“Do not point that gods forsaken rifle at your allies you fucking half-wit! Are you insane?!” Gerhardt roared at one of the soldiers he was training to use the new weapons and armor Prince Shining Armor had commissioned him to produce for them. He had erected a barrier between the two soldiers the moment he saw one of them pointing their weapon at the other so no one would get killed in the event of an accidental discharge. He was now shouting at the soldier who pointed their weapon at the other like he used to shout at fresh recruits who had just fucked up majorly during training exercises.

“These are not fucking toys you idiot! They are lethal weapons! One shot is enough to kill someone! If that weapon had undergone an accidental discharge before I created that barrier, the soldier next to you would be dead! Do you want that?! Do you want to kill your fellow soldiers?!” Gerhardt berated the pony furiously.

“N-no…” The pony muttered in response, cowering slightly.

“What was that?! Speak up! You are a soldier, damn it! Start acting like one!”

“No sir!” The soldier shouted back, tears welling up in his eyes.

“I didn’t think so! So you are going to repeat back to me the rules of gun safety, now!”

“Yes sir! Treat every gun as if it’s loaded! Always point your gun in a safe direction! Never point your gun at something you don’t intend to shoot! Be sure of your target and what’s beyond!” The soldier recited back to him the rules Gerhardt had just taught all of them.

“Good, now tell me exactly why you thought it was a good idea to point your weapon at another soldier! Did you think that was a safe direction or did you intend to shoot him?!”

“Neither, sir! The safety was on so—”

“The safety was on? The safety was on?! THAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?! I DON’T GIVE A DAMN IF THE SAFETY IS ON OR NOT! YOU ARE TO NEVER POINT THAT GODS DAMNED WEAPON AT SOMEONE UNLESS THEY ARE AN ENEMY AND YOU INTEND TO KILL THEM! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!”

“Y-yes, sir!” The soldier responded, now visibly trembling with tears streaming down his face.

Prince Shining Armor nodded, satisfied by the response. “Good. I’m glad that’s cleared up. You’ll be polishing all the weapons and dress armor in our arsenal for the next two months for this little stunt. Never let me hear about you doing something so stupid ever again or next time I won’t be so lenient. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir!” The soldier responded.

“Good. Return to your training exercises.”

The soldier turned and immediately returned to practicing field stripping his weapon.

“Sweet Harmony, this is embarrassing… Sorry about that, Gerhardt. I thought they were all trained better than this…” Shining Armor said as the two of them walked a short distance away from the soldiers.

“It’s fine, Prince. There’s no accounting for stupidity. Honestly, I’m more worried about how he reacted when I was yelling at him. He seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. How can he be expected to maintain his composure in combat if he starts crying just from something so simple as me yelling at him?”

“I agree with you, that’s very worrying. I might have him sent back to basic or dismiss him from the military all together if we can’t get that sorted out. Well, other than that, what do you think of my soldiers so far?”

Gerhardt let his gaze scan across the two separate groups of soldiers. One of the groups was practicing removing their weapons from their armor for maintenance then proceeded to take them apart and put them back together again, repeating that process over and over again. The other group was practicing by shooting at targets Gerhardt had set up for them. After a moment his gaze returned to the Prince and he said, “In my Kingdom they would all still be recruits. They do try, I will give them that, but none of them are prepared for any real combat. Well, at least not at the level of combat that my world usually operates on. By this world’s standards they should be fine since I don’t expect you to wage any massive bloody wars any time soon. So for things like defending your city from beings such as the Changelings or King Sombra, they will suffice.”

“Hm… I’m not sure whether to be glad or disappointed… Well, hopefully we’re never going to be fighting anything from your world so I suppose that’s fine. This is all more of a precaution anyways. Hopefully nothing else happens and they never have to use any of these weapons in the first place. Speaking of, do you have an ETA on those defense turrets, artillery platforms, mobile barrier generators, and tanks we discussed?”

