to war at which point they would take command of his armies and fight alongside him. That would also be the only time they would ever be allowed to meet Pixel, at the very least until she had matured enough mentally to be called an adult and he trusted her enough not to give up any of his secrets to anyone.

That actually gave him an idea he found equally humorous and outright depressing. Perhaps he could build four such sapient golems and have them take the rolls of the other four High Lords so his military would be exactly like the human military but manned entirely by golems. Gods he both loved and hated that idea in equal measure. That actually made him feel somewhat conflicted. On the one hand it made him much more eager to do it so he could have some sense of normality here in this accursed world. On the other hand it made him a lot more reluctant to do so as the idea just made him feel so damn pathetic. It felt as though it would make him seem like he was just some sad tired old man desperately trying anything in order to cling to the past as best as he possibly could. Technically he was but that didn’t mean he liked to be reminded of that fact.

If he did decide to do that, maybe he would consider instilling a couple of the “Elements of Harmony” into the cores of their beings. All of them would have the elements of loyalty and magic, but only the one meant to take the role of the High Lord of the Medical Branch would have any extra elements. Those being kindness and possibly generosity specifically as those seemed like potentailly valuable traits for the High Lord of the Medical Branch to have. Laughter was just plain useless and Honesty would be a bit redundant. In fact Honesty could even prove to be an issue considering the fact that their entire purpose would be to keep his largest and most important secrets and thus would be expected to tell quite a few lies if they were ever to leave their facility and come to Equestria.

Perhaps he could even give them a few bits and pieces of his own memories. Not enough to make them mind clones of him or even to have personalities that were all that similar to his but just enough to give them the skills and experience to lead armies, even armies of golems, and to let them know the true brutality of war. There would be no way that they would have the minds of children after that, cruel as such a thing may be given how awful some of his memories were. They would all be just as jaded as him or any other experienced veterans of war.

Of course all of that was purely hypothetical and would more than likely remain purely hypothetical forever. It was very unlikely that he would actually do such a thing but it was good to have a plan just in case something changed and he did decide to do so for whatever reason. Though it would probably take a nigh apocalyptic event to convince him to do so and even then it wasn’t guaranteed.

“Well you seem to be working even harder than usual and are acting even colder and more distant than normal. Apparently you’re even neglecting Pixel.” Twilight explained. “Pixel informed me that this all started after Queen Chrysalis came by awhile ago. Did something happen during that meeting? If so is there anything either Pixel or I could do to help?”

He’s been neglecting Pixel? Since when? Thinking back he realized that was actually true to some extent and he suddenly felt ashamed of himself. This proved that he was indeed correct and he was a terrible father. He would have to try his best to find a bit more time to spend with her. If nothing else he should at least hum his lullaby to her at night to help her sleep like he had been doing before the event with Queen Chrysalis.

“I see. I’m very sorry dear. I had gotten too caught up in my work and didn’t realize I was neglecting you. If something like this ever happens again, please tell me as soon as possible. I know I make for a terrible father but I do not want to mistreat you.” Gerhardt apologized to her.

“It’s okay daddy. I know you are busy and I don’t want to bother you…” Pixel said somewhat dejectedly. Perking up a little she gave him a frustrated look and in a tone that brokered no argument said, “And stop being mean to yourself! You’re the best daddy in the world!”

“No. That is no excuse. I may be busy but I should be able to make time for my daughter. The fact that I haven’t been doing so is terrible. I am ashamed of myself. I promise I’ll start making more time for you.” He said sincerely. He then turned his head and looked at Twilight. “Now to answer your question, Miss Sparkle, no nothing happened.” He lied. She didn’t need to know the truth so he wasn’t going to tell her the truth. “Besides, hypothetically speaking, even if something had happened if there was anything you or anyone else could do to help me do you not think I would have already asked for assistance? The only reason I wouldn’t request aid is if the issue was too large or complex for anyone else but me to deal with.”

