About three weeks had passed since the Manticore attack. Isabelle already had her own house and had moved in, with some assistance from Gerhardt and Pixel. More ponies were going to and from Canterlot thanks to the portal arches that Twilight and Pixel had built, meaning Ponyville was getting a significant influx of ponies visiting. This was definitely a good thing for Ponyville’s economy as it meant there were more individuals spending money at local businesses. This very much included Gerhardt’s business as individuals who would otherwise have not come to Ponyville were now that travel to and from was quicker and easier.

However, he had noticed that he was starting to receive fewer requests from hospitals on average. He found this somewhat worrying as he could only assume the hospitals were slowly starting to run out of patients in need of new body parts. He supposed it was only a matter of time before something like this started happening.

As such, to combat his slow decrease in income he had expanded his business slightly and was now selling fountain pens, basic computers and illusory monitors, radios, small cleaning golems, and had started working on building a few cell phone towers and cell phones. Granted the range of these cellphone towers would be fairly limited when they were built as there were no satellites in orbit for them to connect to. Still, anyone in Equestria could call pretty much anyone anywhere else in Equestria assuming they bought a phone from Gerhardt once he finished building the primary cellphone towers. They just couldn’t call anyone outside of Equestria, like the citizens of the Crystal Empire.

Of course his phones would be like the ones from his world, just designed for Ponies rather than humanoid species. As such they attached to an individual’s ear and with a single thought would project an illusory screen in front of them which they could then scroll through by thought to do various things from calling other ponies, to calculating advanced mathematical equations from every system of mathematics Gerhardt knew, to learning about coding, and even to writing their own programs since Gerhardt ran out of ideas as to any other functionality to add to the phones. They couldn’t upload any programs they wrote anywhere as no form of internet existed in this world just yet, but Gerhardt planned to fix that eventually. Still they could share any programs they wrote directly with other individuals they knew. His computers were in a very similar situation.

All of these products were currently being made in his factory whenever it wasn’t in the middle of making augmentations. And instead of using his living room as a storefront like he had originally planned, he instead had an extension of his factory built and was selling them there. Of course a golem was the one in the store selling the objects since he didn’t want to waste his time doing it himself, and there were security systems installed to prevent any of the devices from being stolen.

Unfortunately all of these products were extremely new and had yet to get very much advertising so there weren’t very many individuals purchasing any of them just yet, but like he had done when he had first opened his business Gerhardt had started an advertising campaign that would inform the ponies of his new products. It would take time before more ponies started coming to buy from him but he was nothing if not patient.

Having had his factory produce two construction golems for him, mainly to build the extension to his factory, his lab in the W,X,Y dimensional axis was well under way to completion. Infact, parts of it were already usable and he had officially moved all of his equipment out of his kitchen and into the parts of the lab that were ready for use. Though the granite room that was underneath his house on the X,Y, Z axis was where he spent the majority of his time whenever he wasn’t busy at the factory or traveling to other cities on business.

At the moment, however, he was in his factory watching as it produced the first of his combat golems for him. He would have had it make heavy combat golems for him but the factory wasn’t large enough for that, so he had to settle for average combat golems.

These had particle rifles similar to one of the barrels of his personal combat rifle for their right arm, which would shred almost any physical defenses. The left arms were something akin to a flamethrower except it spewed super heated plasma using the atmosphere itself for fuel rather than normal fire. They would melt through almost anything in seconds but were short ranged, having only a twenty foot range and had a very wide spread. However that made them excellent weapons for if any enemies ever got too close to the golems. Both arms were also equipped with extendable monomolecular bayonetts in case any enemies managed to survive long enough to get past the plasmathrowers, not that he expected such a thing to occur but better safe than sorry. They also had bombs inside their chests that were the equivalent of 2.5 tons of TNT so if they ever suffered too much damage they could rush the enemy and explode.

Once they were made he activated them and went over a short series of tests to see if they were all functioning properly. There were ten of them in total and all of them were in perfect working order.

“Excellent. Now all I need is about nine thousand nine hundred and ninety more. The question is, should they all be the same variant or not?”

Isabelle sighed and shook her head. “I honestly don’t think it matters. One or two variants should suffice. It's not like you’re going to war with the Serpents, Ghouls, or the Orcs.”