“About four to six months. These things are all quite large so I have to have my factory produce more construction golems to build them since I don’t have a skilled workforce who knows how these things work or how to put them together and they’re all too large for my factory to produce. I certainly don’t have the time to build them all by hand and even if I did it would take far longer for me to build them myself rather than having dedicated construction golems do it for me. Especially since unicorn augmentations have allowed me to create construction golems capable of casting spells and enchanting objects like a fully fledged technomancer.”

“And how long do you think it will take you to train my soldiers to use them once they’re all complete?” Shining Armor asked, watching his soldiers train.

“About a day for the mobile barrier generator, the main thing is that they’ll need quite a bit of practice driving them even after they know how to use them. Two days to teach them how to control the defense turrets. I’ll have to make virtual reality training simulations for the tank crews since it will take around five months to fully train them and I don’t have the time to do so myself. Same for the artillery platforms. Though they should get some practice with the real thing after they pass the simulations with scores of 98% or better. Anything below 98% and they’ll need to repeat the parts of the training simulations they failed until they can pass with 98% or better.”

“Understood. So, on a more casual note, I heard you were starting to sell things other than just augmentations and medical equipment, is that correct?”

“Ah, indeed it is. I noticed that the requests I was receiving for augmentations were starting to slow down so I decided I needed a more sustainable source of income. So, while I’m not exactly certain what companies sold to civilians back in the Human Kingdom, I am selling things I believe might be useful. Radios, cellphones, computers, and fountain pens. I’m sure things like radios already exist here and I’ve already seen and read about primitive computers, however I believe my radios are more than sufficient to compete with those already being sold, they most certainly have higher sound quality. Furthermore my computers are significantly more advanced and are several hundred decillion times more powerful than the most powerful supercomputer ever produced by you ponies. Granted, they are quantum computers and are thousands of years more advanced so that isn’t saying much but I was prioritizing size and affordability over raw computing power when designing them.”

“Oh that’s nice…? Uh… Sorry, I don’t know the first thing about computers or what they’re used for so I can’t really comment on that. Er… What’s a cellphone?”

“It’s a multi-purpose long distance communication device. Mine have advanced calculators that can calculate equations in all mathematical systems I know, they can teach an individual how to write programs, and they can also be used to write programs after the individual in question learns how to write them. Mainly because I have no idea what other functionality to add to them so giving people the ability to write their own programs for their phones, as well as their computers, just seemed wise. So just think of them as computers that allow you to call others and have conversations even when you’re both on opposite ends of the world from each other. Right now the range will be limited since I don’t have any satellites in orbit so only people in Equestria will be able to call each other for now, but I’ll be working on that soon enough. I hope to put a satellite or two into orbit by the end of the year.”

“That actually sounds pretty useful. I’d like to be able to talk to Twilight and my parents a bit more often.” Shining Armor nodded.

“Indeed. Well, if there’s nothing else I suppose you should be able to oversee their practice from here so I should probably be going now.”

“Wait, before you go I just remembered. What about those other simulators we discussed? You know, the ones that will simulate active combat in your world?”

Gerhardt grimaced. “I have made exactly one for your personal use… Prince, I still don’t believe this is a good idea. I mean, if it was a normal simulation I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but you requested I make it as realistic as I possibly can. That means I have had to design it to utilize mental illusion magic to force the user to believe that the simulation is 100% real… I don’t believe that you or your soldiers are mentally prepared for this in the least…”

“Come on, Gerhardt. I’m willing to try it out first before any of my troops. If I can handle it then I’m sure they’ll be able to as well. I know you doubt our capabilities since our world isn’t as violent as yours, but give us a chance. We’re tougher than you think.”

“… Very well…” He muttered reluctantly. “I’ll go retrieve your simulation device from my lab. I’ll meet you in your castle in about two hours, when I assume your soldiers' practice with their new armor and armaments should be over for the day. Oh, and I would strongly recommend getting as much practice with them yourself as you possibly can in that time. You’re going to need every last bit of it for the simulation… Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that Gerhardt disappeared in a flash of copper light, having finally figured out a functional Arcane Equation for teleportation that wouldn’t result in catastrophic teleportation failure. Back in his lab he continued to conduct research and experiments into figuring out the mechanism behind how the princesses became demigods until it was time to return to the Crystal Empire.