Twilight gave him a deadpan look. “Gerhardt, you don’t need to lie to me. I know you well enough to know that something’s wrong. I also know that depending on what it was you would try to keep it secret and handle it yourself just like I know you’ve been keeping plenty of other secrets. I don’t know what those secrets are and I respect your privacy enough that I won’t pry, but I’ve already realized there are things you're keeping to yourself. Whatever this issue is being one of them. I don’t know if you’ve realized this but your personality is fairly predictable once somepony gets to know you well enough. Please just tell me. As your friend I want to help you. I promise I won’t tell anypony else if that makes you feel better.”

Gerhardt frowned at that. Twilight had just backed him into somewhat of a corner. She knew he was lying and didn’t seem like she was going to back down on the matter. He could simply refuse to tell her but he highly doubted that she would react very well to that nor would that be the end of it. Twilight was frustratingly stubborn sometimes. As such he very reluctantly decided to tell her what happened with Chrysalis since that was the least important part of the whole ordeal. Though he would be keeping everything he was planning to do about it secret no matter how much she tried to pry since he couldn’t afford to let anyone know about it.

With an annoyed sigh he said, “Fine… Both of you come inside and I’ll tell you. I don’t want to talk about it out here where anyone can hear our conversation. And make sure to close the door behind you.” Then he turned and walked back into the recreational lounge of his lab.

Twilight and Pixel followed him and Pixel closed the door behind them. She also went the extra step and locked it behind her so no one could open it and listen in. “Alright we're all alone, so what’s happening Gerhardt? Why are you acting like this?” Twilight inquired after sitting down on the bench on the side of the room. Pixel sat down directly next to her.

Gerhardt cast a noise dampening spell on the walls, the roof, the door, the windows, and even the fireplace and chimney to ensure no one could eavesdrop on them. “Queen Chrysalis was growing impatient with how slow the development of the Love Generator was so she came over and demanded to see the progress for herself. She met Pixel for the first time and I didn’t like the way the bitch was looking at my daughter. So I sent Pixel to buy herself a few treats at Sugar Cube Corner. We then had a short private conversation and I invited her inside and showed her what at the time was the latest iteration of the Love Generator. She was being a bossy arrogant bitch so I reminded her that I did not live in her kingdom nor was I one of her servants so she had zero power over me and that I refused to tolerate her belligerent attitude. Finally I explained to her how I am the one who holds all the power in this arrangement and essentially held the Love Generators hostage if she continued to act the way she was. She complied… for the most part. Then I kicked her out since she no longer had any business in my lab, however before she left she saw fit to threaten to harm Pixel.” He summarized the events in as few words as he possibly could.

Twilight gasped in shock and Pixel looked both confused and scared. “But… Why would the scary lady want to hurt me? What did I ever do to her?” Pixel inquired fearfully. She was more powerful than Chrysalis was but Gerhardt had yet to teach her how to defend herself, so she had a right to be afraid. Gerhardt made a mental note to train her in combat as soon as possible.

“You did absolutely nothing to her, dear. She threatened you as a means of gaining power over me. Unfortunately there are many individuals like her in the world who would stoop to any level no matter how morally reprehensible in order to gain power over others, especially others who have power over them. Unfortunately, back on Earth I had personally been forced to resort to such methods in the past in order to end major battles or even entire wars though I never enjoyed it. That is why I view family and friends as a weakness. An individual’s loved ones are far too easy to use against them.” Gerhardt explained.

“I’m a weakness?” Pixel inquired in a hurt tone.

“Yes. You are my greatest weakness, Pixel, specifically because I love you. The same can be said for me. I am one of your weaknesses specifically because you love me. Imagine, if you will, someone managed to defeat me and was holding me hostage. Then they began making demands of you and if you did not comply with their demands they would either injure or kill me. Would you do as they demanded of you?”

“But no one could beat you, Daddy!” Pixel exclaimed in a distressed tone.

“That wasn’t my question. I very much can be defeated and I have been in the past. So what would you do in that hypothetical scenario?” Gerhardt inquired.