“True. Well this model will suffice for now. If need be I will start making different models in the future. Though I must ask, do you have any suggestions in the event the Changelings do get tired of waiting and decide to attack? I am open to ideas.”

“Hm… How about making a powerful barrier generator to protect Ponyville? If war does break out between you and the Changelings I would rather not let the ponies get caught in the crossfire. So a barrier generator would minimize any risk the ponies in this city would be in at the very least.”

“Hm… Not a bad idea, I suppose. It would help if there was an invasion or if I had to carpet bomb the area or something to that effect for whatever reason. Plus it would be a bit of extra defense for my main lab. I’ll have to be secretive about it though… Damn, that means I will have to build one or two dozen mining golems, have them dig out a large area underneath the factory and near the factory, make a mechanism to open up a large hole in the ground and a mechanism to lift the tower. Then I’ll have to build the barrier generator itself and have construction golems build the tower it will be mounted on… I fear this will be a very expensive and somewhat long term endeavor… I may also need to find another location to dump all of the excess dirt… Perhaps somewhere along another dimensional axis?”

“Well the Changelings seem content to wait for now so there’s no rush. Just be sure to make that a goal. I am enjoying not having mountains of work on my hands as I did back in the Kingdom, and I would very much appreciate it staying that way.”

“Fair enough… Well, regardless, what do you think about my other plan I told you about?”

“The one about building three other sapient golems to serve as stand ins for the other high lords? I don’t like it. I realize how long you have been here and how much you miss the Kingdom but that is ridiculous. Not only do you not have any actual soldiers for them to command but you definitely do not need the full might of the Human Kingdom for any of this. Those Changelings are not that large of a threat. Gerhardt, there is such a thing as overkill. Now if you wanted more children that’s absolutely fine I’m sure Pixel would love to have younger siblings. But if you just want co-generals in charge of your combat golems and drones then no, absolutely not.”

Gerhardt grimaced at the thought of having to raise more children. Pixel was already one child too much, in his opinion, especially since there were already individuals who were targeting her to get to him. Shaking his head he said, “Very well. I actually agree with you for the most part. I just needed a second opinion before I decided whether to go through with it or not. So unless something changes drastically I suppose I will not be doing that. Nor will I be building Pixel any younger siblings. One child is already one too much. I wouldn’t even have to be preparing for war with the Changelings like this if I had never built her to begin with…” He said in a somewhat irritated tone.

Isabelle gave him a disapproving frown. “Pixel isn’t the one to blame for this, Gerhardt. To be perfectly honest, I find the fact that you think of her like that highly disturbing. While she may not be flesh and blood she is still your child, Gerhardt.”

“And that is exactly the problem, Isabelle. I never wanted a family. Do I love Pixel? Yes because I quite literally changed the function of my E.P.U. to force myself to love her otherwise no I wouldn’t. Do I regret ever building her to begin with? Yes, absolutely. If I could go back in time I would tell myself not to build her so I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this. I would have much rather gone along with Twilight’s ridiculous lessons than have to raise a child. This is especially true since my fears about family have officially been proven correct by the fact Chrysalis and who or whatever was controlling that manticore is targeting her to get to me. Building her is the second or possibly third largest mistake I have ever made in my entire life, and it’s one that I can do absolutely nothing to fix. I just have to deal with the consequences and try to mitigate them as much as possible as they come.”

Isabelle stared at him, shocked by what she was hearing.

Gerhardt ignored her shocked expression. He knew she was judging him but he didn’t care. She may have been a colleague back in the Human Kingdom but that was all. Just like the ponies, he didn’t care about her opinion of him. He never had and he never would. Just because he had spent months trapped in this world had not changed the fact in the slightest.

“I am not a good father, Isabelle. I am a technomancer, a soldier, a leader, and sometimes a teacher but that’s it. That is the extent of who and what I am, and I am perfectly content with that fact. I am not perfect, no one is but especially not me. Hell, I’m probably less human and more of a machine than Pixel at this point since I’ve officially cut out my frontal lobe and replaced it with an augmentation. The only places I belong are either in a lab or on the battlefield. I am a weapon, a shield, a commander of armies, and above all else a tool for mankind. I am a high lord. However, while you also used to be a high lord you seem to be adjusting to this new way of life fairly well. That just goes to show that I am not like you. Unlike you, I’m barely even a person and I am perfectly aware of that fact and am just fine with it. That’s just my lot in life. The standard life of a civilian: having a job, a house, friends, a family, and whatever the hell else civilians do, I honestly have no fucking clue. Regardless, none of that is for me. Period.”