Grabbing the VR combat simulation device with telekinesis, Gerhardt teleported back to the Crystal Empire with it in tow and met Shining Armor back in his castle as he said he would.

“Alright Prince, where should I put this?” Gerhardt inquired, motioning to the machine behind him.

“Just follow me. I know a room that isn’t used for much. There shouldn’t be any real interruptions there.” Shining armor then led him to a storage room. There were a few objects and such inside, but nothing major.

Gerhardt set the machine down in the middle of the room. “Alright. Let’s get this over with, lay down on the device. We’ll begin the simulation immediately.”

Shining Armor nodded and climbed up on the machine before laying down on it.

“Good. Now I am going to place this helmet on your head. There are cursed crystals in the part that will cover your horn to prevent you from using magic. Now don’t worry, you’ll still be able to cast whatever spells you want inside the simulation, the only difference being you will be as powerful as an average mage from my world. These crystals are just a safety precaution to ensure you don’t accidentally destroy anything while you’re inside. You’ll also be paralyzed so you don’t accidentally hurt yourself trying to thrash about. Now, just so you're aware none of what you’re going to see will take place in my world. Rather, you have a choice between the simulation taking place in Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, or Ponyville. I will be watching the entire thing through an illusory monitor, so I will see and hear everything you see and hear. The machine will also be monitoring your vital signs. If your heart starts beating too fast or if you get killed in the simulation, the machine will shut down and you’ll immediately be freed from the illusion. Now, before we begin, do you have any questions or concerns?”

“Nope. Put me in. I know Canterlot far better than the Crystal Empire or Ponyville so let’s start there.”

“Very well. The enemies you face in the simulation will be randomly selected from a list of beings from my world. Included on this list are: the Serpents, the Orcs, the Ogres, the Trolls, the Ghouls, certain types of spirits, certain types of Fae, rogue mages, and rogue sapient golems. Creatures that are not included for your own mental wellbeing and the fact you lack the knowledge or equipment to deal with them include: demons, undead, spirits of undeath, a select few types of Fae, and several other particularly harsh or grotesque variants of spirits.” Gerhardt explained as he picked up the helmet which was permanently wired into the machine and placed it on Shining Armor’s head.

“You aren’t going to remember any of this conversation until after the simulation is over but… Just try to be prepared for anything. Much of what you are going to see in this simulation is going to be quite horrific, as is the nature of war, and you are going to believe all of it is 100% real.” With that warning out of the way Gerhardt switched on the device and the simulation began.

[Shining Armor]

Shining Armor suddenly found himself in the streets of Canterlot wearing the new weapons and armor Gerhardt had made for him and his soldiers. Ponies were screaming in terror and fleeing for their lives all around him as artillery shells fell from the sky and bombarded the city. Lanky, pale, bipedal, clearly carnivorous monsters in black and red armor were rampaging through the city killing civilians and soldiers alike.

Shining Armor looked around in horror for a moment before steeling his nerves and retaliating against the invaders. The aiming reticle in his visor responded to his mental commands and pointed the gun mounted on his back at the nearest monster he could see. With a thought the weapon fired, shooting a 7.62 mm armor penetrating round at mach 8. The bullet hit the soldier and ripped straight through its armor, blasting a massive hole through its head spraying a mixture of blood, bone, and brain matter everywhere.

The sight shocked him for a moment. He knew these weapons were supposed to be lethal but he had no idea that the results would be so horrific. Gritting his teeth he forced himself to look away and not think about it. Canterlot was in danger, he didn’t have time to worry about this! Besides… They were doing the exact same thing to innocent stallions, mares, and foals all across Canterlot.

He created a magic barrier around himself to block any bullets that the enemy may shoot at him leaving only the weapon on his back exposed, and continued firing as he advanced on the enemies.

