Two days had passed since Gerhardt had given Fluttershy the sentient golem known as Goldy. As per their deal, Gerhardt had informed Twilight that he was no longer busy at the moment. As such, there were two reasons why he was in Golden Oak Library at the moment. The first reason was that Twilight had scheduled another “friendship lesson” for today and told him to come to the library at this time. The second reason was that he would like to find any literature Twilight had available about these so-called “elements of harmony” as he wished to learn a bit more about them so he could know just how to incorporate them into the golem he would be building to be his “friend” (assistant).

However, he was already regretting coming over today. Not only were all of her friends here today but she appeared to be in the middle of tearing apart her library in a panicked search for various items. He had no idea why. On the bright side Fluttershy was no longer cowering in abject terror whenever she saw him, though she was still staying as far away from him as possible as she was still very clearly afraid of him.

“Where is my fountain pen?!” Twilight asked in a panicked tone. Rushing over to a bookshelf she appeared to find it and immediately launched it backwards like an arrow. Spike had to jump and catch it with a large bag and even then the tip of the pen pierced through the bottom of the bag. Levitating books off the shelves one after the other she said, “No, no, no, no! Ugh! I need the magical compendiums volume one through thirty six, where is it?!”

Gerhardt was starting to debate whether he should just return to his lab or not.

Finally Twilight seemed to find what she was looking for. It was an absolutely massive tome which she pulled off the shelf and immediately dropped on top of Spike.

Seeing the little Equestrian dragon trapped underneath the heavy book, Gerhardt cast a quick telekinetic spell and lifted it off of him before setting it back down directly next to him. Spike gave him a grateful look while Twilight didn’t even seem to notice.

“Flash cards! I should make some flash cards!” She exclaimed in sudden realization. Finding the flash cards in a drawer, she quickly levitated them over to Spike and said, “Spike, I’m going to need you to quiz me on everything! Everything I’ve ever learned! Ever!” Looking at the stack of cards that Spike was holding she said, “That isn’t gonna be enough cards.”

“Twilight, calm down. It’s just a test.” Spike stated.

Twilight immediately stopped what she was doing, looked at Spike and asked, “Just a test?” Bolting over to him she shouted in his face, “Just a test!” Walking closer to Spike and forcing him to back up against a bookshelf she continued, “Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam and you’re telling me to calm down because it’s just a test?!”

Reaching off to the side Spike somehow grabbed a set of pillows and an ancient army helmet that Gerhardt hadn’t seen a moment ago before putting them on as a sort of protective gear before raising a claw and saying, “Yes?”

Seeing Twilight’s horn start to glow, Gerhardt immediately conjured up a bubble shaped shield around Spike and proceeded to create a large barrier to protect himself and the others.

“I’d say she’s handlin’ things pretty well, considerin’.” Applejack said to Rarity.

Gerhardt was very glad that he put those shields up as there was a large magical explosion that felt as though it had launched the entire library high into the air, as Twilight groaned in rage.

A little while later Gerhardt was standing around with Twilight’s friends at a train station in Canterlot, wondering just how in the infernal realm he had gotten roped into this. Twilight’s friends getting roped into it he understood, sort of anyways, but why him of all people? He wasn’t one of Twilight’s friends, at least he didn’t consider himself one, so why should he give a damn whether she passed some test given to her by Celestia or not? He didn’t understand, but either way they, or Twilight to be specific, had ended up dragging him to Canterlot along with them for some reason he couldn’t possibly even begin to fathom.

As they waited for Twilight to return Gerhardt mainly stood away from the rest of the group and didn’t attempt to engage in any sort of conversation unless one of them spoke to him first, which most of them didn’t except for Pinkie Pie who seemed incapable of shutting up. After about thirty minutes Twilight and Spike finally returned though Twilight was looking somewhat dejected leading Gerhardt to believe she failed whatever test Celestia had given her, which he found quite shocking considering how well she did in their lessons on technomancy.

“Uh… Prepared for what exactly?” Spike inquired as they stepped onto the platform.

Before Twilight could respond Applejack exclaimed, “Twilight!” Before all but pouncing on her and wrapping her neck in what appeared to be a bone crushingly tight one armed… legged embrace for a moment before immediately releasing her and asking, “Did ya pass?”