“I… I would do whatever they wanted… I don’t want to lose you daddy! Someday everyone else is going to grow old and die so I don’t want to lose you too!” Pixel cried.

Gerhardt blinked in surprise. “What…? I never told you that… I was going to tell you that when you were older and were mature enough to handle that information… How…?”

Twilight grimaced and said, “Er… That would be my fault… Yesterday we were sort of talking about the differences between her and everypony else and I may have told her about how everyone else will grow old and die while she won’t…”

Gerhardt glared at Twilight. “That was a very unnecessarily cruel thing to do, Miss Sparkle… She’s just a child. She shouldn’t have to deal with worries like this until she is more mature.” He growled. Now he understood why Pixel had been acting so odd today.

Twilight scratched the back of her head with her forehoof a bit sheepishly. “Er… Yeah… I’m really sorry about that… Uh… Anyways, if Queen Chrysalis threatened to hurt Pixel then she’s violated the peace treaty. You need to inform Princess Celestia as soon as possible.”

“No. She didn’t violate the peace treaty so there is nothing the Princesses can do. She didn’t threaten Pixel directly. The threat was implied rather than spoken so she could easily claim that she was just congratulating me on my new daughter. It’s a classic tactic that has been used throughout history. She definitely threatened me but she can easily avoid all the consequences as there is no way to prove what she said was actually a threat.” Gerhardt explained.

Twilight frowned. “But… If we can’t go to Celestia and Luna, what can we possibly do about this?”

“We can’t do anything. Or to be more specific, you and Pixel can’t do anything. I, on the other hand, already have a few things set in motion that will guarantee Pixel’s safety. Thus the reason I have been working so hard lately, because I need to earn as much money as I can as fast as possible if my plan is to succeed. To that end I have asked Princess Celestia for a loan to buy an empty plot of land to build a factory to mass produce augmentations. She has agreed on the condition I pay her back as soon as possible and I owe her a favor, which of course I agreed to. So the factory should already be undergoing construction on the opposite side of the train tracks. So neither of you need to worry, I have everything under control. There is no force in this universe save perhaps the gods themselves that shall be able to lay so much as a finger on Pixel as long as arcane energy continues to flow through my circuitry and my soul continues to exist.” Gerhardt informed them.

“I see. I guess that explains why you’ve been acting like this lately. Still, I think you could do with relaxing a little. It sounds like you have things pretty well handled so you don’t need to be in such a big rush all the time.” Twilight told him.

“No, at this stage in my plan I need to make as much progress as I possibly can as fast as possible. It will help out greatly in the long run as it shall serve as the foundation of everything I do from here on out. After the factory is finished, I have built all the machinery that it will use, and I have started selling my augmentations then I will be able to slow down a bit. Until then my current behavior will continue. Though I will definitely start making more time for Pixel. I do not want to neglect her because of all this like I have been until now.” Gerhardt stated.

“Thank you daddy!” Pixel said in a happy tone.

“You’re welcome dear.” Gerhardt responded.

Twilight sighed and got up off of the bench. “Alright, I guess that’s fair enough. Well I suppose I should let you get back to work. Sorry for bothering you. But if there’s anything I can do to help please let me know. I would be more than happy to do anything I can to help you. I’ll talk to you later Gerhardt.” With that she turned and started making her way towards the door.

“Good day Miss Sparkle. I trust you will keep everything we discussed here today secret from everyone. I do not want to risk letting the fact I am making plans to protect Pixel being leaked to the Changelings.” Gerhardt told her.

“Yeah, I will. I promise. I wouldn’t want to risk putting Pixel in any danger either.” Twilight said as she opened the door.

“Bye Miss Twilight!” Pixel chirped as Twilight walked out of the lab and closed the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Gerhardt let the noise dampening spell fade. Then he looked at Pixel and said, “I’m so sorry little one. I will not neglect you like this again. I swear it.”