“This is Captain Shining Armor to anypony available to respond! I need a status report! Who the buck are these guys and where the buck are those artillery shells coming from?!” He demanded through the radio built into his new armor’s helmet. He wasn’t used to this freedom of communication on the battlefield at all but he barely remembered that he had it and decided to make as much use of it as he could.

It took a moment but eventually someone responded. “Captain, we have no idea who or what these creatures are! They have artillery cannons stationed all around the mountain and are bombarding us from all directions!”

“Buck!” Shining Armor cursed. Activating his radio he ordered, “All available pegasus units, get down there and take out those artillery platforms! I don’t care how you do it, just do it!”

As he continued to fight, eventually his shields were blasted apart by a powerful blast of arcane energy. Looking around he spotted one of the monsters in particularly ornate armor whose hands were surrounded by a blue aura.

Pointing at Shining Armor the monster cast another spell and unleashed a lethal beam of magic at him. Shining Armor jumped to the side to avoid it, and it exploded on the ground where he had been standing only moments before sending fragments of the stones that made up the streets flying like shrapnel. A few shards of stone slammed into his armor and bounced off, but one found purchase in a gap between the armor plates and stabbed into his leg, embedding itself into the bone. However, his adrenaline was so high he didn’t even feel it.

He fired his weapon at the enemy magic user only for the rounds to be blocked by a pitch black barrier that was impossible to see through. Several beams then arced out from behind the barrier towards him. In response he raised his own barrier to block the beams, however they all hit the barrier at once and caused it to collapse immediately.

The pitch black barrier fell and the enemy mage appeared taken aback that Shining Armor was still alive. It recovered quickly and gave him a wicked grin. “Oh… You’re tougher than you look, equine. That’s good! You shall make a fine sacrifice to Lord Erebus!” It said while continuing to attack him.

Shining Armor dodged and deflected the attacks. “Buck you, and “Erebus” too!” He retorted, firing his weapon at the mage.

The mage now scowled at him furiously, deflecting the bullets. “You dare insult the lead God of the Dread Pantheon?! I was going to kill you quickly, but now I will make sure your demise is as slow and painful as possible!”

“You’ll try!” Shining Armor growled back at the mage.

Their battle went on for several more minutes. Eventually Shining Armor got the upperhand by teleporting behind the mage and shooting him in the back. With the mage down Shining Armor proceeded to move on, trying not to think about how many “people” he had killed, to borrow a word that Gerhardt frequently used. He wasn’t even sure if that was the correct usage of the term, but he honestly didn’t care.

As he got deeper and deeper into the city he started to see things he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. The eviscerated corpses of ponies splayed out and hung up on makeshift racks and on hooks that had been forcibly embedded into walls. Stallions, mares, even newborn foals. It didn’t matter to these creatures whether their victims were young or old male or female, their mutilated corpses were hung out to rot regardless of age or sex.

Shining Armor was actually forced to remove his helmet so he could puke, the sights being too much for him to bear. He regretted it almost immediately as the smell of blood, death, and ruptured organs assaulted him, causing him to puke even more until there was nothing left in his stomach for him to vomit.

Taking a moment to recover he suddenly heard screams relatively close by. Throwing his helmet back on, he immediately rushed towards them. Rounding the corner he was greeted by the sight of a group of the monsters using things that could only be described as implements of torture that were very clearly made of bone to rip an entire family apart while they were still alive, foals and all. There was a small crowd of about twenty or so other ponies being held at gunpoint, likely destined to meet the same fate as that family if those monsters weren’t stopped.

However, there was a very serious problem. Not only was Shining Armor out numbered but there were another two mages, one of whom was there helping conduct the ritualistic torture. So rushing in there to save them on his own was tantamount to suicide. He needed back up. But that put him in a bit of a conundrum as he couldn’t just wait for other soldiers to arrive to help him. There was no telling how long it would take for them to arrive and in that time not only would that one family die in the most horrific fashion he had ever seen, but other ponies could as well.