“Are we gonna celebrate your awesomeness with Princess Celestia?!” Pinkie Pie inquired, rolling out what appeared to be a very primitive cannon that Gerhardt knew for a fact had not been there a moment ago. Pinkie Pie jumped into the air right as the cannon shot out a bunch of colorful bits of shredded paper.

“Not quite.” Twilight responded.

Pinkie Pie froze mid air for a moment before she fell back to the ground and all the bits of shredded paper seemed to get sucked back into the cannon by some unseen mechanism. Gerhardt wracked his brain trying to figure out how in the infernal realm she had managed to do any of what he just saw her do. By all accounts some of it should not have been physically possible.

“We’re going to the Crystal Empire!” Twilight declared.

“““““Huh?””””” The other five began muttering in confusion.

“Riiiiight. Well… You seven go have fun with that. I’ll just be going now.” Gerhardt said before opening a portal back to his lab and starting to walk towards it. Suddenly a purple aura enveloped him and lifted him off the ground.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re coming with us!” Twilight stated in a tone that brokered no argument.

Gerhardt sighed in reluctant acceptance. It wasn’t exactly like he had much better to do other than dig until his next shipment of materials arrived, but he still just didn’t understand why he of all people was being dragged into this. “Gods… Why am I coming with you? What reason could you possibly have for dragging me into this?”

“Well, your friendship lesson for one thing. We scheduled it for today and I think this might potentially be a good opportunity for you to learn about friendship. Both Celestia and I agreed on that point, though admittedly she did seem somewhat reluctant to let you come for some reason.” Twilight explained.

“If she was reluctant to allow me to join you then I would assume it's probably for one of two things. One, she’s afraid I might hurt someone — which is completely ridiculous unless they attack me first and I believe they pose a significant enough threat to me —, or two, she’s worried I might ruin your test somehow, whatever it may be. Regardless, if you insist I shall not resist as I have little to nothing better to do at the moment. ” Gerhardt said, before casting a spell to counter Twilight’s telekinetic hold on him. Once he was back on the ground he turned and began walking towards the train.

The ride took quite awhile but eventually the train slowed to a stop and the doors opened, revealing a snowy wasteland. As the ponies began to exit the train car Rarity smugly said, “Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves.”

Spike, who was carrying Rarity’s veritable mountain of luggage as he was exiting behind Rarity said, “I didn’t say a word.” He then slipped on some ice and dropped all of Rarity’s luggage. One of Rarity’s overstuffed suitcases popped open as soon as it hit the ground and a few of her scarves started to be blown away by the wind. However, before they could go very far, Gerhardt grabbed them with telekinesis and shoved them back in the suitcase before slamming it back shut. He then proceeded to climb out of the train and started moving to catch up with the others.

“Twilight!” A voice that sounded a lot like Prince Shining Armor’s shouted from a little ways in the distance.

“Shining Armor?” Twilight inquired trying to see past all of the snow that was falling.

Indeed, a few moments later Gerhardt could see who he immediately recognized as Shining Armor, wearing strange head wrappings with odd goggles, approaching them. “Twili, you made it!” Shining armor exclaimed as he removed his strange head wrappings and goggles. Both he and Twilight ran towards each other before embracing for a moment. As they released each other, Shining Armor said, "We’d better get moving. There are things out here that we really don’t want to run into after dark.”

Hearing that, Gerhardt reached into the top of his robe and pulled out his teleportation pistol before switching it off safety.

“What kind of things?” Fluttershy inquired in fear.

“Let’s just say, the empire isn’t the only thing that’s returned.” Shining armor stated ominously.

“Should I be expecting a fight, Prince?” Gerhardt inquired, holding the pistol pointed upwards and at the ready.

“Hopefully not, Mr. Mechanica. However, I think it would be best to remain on guard. I’m actually sort of glad you’re here, to be perfectly honest. While I don’t necessarily agree with how quickly you resort to using lethal force, if it does come down to a fight it’s good to know that somepony else is here who can actually hold his own, other than me.” Shining armor told him.