“Gerhardt, that sort of mindset is not healthy… Gods above, is this how you’ve thought of yourself for the past nine centuries?! No… No this is not okay. I’m scheduling you a therapy session for next week.” Isabelle stated, still trying to process everything Gerhardt just told her. This was by far the most in depth look into his psyche that she had ever gotten and as a medical practitioner what she learned absolutely horrified her. His mind was an absolute mess, he didn’t even consider himself a person! Was this what over eight hundred years of constant war did to someone?

“Why? That seems like a massive waste of time. I don’t need therapy, I’m perfectly fine.”

“No, Gerhardt, you are not “fine.” As the former high lord of the Medical Branch, trust me when I say, you would not think of yourself that way if you were okay. I’ll come by your house tomorrow to discuss a proper time and date but for now I’ve got to go process all of this…” With that she turned and began walking away.

“I trust you will not tell Pixel or anyone else anything we discussed here today?” Gerhardt called after her.

Pausing she looked over her shoulder at him, “No, Gerhardt, of course I won’t. I’m not so cruel as to tell a little girl that her father doesn’t truly love her and legitimately regrets ever making her.” She then looked forwards once again and continued on her way.

Gerhardt watched her leave. Once she exited the factory he turned to the eight combat golems and proceeded to double check them before packing each of them into large wooden crates and bringing them back to his lab. He put all of them in his storage shed for the moment, but planned to bring them to his lab along the W,X,Y axis later that day for longer term storage.

After that he received a letter requesting he head to Los Pegasus to give someone a heart transplant, apparently it was an emergency. Thus he went to his factory and had it fabricate an artificial heart, then he opened a portal to Los Pegasus and went to do his job.

[Meanwhile]

Pixel sighed as she examined the wreckage of the two small one seat telekinetically propelled aircrafts she built for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The Cutiemark Crusaders had wanted to see if they could get their cutie marks in flying and had asked for her help, knowing her father would refuse to assist them. So since Scootaloo already had functional wings and could fly on her own, Pixel just built personal aircraft for the two non-pegasi.

The two planes only took a few days for her to build and they both worked perfectly. Or at least they used to before Scootaloo convinced Applebloom to do some reckless stunts with her plane that resulted in her crashing into Sweetie Belle, sending them both crashing to the ground. Fortunately, knowing what the Crusaders were like and having foreseen something like this happening, Pixel had limited the speed the planes could go and had installed several dozen safety features for numerous different possible outcomes. In fact she had spent longer working on the safety features than she spent on building the plane itself. So neither of them actually ended up getting hurt, but the planes themselves were severely damaged and were inoperable.

“We’re so sorry, Pixel! I really didn’t think Sweetie Belle was that close to me when I tried doin’ that reverse loop de loop!” Applebloom apologized.

Pixel looked at her and smiled. “It’s fine. All I care about is that neither of you got hurt. Anyways, I see none of you got your cutiemarks. That’s a shame… Did you have fun at least?”

Sweetie Belle nodded happily. “Mhm! Up until the crash it was a lot of fun! Now I’m sort of jealous that you and Scootaloo get to fly whenever you want. I wish I had wings…”

“Same. I would love it if you and Applebloom could come fly with me all the time.” Scootaloo agreed.

Pixel continued to smile at them. “Well, while I can’t give you wings like daddy can, I think I can fix up these planes for you! They’re pretty banged up though, so I’ll need a couple days. All I really want in return is for you two to promise to be more careful in the future, okay? While these things have a ton of safety features built in, that’s not an excuse to be reckless and risk getting yourselves hurt in case the safety features all fail at once for whatever reason.”

“Really?! Thank you, Pixel! I promise to be as safe as I can!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly.

Applebloom nodded in agreement. “Yeah, thanks! I promise, too!”