So after thinking for a split moment he finally came to a decision. “This is Captain Shining Armor to any nearby squads! Requesting back up on 27th street, ASAP! Please hurry!” Having made his request over the radio he immediately rushed forwards and began firing his weapon. He managed to kill three of the enemy soldiers including the mage who was in the middle of conducting the torture, having caught them off guard.

Unfortunately this advantage did not last as the enemy soldiers began returning fire moments later. He deflected most of the bullets with a shield until the mage cast a spell and shattered it. Then he was helpless to do anything for a few moments as he was riddled with bullets. Some of them were deflected by his armor but one particularly large caliber round slammed into his visor, shattering it and going straight into his skull. He didn’t even know what happened as his shield broke and everything suddenly went black.

[Gerhardt]

Gerhardt watched as Shining Armor jerked back to awareness, having just died in the simulation.

“What?! Where am I?! What just— Oh… That was a simulation… Right… Sweet Harmony that was awful! Gerhardt, what the buck were those things?! Is that sort of thing really something that happened back in your world?!”

“Those were Ghouls, and yes. That is indeed exactly how they behave. They are extreme carrion eaters who actually require the bacteria present in rotting meat for proper digestion, thus they eviscerate their victims and hang their mutilated corpses and entrails out to rot. They will sometimes do this in the middle of battle as a form of psychological warfare. They also worship a pantheon of particularly cruel gods of death, and thus ritualistically sacrifice their victims as a form of worship to their gods. You saw both of these things near the end. Horrible creatures, I know. You just got particularly unlucky with the random generation to have them be the first enemies you faced in the simulation. They are by far the worst foes you could have faced, bar the ones I have refrained from including in the simulation.”

“And the ones you didn’t include are even worse?! Gerhardt, what the buck is wrong with your world?!” Shining Armor exclaimed, still somewhat in shock from what he just witnessed.

“Many things, Prince. Many things…”

After taking a moment to calm down and collect his thoughts, Shining Armor said, “Put me back in.”

“What? But—”

“Gerhardt, put me back in! I know I can win, I just made a mistake, that's all.”

Gerhardt sighed and shook his head. “As you wish… You will more than likely be facing different opponents than the ghouls. Would you like to change the location?”

“Yeah, sure. Put me here in the Crystal Empire.”

“Very well. You will retain your memories of the previous simulation and the fact that it was a simulation, but you will believe it happened a few days prior.” Gerhardt told him before activating the machine once again.

[Shining Armor]

Shining Armor found himself in the Crystal Empire, wearing his new weapons and armor. Ponies were screaming in terror and fleeing for their lives all around him as artillery shells fell from the sky and bombarded the city. Long serpentine creatures with lizard-like forelegs and claws, and snake-like heads, wearing rather generic looking combat armor covering their entire bodies.

Remembering the simulation with the ghouls he underwent just a few days ago, Shining Armor didn’t hesitate to open fire. He knew this wasn’t a simulation but he wasn’t just going to stand by and let his people be slaughtered by these things!

“This is Prince Shining Armor! All pegasus and unicorn units, get to those artillery platforms and neutralize them! Everypony else, get as many civilians to the castle as possible! Princess Cadance will help keep them safe!” Shining Armor ordered, having learned from a few of his most major mistakes in the simulation. First and foremost being that he hadn’t taken Princesses Celestia and Luna into account and hadn’t given his soldiers anywhere to bring the civilians to keep them safe.

He really wished that Gerhardt had finished the vehicles, defense turrets, and artillery platforms they had discussed, he was sure that would have made getting rid of the enemy artillery a lot easier. The mobile shield generators would have also made getting the civilians to safety a lot easier.

“Prince Shining Armor, Princess Cadance is dead!” A soldier responded over the radio.

Shining Armor’s eyes widened in shock and horror. He could feel his heart breaking. “W-what…? How…? When…?”

“Just a few moments ago, sir! She was caught off guard by an enemy artillery shell!”