Pixel stood up and rushed over to him before wrapping her arms around his legs. “It’s alright daddy. I forgive you.”

Gerhardt gave her a small smile and said, “Thank you dear.”

The factory only took about two and a half weeks to complete. Whatever company Celestia had hired to build it they certainly worked fast. When it was finished, Gerhardt went over and took a small tour of it. It was currently completely empty but it would serve his purposes perfectly. A couple days later and all the materials Gerhardt needed to build the machines had arrived. When they had, he immediately got started on building them. Even with his brain overclocked and his perception of time drastically sped up it still took him a full week of work to finish all the machines and the golem that would read the exact specifications of each individual augmentation. Once that was done he built a surgical table and all the tools he would need to install each individual type of augmentation from limbs, to eyes, to internal organs. Then he ordered all the materials to make quite a few augmentations and loaded them all into the factory. Finally his factory was open for business.

He spent the next couple days looking into how to advertise his business all across Equestria. Eventually he found several popular newspapers and a couple of well known advertising agencies. He sent out a couple letters through the normal postal service in order to get in contact with them. On the day he got letters back from them, Pixel approached him with a request he found quite surprising.

“Daddy, can you give me wings like a pegasus?” She inquired.

He blinked in surprise and set down the letter he was about to open and read. “What? Why?” He inquired, turning around to look at her.

“Well… Flying looks really fun and Scootaloo and Miss Rainbow have been telling me how much they love it. I want to be able to fly like them and I sort of want to visit Cloudsdale with them so I can make friends with even more pegasi!” Pixel explained in an eager tone.

“Hm… I suppose I might be able to. Though we would have to ask Miss Rarity to alter your robe for you or make you an entirely new one, otherwise they would be trapped under your robe and you wouldn’t be able to use them.” Gerhardt muttered half to himself and half to her.

“I don’t need a new robe, I like this one.” Pixel stated looking down at her clothes.

“Well I suppose that means the process will be a bit faster since she won’t have to make an entirely new one from scratch. I believe we will actually be able to get this done within the day. This will also serve as the perfect test run for my factory. Alright I need you to give me your robe so I can bring it to Miss Rarity. Then I’ll need you to wait for me inside the factory. It will take awhile for your wings to be made but once they’re ready we can begin installing them immediately.” Gerhardt told her.

“Okay!” Pixel chirped before removing her robe and handing it to Gerhardt.

Gerhardt took the robe and folded it up. Then he raised a hand and opened a portal to the surgical room of his factory. Pixel walked through and immediately hopped up on the surgical table with a large smile on her face. Gerhardt closed the portal behind Pixel and grabbed a blank sheet of paper before opening another portal to Rarity’s boutique. Walking up he saw the sign said “open”. So he pushed the door open and walked inside.

Rarity looked up from her latest dress and said, “Oh, hello Mr. Mechanica. What brings you here today?”

“Two things, I suppose. First, Pixel wants wings like a pegasus so if possible I need you to make a pair of holes in the back of her robe for them to fit through. Second, I suppose it’s finally time that I commission that more formal uniform from you.” He informed her. Using telekinesis he levitated Pixel’s robe over to Rarity, before creating a small shield in the air in front of him and using it as a surface to write on. He sketched an image of the back of Pixel’s robe and drew two holes in the back exactly where her wings would be and drew lines with the exact measurements he needed the holes to be. Then on the back of the paper he drew an image of another robe and a set of pants and wrote all of his own measurements directly next to them. He also drew an image of the symbol on his shoulders with the proper runes indicating his former rank beneath it. When he was done he put his fountain pen away and levitated the paper over to Rarity. “I suppose I’ll leave the design details of my formal robe up to you. Anyways, how much will all of this cost in total?”

“Hm… Given your substantial size and how much material I will need to use for the robe, let’s say three hundred and fifty bits. Though, the alterations to Pixel’s robe won't take very long and will only use a bit of thread so I’ll do that for you free of charge.” Rarity said with a friendly smile on her face.