“I see…” Gerhardt muttered, suddenly a whole lot more interested in whatever was going on here. And not in a good way.

They spent a while walking through the wind and the snow before Shining Armor finally shouted over the wind, “Something keeps trying to get in! We think it’s the unicorn king who originally cursed the place!”

“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire! If King Sombra can’t get in then it must already be protected!” Twilight shouted back.

Suddenly a strange noise began resounding through the area and Gerhardt immediately began aiming his pistol in every direction trying to find where the noise was coming from.

Fluttershy gasped in fear and shouted, “Th-That’s one of the things, isn’t it?!”

“We have to get to the Crystal Empire, now!” Shining Armor shouted.

Suddenly a large black smoke-like mass with green and red eyes emitting another glowing purple colored smoke-like substance formed up out of the ground behind them. The others immediately began to run from the creature, Gerhardt did not.

Knowing his teleportation pistol would be completely useless against such a creature, Gerhardt put it away and instead raised a hand. An other worldly green aura surrounded his raised hand as he laced a particularly powerful combat spell with a bit of necromancy. Just as the massive shadow creature began to move, a large green sphere the size of Gerhardt’s head launched from his hand and slammed into it, causing it to screech in agony as strands of ethereal green energy shot out from the ball and began piercing straight through it and ripping it to pieces, tearing apart its very soul in the process.

He had no idea what in the infernal realm this thing was but it reminded him far too much of the horrifically warped and twisted shades created by that bastard Caedes near the end of the First Necromantic War for his liking. It very clearly was not one, if it was then Gerhardt’s copper body would already be corroding and would be starting to crumble just due to his mere proximity to it and it also looked a bit different than a shade. However it still resembled them closely enough for Gerhardt to make the comparison thus he instantly hated it with every fiber of his being and wanted it dead.

Without saying a word, Gerhardt raised both of his hands and they were both enveloped in the same ethereal green aura as he cast a war spell. Suddenly dozens upon dozens more of these ethereal green spheres of arcane energy began falling from fairly high up in the sky like a shower of small glowing green meteorites. Whereas combat spells were meant for killing either individual or small groups of targets, war spells were intended for obliterating large formations of enemies all at once. And the full fury of this particular war spell was directed entirely at this one creature. If it was anything like the absolutely monstrous shades that Caedes had created in the First Necromantic War, Gerhardt knew it would survive this. It would be hurt, but it would survive. Thus he began to prepare a follow up spell to finish it off if this wasn’t enough.

However, while it was still screeching in pain from the first orb which was still tearing into it but was visibly starting to lose power, it seemed to notice the new ones that were about to rain down on top of its head. Thus it vanished into the ice before reappearing a fair distance behind Gerhardt a moment later, at which point it seemed to begin chasing the ponies that were fleeing towards the Crystal Empire apparently seeing them as a much easier target than Gerhardt. As such the orbs from Gerhardt’s war spell slammed into the ground one after the other and immediately vanished as there were no souls in the ground for them to rip apart. Well that was certainly a full 25% of his energy reserves that went completely to waste.

Not wanting to let the shadowy abomination escape, Gerhardt immediately began sprinting after it as fast as his body could possibly go. His max speed being a full 115 mph thanks to his augmentations. His only issue at the moment was trying not to slip on all of the ice and snow due to the high speeds he was traveling at though he somehow managed to keep his balance, if only barely.

He reached the creature just in time to see Shining Armor slide to a stop and turn to confront the creature. Not really caring about the prince, Gerhardt enveloped his entire body in destructive necromantic magic and leaped at the creature and grabbed on as he slammed into it at 115 mph. This was done both in an attempt to redirect his momentum so he wouldn’t just slide past the damn thing as well as to further injure the creature. The shadowy monster roared in agony and began thrashing about violently in an attempt to shake him off. All the while Gerhardt pummeled it with strikes strong enough to split a man in half, the necromantic energy enveloping his body ensuring that each and every one of the punches connected with the creature’s shadowy form and its very soul.