“No… Cadance…” Shining Armor muttered to himself, tears welling up in his eyes. After a few minutes his grief and sense of loss began turning to rage and hatred. Rage and hatred towards the serpents for killing his wife. He was going to make them pay!

Roaring furiously, he charged the serpents, his weapon blazing with fully automatic fire. So lost was he in his rage and grief that he didn’t even think to create a barrier to protect himself from incoming enemy fire. An armor piercing bullet struck him in the side and pierced his heart. Everything went black.

[Gerhardt]

“RAAAAAAHHHHhhhh… Wait… Simulation… Right… Gerhardt, what the buck?!”

“What do you mean?” Gerhardt inquired, genuinely not understanding what was wrong.

“Cadance died?! How could you program that into the simulation?!” Shining Armor exclaimed, ripping the helmet off and glaring at him furiously.

“It’s a combat simulation. It’s meant to train you for active combat. Having demigods fighting alongside you trivializes the experience and completely defeats the purpose of the simulation. Besides, you need to learn not to let your emotions get the better of you in the midst of battle. Just look at what happened in this simulation. You got angry, charged the serpents without so much as a second thought for your own safety, and you got yourself killed as a result of not creating a barrier to protect yourself. Though even if you did, you probably still would have died the instant you encountered an enemy mage due to your rage but the point remains.”

Shining Armor took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, but he still appeared quite upset. “Fine… After that, I think I’m done with that for the day…”

“As you wish. Though before you go, allow me to show you how the machine works so you can use it even without me here to operate it for you.”

Shining Armor got up and hopped off the machine. “Alright…”

Gerhardt then cast a spell and created two rings made of the black crystals he learned how to create from studying the crystals made by King Sombra and held on to them. Putting on the helmet Gerhardt layed down on top of the machine, which was almost comically small for him. Finally he slid the two black rings over his hands and onto his arms. His arms immediately fell limp as all magic was blocked from entering them.

“Apologies, the machine only works if someone is inside so I’ll have to be put into the simulation myself. Anyways, you see the illusory screen that appeared, yes?”

“I do.” Shining Armor confirmed.

“Good. It should display several options. Please select Ponyville for me then press start.”

“Alri—”

Gerhardt found himself in Ponyville. He was wearing very old fashion and out of date combat robes and was holding his personal combat rifle. He had no idea where the robes came from but he didn’t have time to think about it as he saw Ghouls rampaging through the town. Fortunately it didn’t seem like they brought any artillery. Then again, they didn’t need it given how small Ponyville was.

“Ghouls?! But how… Silvanus… That bastard!” Gerhardt growled. Scowling furiously, he raised his rifle, set it to fire bolts of arcane energy, and opened fire.

Casting a spell so his voice would be heard all throughout the town he said, “This is Gerhardt Mechanica. All citizens evacuate immediately. Do not try to fight the Ghouls. I repeat, do not try to fight the Ghouls! Just run!”

“Pixel, where are you?!” He demanded through his built in communication system.

“Daddy! I’m at school! Please help! I have a barrier keeping the monsters out but I don’t know how long I can hold it!” Pixel pleaded in a terrified tone.

Gerhardt teleported to the school and saw about ten Ghouls, including a mage trying to bust through Pixel’s barrier to get inside. Without a word he raised his rifle and fired, blasting the mage and four other soldiers to pieces with exploding bolts of arcane energy. The others turned and were about to begin opening fire on him, but he grabbed their rifles with telekinesis and ripped them from their grasp. He then finished gunning them all down.

“Pixel, they’re all dead. I’m here to get you and the other children the hell out of here!” He said through his built in communication system, not sure if Pixel’s barrier blocked out sound as well.

The barrier fell and Pixel came running out before wrapping her arms around him. “Daddy, I’m scared!” She sobbed.

“I know. This is a very scary situation, but you have to be strong alright? I’m going to get you and the others to safety.”

Seeing him, foals timidly came pouring out of the building. Some gasped in horror, others puked, and most started crying as soon as they saw the ruined corpses of the ghouls.