“Thank you very much. Here are the bits.” Gerhardt stated before opening a small portal to his lab and grabbing exactly three hundred and fifty bits with telekinesis. He carefully counted them all out to ensure he neither underpaid nor overpaid. Then he set them all in a neat stack on a nearby table. “When do you estimate Pixel’s robe will be ready?” He inquired.

Rarity looked at the paper Gerhardt had given her. “Hm… Looking at these measurements, I estimate I will have the alterations done in about thirty minutes. Your new formal robe should be ready in three days.”

“Perfect. It will take about two or three hours for my factory to build her wings and for me to install them. So I’ll be back some time later today to come pick it up for her. Good day.” Gerhardt stated before opening a portal back to his factory and stepping through it.

Walking up to the golem that took the specifications for the augmentations, Gerhardt wirelessly connected to it and manually inputted all the specifications for Pixel’s wings. It took about an hour for the factory to make Pixel’s wings. When they were finished Gerhardt grabbed them and opened a portal to the surgical room where Pixel was waiting patiently, humming to herself and gently swinging her legs as she sat on the edge of the surgical table.

“Alright Pixel, I’ll need you to lay down on your stomach and go into low power mode. I don’t want to risk having you move around while I do this.” Gerhart told her, setting the wings down on a nearby counter. “Though before we begin, while we were waiting for your wings to be made I had somewhat of an idea I think you may enjoy. Since I’m going to be working on you anyways, how about I update your appearance slightly? Your current appearance was intended to be androgynous as when I first built you I had no idea that you would adopt the personality of a specific sex. However since you have I can make you look more like a beautiful young girl if you would like. Here’s what you would look like afterwards.” Gerhardt then created an illusion of the altered version of Pixel’s head that he had in mind.

Pixel examined the illusion for a couple moments. “Hm… I love it! Yes please!”

“Very well. Now I am about to get started with the operation so I need you to do as I said. Lay down on your stomach and go into low power mode please.” Gerhardt said as he took his portable tool kit off of the belt of his robes, unrolled it, and pulled out a couple tools. This procedure wouldn’t require anything more than what basic tools he had in his tool kit.

“Alright daddy.” Pixel said before doing as he said and laying down on her stomach. Her eyes then began to dim until they stopped emitting light entirely, signaling that she was now in low power mode.

When her eyes had fully gone out, he began the procedure immediately. The procedure to install her wings took another hour. When it was over he neatly folded up her wings before carefully flipping her over so she was now laying on her back. The next procedure to alter her features required a lot less rewiring and a lot more reshaping a few silver plates. As such it only took another half an hour.

When that was finally done he opened a portal back to Rarity’s boutique and picked up Pixel’s modified robe. Opening a portal back to the factory, Gerhardt set the robe down on the surgical table next to Pixel. He then proceeded to wirelessly connect to her brain and bring her out of low power mode. Her eyes began to glow again and she quickly sat up before opening a portal in front of her, the other end of which was directly behind her, allowing her to get a good look at her new wings. They were made of solid silver and even had metallic feathers similar in appearance to those belonging to a pegasus. She squealed excitedly and let the portal fade. She then began moving her new wings around trying to get used to them. “Thank you so much, daddy! I can’t wait to try them out!” Pixel exclaimed.

Gerhardt smiled at her and said, “You’re welcome dear. Now put on your robe and we can go outside to let you try out your new wings. I will admit, I am quite curious to see them in action myself.” He then turned and walked over to the door. Pixel quickly threw on her robe, hopped off the table, and immediately ran after him with an excited smile on her now feminine face. They walked through the waiting room before finally exiting the surgical portion of the factory. As soon as they were outside, Gerhardt grabbed Pixel by the shoulder before she could fly off and said, “Since this will be your first time flying, I want you to be extremely careful. Don’t fly too fast and don’t go more than twenty feet above the height of the factory. If you think you’re either about to fall or crash into something, grab yourself with telekinesis to stop your momentum and carefully lower yourself to the ground. Do I make myself clear?”