Gerhardt was confident that he was going to kill it this way until it thrashed in a way that he didn’t expect and it sent him flipping end over end all the way to the snow covered ground. Before he could even try to get up it fired a beam at him. He tried to roll out of the way but the beam just ended up hitting him in the arm instead of the chest. Immediately large black crystals grew on his arm, piercing straight through his robes, and blocked any magic from entering it. This effectively killed that entire arm since it required magic in order to operate at all. Gerhardt raised his other arm in an attempt to cast another war spell but the creature just fired another beam at that arm too, rendering both of his arms completely inoperable.

Shining Armor attempted to shoot the creature with a primitive combat spell, however it did absolutely nothing to the amorphous shadowy creature which immediately responded in kind by firing a beam of its own at Shining Armor’s horn. Small black crystals began to grow on that too, rendering Shining Armor completely defenseless since he could no longer cast any magic.

Fortunately, Gerhardt had no such issue since his magic was in no way related to biology like a unicorn. He just preferred to channel it through his hands as that was simply what he was used to plus it was quite versatile considering his hands were at the ends of his arms and thus could be motioned or maneuvered in all sorts of ways. As such, since Gerhardt really didn’t feel like risking dying if one of those beams managed to hit him in the head a copper aura enveloped Gerhardt’s entire body — except for his arms — as he grabbed both himself and Shining Armor with telekinesis before levitating them both into the barrier at high speeds in an attempt to escape. The shadowy creature tried to shoot him down with another one of its beams but only managed to hit him in his left leg, rendering it inoperable..

Once they were both through the barrier Gerhardt slowed their momentum to a stop and dropped them both to the ground. Twilight looked over at them as soon as they were through the barrier and immediately rushed over to Shining Armor, saying, “Oh no! Shining Armor, your horn!”

Shining Armor tried to channel magic through his horn but the crystals just ended up blocking it. So he stopped and shook his head before he and Twilight both looked over at Gerhardt who was standing on one leg examining his now useless limbs a short distance away from them.

Gerhardt tried to grab his own hands with telekinesis in an attempt to see if he could at the very least manipulate them that way, but the crystals that were growing on his arms and hands blocked his spell. “Damn.” He cursed as he released the spell. It seemed that he was just going to have to use telekinesis for everything from picking stuff up to simple locomotion for a while. On the brightside, he had plenty of samples of these black crystals to bring back to his lab for study.

“Gerhardt! Are you okay?!” Twilight inquired as she and Shining Armor came running over to him.

Gerhardt sighed in frustration and said, “No, Miss Sparkle, I’m not. These crystals block magic and magic is what my entire body runs on. So I am currently completely incapable of using either of my arms or my left leg. Even worse, I am currently completely out of materials with which to build new ones to replace these back at my lab. So I am currently completely screwed until my next shipment of materials arrives and even then I’ll only have enough to spare to build a crude replacement for one of my arms. So it seems like I’ll have to use telekinesis for everything for quite a while. Fortunately these crystals only seem to block magic rather than absorbing it so my life isn’t in any danger. What about you, Prince? I saw you get hit. Are you injured at all?”

Shining Armor shook his head. “No. At least not nearly to the extent that you are. He hit my horn so I can’t use magic but that’s about it. I actually wanted to thank you for pulling me out of there when you did and say that you did far better out there then I did. You actually managed to hurt him whereas my spells couldn’t even so much as touch him. Speaking of which I’ve never seen magic like the kind you used out there before. What was that?”

“It is a very dark form of magic from my world that you are never to attempt to replicate and that’s all you need to know about it. That type of magic caused one of the largest disasters my world has ever seen because it fell into the wrong hands. Countless died, entire species of everything ranging from plants to sapient beings went completely extinct, and vast swaths of land were forever rendered completely uninhabitable. So much so in fact that if one were to set foot in those lands they would die in a matter of seconds and their desiccated flash-rotted corpse would be reanimated immediately afterwards from the extremely dense dark magic permeating the atmosphere and even the very soil. Do I make myself perfectly clear, both of you?” Gerhardt explained in a deadly serious tone, his eyes glowing a bit brighter than usual. While he was talking, he cast a mental illusion spell to make himself seem much more intimidating to them then he would otherwise.