“I’m glad. Well, I’ll get them fixed up as soon as I can.” Pixel opened a portal to the backyard of her house and levitated the two wrecked planes through it for her to deal with later.

“So, do ya have any plans for later today?” Applebloom inquired.

“Me?” Pixel inquired.

“Yup!” Applebloom nodded.

Pixel shook her head. “No, not really. I guess I was thinking about heading over to Sugarcube Corner or using the new portal arch and heading to a restaurant in Canterlot or something, but that’s about it. Why?”

“It’s the Runnin’ of the Leaves today and the three of us plan to try participatin’ this year. And since your Pa gave ya Earth Pony augmentations I thought I’d ask you if ya wanna participate too! After all, those leaves aren’t gonna get off them branches on their own!” Applebloom explained with a large smile on her face.

Pixel grimaced. “Oh… Uh… I would but Daddy said I wasn’t allowed to use my new Earthpony magic to affect plants…”

All three Cutiemark Crusaders stared at her in confusion. “Wha…? Now that just makes no darn sense! Why’d he give ya them fancy augmentations in the first place if he don’t want ya usin’ ‘em?”

“Well, I am allowed to use the enhanced strength and speed, I’m just not allowed to control plants. I can also use my pegasus augmentations for whatever I want as long as I don’t mess with any clouds that are too large or try to manipulate the weather. He’s worried I might anger the nature spirits that live in the Everfree if I do.”

“Pffft… Us ponies have been doing both of those things for thousands of years and no nature spirits have ever gotten angry at us.” Scootaloo scoffed. “It’ll be fine.”

“But Daddy said I’m not allowed…” Pixel muttered uncertainly. She was feeling extremely conflicted at the moment. On the one hand she really didn’t want to disappoint her friends, on the other hand she didn’t want to disobey her father. She had never broken any rules before and found the prospect of doing so quite intimidating.

“Come on, Pixel, it’s a Ponyville tradition. You gotta come!” Sweetie Belle pleaded.

“Mmm… I… mmm… Okay… Just don’t tell Daddy…” Pixel finally relented.

The Crusaders cheered happily. “Don’t you worry one bit, Pix, our lips are sealed. Yer Pa won’t know a thing.” Applebloom promised.

[Later]

Natura watched the yearly “Running of the Leaves” as those vermin called it in complete and utter hatred and loathing. She yearned to rip them all to shreds and impale them with vines and roots, to strike them all down with lightning, to send her now significantly empowered constructs or a few possessed beasts to rend them limb from limb. But she didn’t… Not yet, at least. It was still much too early. The bindings placed on her by that damned draconequus fifty thousand years ago were loosening more and more with every passing day. Soon the day would come where Discord’s bindings would be gone and she would be free to shred the significantly weaker bindings placed upon her by that upstart Spirit of Harmony with impunity. But that day was not today, much to her fury.

As she watched the loathsome equines twist and manipulate her for their own ends, completely helpless to stop it, she spotted something she hadn’t expected. The little metal ape masquerading as an organic being with its false skin, Pixel, was participating in the damnable event. Even more surprising she could feel it emanating the same accursed magic as the gods forsaken equines, forcing her to drop the leaves of her trees against her will.

She found this turn of events genuinely shocking. The large metal ape, Gerhardt, had made it very clear when he visited her forest that he had no intention of manipulating her like the Equines. In fact when her newest and dearest friend Zecora had informed him of what the Equines were doing to her, he had seemed downright horrified. ‘As he should.’ She couldn’t help but add mentally. He even helped Zecora befriend her, for which she was genuinely grateful.

So her targeting him and his child was by no means about her wishing them any harm. Far from it. She held absolutely no ill will towards them. It was just business. Her only reason for attacking them was that her saviour, Silvanus, hated them for some reason and had asked her to help him get revenge on them. And since she owed Silvanus immensely for aiding her, attacking them was the least she could do in return for her freedom. In fact, due to her being grateful for the large metal ape’s assistance in Zecora befriending her, she actually planned on letting him and his child escape with their lives after mauling them a bit.