Pixel nodded. “Yes daddy! Can I try out my new wings now?”

He released her shoulder and said, “Go ahead.”

“Yay!” Pixel cheered. She then got a running start before spreading her wings and leaping high off the ground. In a matter of seconds she was already flapping her wings and climbing higher into the air. She then tilted to the side and started to turn. She then flew in a few large circles around the factory. A few minutes later she was cheering happily as she started doing a few stunts that set Gerhardt on edge as he was worried she might lose control and crash into something. This went on until the sun started to set and Gerhardt used his built in communication system to call Pixel back otherwise he was almost certain she would have continued flying throughout the entire night.

When they got back to Gerhardt’s lab Gerhardt immediately opened and read all of his letters. Apparently the newspapers would be sending people to check out his new factory, take a few pictures of both its exterior and interior, and interview him in about five days. The advertising agencies would be doing the same in seven days. That was perfect. His formal uniform would be ready before any of them arrived so he wouldn’t have to have any of the interviews while wearing his currently tattered casual uniform.

Three days later Rarity delivered his formal uniform to his lab and he immediately went up to the empty room upstairs and changed out of his casual uniform and into his new formal uniform. It was extremely similar in design to Pixel’s clothes but quite a bit more ornate. Also the gold insignias on his shoulders actually had the proper runes underneath them to signify his former rank in the human military. When his new uniform was finally on he immediately folded up his tattered casual uniform and brought it to Rarity to have the holes King Sombra’s crystals had made in it repaired.

A couple days later and the newspaper journalists arrived to look at his factory and interview him. Like most people who were meeting him for the first time they were somewhat intimidated by him but to their credit they were not nearly as afraid of him as most people tended to be. Other than that the interview went very well. The advertising agents were a bit more intimidated by him than the reporters had been but their meeting also went fairly well and he had successfully managed to hire them to help him advertise his new company.

With that a few days later and Mechanica Labs was officially open for business. It would take a bit of time for his advertising campaign to reach enough people for him to start having a steady flow of patients. Though on the morning of the first day his business had officially opened to the public he did already have a small handful of patients who needed augmentations.

A select few were slowly dying of different diseases and needed a new organ or two while the rest just needed the odd limb or horn. He treated them in order of how severe their issue was so the individuals who were legitimately dying and needed new organs obviously had top priority. That being said he did get to the ones who needed new limbs the same day, just a bit later on in the day than the ones who needed new organs. After each surgery he gave each of the patients a small bottle of fairly strong non-addictive painkillers from his world that he had made himself and informed each of them how much they needed to take per day until their bodies fully recovered from their surgeries. It had been a very productive day.

Author's Note

That's another chapter down! So I actually have a bit of a question for you guys. I'm pretty sure that the story won't get to this point for awhile but for future reference, do you think Gerhardt should go through with his idea to make more sapient golems to act as generals for his army and research assistants? I've made a strawpoll if you would like to answer but either can't or don't want to leave a comment. Here's a link to the strawpoll: Link to Strawpoll

Fun Fact: Spatial Dimensions are lengths in space they aren't actual places that a person can go. So think of it like length, width, and depth. Things like the Afterlife and the Infernal Realm, on the other hand, are NOT dimensions. They are their own separate levels of existence that have no relation to spatial dimensions whatsoever. You could shift your dimensional axis all you want but if you are in the physical realm then no matter how much you shift your dimensional axis you would never end up somewhere like the Afterlife or Infernal Realm. So when the media calls separate realms "dimensions" — the so-called "Dark Dimension" in the movie Doctor Strange for example — that's just the media proving that they have no idea how the fuck dimensions work. Isn't science fun?

Anyways, as always, constructive criticism is more than welcome. Please, tell me what you guys thought of this chapter and how you think I could improve if at all. I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much if not more than I enjoyed writing it!

Stay safe out there everyone!