“Oh no… Everypony keep your eyes up and don’t look at the ground!” Miss Cheerilee said a bit too late as she also saw the corpses. She was also very clearly terrified by the situation. “Mr. Mechanica what’s going on?! What are these things and why are they attacking Ponyville?!”

“They’re called Ghouls. I don’t have time to explain much beyond that, just know that under no circumstances do you ever want to be captured by them.” He tried to open a portal to Canterlot but the portal he created just turned grey indicating there was some sort of interference. “Fuck! The Ghouls must have brought a device to jam portals to limit our escape options!”

He tried to teleport everyone to Canterlot but that failed as well. “Son of a… Both portals and teleportation are apparently impossible… Alright, I guess we’re doing this the hard way… Everyone gather together in a group, you too Miss Cheerilee. Pixel, you make a barrier to protect everyone. I’m going to lead you all to my factory. It should be safer there than anywhere else in Ponyville. Once we’re there I want all of you to find empty wooden crates and hide inside. No matter what you hear while hiding I don’t want any of you to make any sound whatsoever. No crying, no whispering, nothing. I’ll come get you when it’s safe. Understand?”

There were very scared nods and the ponies gathered together as he told them to. Pixel then raised a barrier to protect them all.

“Good, now follow me.” Turning around with his weapon raised, Gerhardt led them towards Ponyville where Equestrian soldiers were fighting the ghouls. He didn’t exactly remember selling such weapons or armor to Celestia or Luna, but he didn’t have time to question it.

A group of Ghoul soldiers began opening fire on the foals Gerhardt was trying to lead to his factory, but fortunately the rounds were blocked by Pixel’s barrier. That was also odd… Not only were they using ancient ballistic rounds but they were in ancient combat armor as well. That made no sense. Why would they be using such primitive technology? Why weren’t they even using so much as laser weaponry, which had existed for centuries?

He remembered that he had given Shining Armor a combat simulation device a few days ago. Finally it clicked. None of this was real. It was all a simulation.

Gerhardt suddenly found himself back in the Crystal Empire laying on the combat simulator. Sitting up he began to shake the crystal rings off of his arms. Once they were off, he removed the helmet and looked at Shining Armor who was staring at him in confusion.

“What happened?” Shining Armor inquired, confused as to why the simulation suddenly ended.

“There were too many oddities and I realized it was a simulation so the machine shut itself down… That should not be possible. The mental illusion magic should have prevented me from realizing it was a simulation no matter how many oddities there were. Fuck… I’m going to have to figure out what went wrong and fix it.”

“So if I had realized it was a simulation it would have ended like this as well?”

Gerhardt nodded. “Indeed it would have. I designed it that way since realizing it’s a simulation defeats the purpose of the mental illusion magic designed to make you think it’s all real. And apparently there was a very real possibility you could have realized it was a simulation, especially the second time you entered. That means this model isn’t usable… Damn… I’ll have a fully functional model for you by next week.”

“Well that’s disappointing. Alright, I’ll be waiting. I still want more of them to help train my soldiers, rough as fighting Ghouls may be.”

Gerhardt sighed. “I suppose if you insist, I will make more. Just be careful with them and don’t force them to go into the simulations more than three times a day.”

Author's Note

Fuck! I wanted to get this out yesterday at the latest, but I got stuck trying to figure out where to take this chapter. Ugh... Oh well.

Anyways, just so you all know I actually used an online random number generator to determine what enemies Shining Armor and Gerhardt would face in the simulations. Here's a link to the random number generator I used. So, I didn't mean for the ghouls to show up twice it was literally just RNG.

Fun Fact: The Human Kingdom also uses simulators like these to train their soldiers, but theirs aren't designed to make you believe they're actually real. So the simulations are exactly like this but the people going in are perfectly aware that it's just a simulation. Thus part of the reason Gerhardt was so reluctant about them. He would have been fine with them if they were like the Human Kingdom's combat simulators, but they aren't going to be. Hopefully none of the ponies actually get PTSD from the simulations but It's a genuine possibility.

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!