She knew they were significantly more durable than normal animals and could survive having most of their bodies destroyed. However, Silvanus didn’t know that she knew that. So she had planned on wrecking their bodies to a point that would kill an organic being then letting them escape and lying to Silvanus about having thought they were dead. In fact her recent attack on the little metal ape was an attempt to scare the two of them into moving as far away as possible so she wouldn’t have to hurt them any more than that once she did finally get free. That attempt had clearly failed, but the point remained.

So upon seeing the little metal ape participating in this abhorrent event and controlling her just like those damnable equines, she felt hurt. Almost betrayed even.

She had known the large metal ape had altered his child to have the traits of the winged equines and the wing and hornless equines, but up until this point the little metal ape had been completely respectful and responsible with her abilities. She hadn’t tried controlling Natura like the Equines did. Sure she would move a little cloud up to the stratosphere to play with it every now and then, which Natura did find a bit annoying but was willing to overlook, but those clouds were never very large and she never tried to manipulate the weather or anything to that effect. Natura had also sensed the magic of the wing and hornless equines within the little metal ape, but until now she had only ever used the part of that magic that enhanced her physical capabilities.

Granted this was the only time the little metal ape had ever used its magic to manipulate Natura’s plants, so in almost any other circumstances Natura would have let her off with a warning so long as it wasn’t on a significant scale. However, not only was she manipulating the natural processes of plants she was actively participating in an event the accursed Equines held every year where they forced Natura to bend to their will. And it was on a scale that was far too large for Natura to be willing to accept.

So as she watched the little metal ape run her feelings of hurt and betrayal slowly turned to feelings of rage and hatred. The exact same rage and hatred she felt for the equines who had enslaved her for millennia. She wanted to eviscerate the little brat.

‘How dare she? How dare she?! HOW DARE SHE DO THIS TO ME?! I WILL DESTROY HER!’ Natura raged mentally.

Gerhardt, the large metal ape, and Isabelle, the large fleshy ape, had yet to betray her like this so she would still spare them once she got free. At least until they betrayed her as well. Pixel, the little metal ape, on the other hand was going to die a horrific death alongside the Equines just like the little bitch deserved.

Silvanus also watched as Pixel participated in this event, and honestly? He couldn’t be happier with this turn of events. He could sense Natura’s hurt and betrayal and eventually her rage and hatred. He was now absolutely certain that Natura planned to kill the stupid tin can. So even if she didn’t kill Gerhardt he would be content in knowing Gerhardt would be devastated when he was forced to watch his daughter die right before his very eyes.

It was almost enough to put him in a good mood… Almost… Unfortunately the way the war was going on Earth was preventing any good mood he may have been able to have. Other gods on all three sides had officially gotten involved and it had turned into a massive clusterfuck of unprecedented proportions.

The Mid Gods incharge of this galaxy had already started taking notice of what was going on. And if they had started to take notice then the Greater Gods had definitely noticed and would likely intervene sooner or later. So at this point Silvanus had accepted that he was screwed, but that just made him all the more determined to kill as many humans as he possibly could and destroy as much of their society and culture as possible before he was inevitably banished from the mortal realm forever

Author's Note

Alright, this is the shortest chapter yet. I am aware of that and I sincerely apologize. To make up for it I will be trying to post another chapter as soon as possible. Hopefully I can get it done by tomorrow or relatively early the next day.

Anyways, so things are starting to get set up! Gerhardt's starting to build his own combat golems and such, Natura now absolutely hates Pixel and legitimately wants to kill her, and there is a full scale war between gods going on in Gerhardt's world. Things can only get better from here... right?

Also, I think I've decided to change Gods with no prefix to Mid Gods, because just calling them "Gods" is a bit confusing when you have three different classes of gods all together.

Fun Fact: In MLP Spirits can actually be created rather than just spawning naturally like Discord and Natura did. The prime example of this is how the Pillars crated the Spirit of Harmony when they made the Tree of Harmony.

So on a semi-related note I actually have a bit of a question. Do you guys believe that because of all the technology Gerhardt will be introducing into the world a Spirit of Technology should form naturally due to how strong the Equestrians' concept of technology will become? This is 100% post Natura getting free. I'm thinking late season 4 at the earliest, maybe season 5 or 6. So just keep in mind this is for way later in the story. Certain existing characters may die off or new ones might be introduced by that point.

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!