Both of them gulped in fear and said, “Yes sir…”

“Good…” Gerhardt said in a bit calmer of a tone. He allowed his eyes to return to their default brightness and released the illusion spell. “Now that that’s settled, shall we go catch up with the others?” Grabbing himself with telekinesis, he began floating off in the direction the others had gone. It turned out they were all looking at a massive city that appeared to be made entirely out of crystals, way off in the distance. Not wanting to levitate himself over that entire distance, Gerhardt simply calculated a good spot close to the city to open a portal for them to walk through.

“It’s gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!” Rarity exclaimed as they walked through the city, or floated in Gerhardt’s case. She made excited noises as they continued to walk. “There are no words!” She gasped as she took in the sights.

“Focus Rarity. We’re here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery.” Applejack told her.

“Eh… I don’t see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me.” Rainbow Dash commented.

Rarity spluttered incredulously for a moment before saying, “Another old… Have you lost your mind?! Look at the magni—”

She was cut off as Rainbow Dash and Applejack began to chuckle to each other before clapping their forehooves together.

“Very funny.” Rarity muttered realizing it was just a joke.

Gerhardt examined the building and couldn’t help but think of what a waste it was. The entire thing was made out of a massive crystal that could be put to far better use if it were broken down and used to make who knows how many machines, which would be far more useful then having the crystal be used as a gods damned castle of all things. This entire city was just an absolutely disgraceful waste of useful materials in his personal opinion.

Though admittedly seeing all of this crystal made him wonder if he would be able to find another blue sapphire somewhere in this place that was large and clear enough to use as an eye so he could get rid of this damnable green sapphire. He didn’t care if it wasn’t as clear as his perfect lab grown sapphires as long as it was the same damn color so his vision wouldn’t have two slightly different tints! It was absolutely infuriating!

A few minutes later they were walking into the throne room of the ridiculously wasteful castle and saw Princess Cadance sitting on a throne made of even more crystal. She was now about as large as Princess Luna had been when Gerhardt first met her and her mane and tail had fully gained the same ethereal quality that both Celestia’s and Luna’s had. Gerhardt’s sensors also informed him that she was now far stronger than any full mortal could ever be, though she still had quite a ways to go before she was at peak magical fitness. Currently she also looked absolutely exhausted for some reason or another, and she appeared to be casting some sort of spell judging by the aura around her horn.

“Cadance!” Twilight exclaimed happily while walking into the throne room.

Upon seeing Twilight, Princess Cadance perked right up. With a large smile on her face she got up off of her throne, walked over to Twilight, and met her in the middle of the room. As soon as they were close enough to each other they began doing the most ridiculous and idiotic greeting that Gerhardt had ever had the displeasure of seeing in all his centuries of existence. He knew that may have been a bit of a harsh judgement but right now he honestly didn’t care. Given the fact that he couldn’t use his arms or his left leg and had no way to repair or replace them, he had no choice but to levitate himself around everywhere unless he wanted to hop on one leg, his left eye had a slightly different tint then his right eye, and the fact that he hadn’t actually managed to kill that gods forsaken shadow monster outside the barrier he was in a really foul mood at the moment.

““Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”” Cadance and Twilight both recited as they did some sort of idiotic dance. Once they were finished with their asinine greeting, the aura around Cadance’s horn flickered and she was visibly forced to concentrate in order to maintain whatever spell she was casting.

“One of these days we need to get together when the fate of equestria isn’t hanging in the balance.” Cadance sighed.

“Are you okay? Why do you suddenly look so much like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” Twilight inquired in a worried tone.

“Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra. As for why she looks like this… Well… We can discuss that a bit later. Though I will say that Mr. Mechanica is probably the one to thank in this particular case.” Shining Armor explained.

Suddenly a lot of the ponies were giving Gerhardt strange looks. He just rolled his eyes in irritation and ignored it. His sensors indeed indicated that Shining Armor was growing stronger as well, though his progress was much slower given the fact that he wasn’t a demigod. Gerhardt estimated that at his current rate of development Shining Armor would grow to be about as powerful if not slightly more powerful than he was in about a year’s time. Also, he could understand why Cadance was in the state that she was in at the moment. While she had grown significantly more powerful, she was still only a demigod which meant she was still part mortal. As such she still very much required sleep if nothing else. Food would definitely help a lot too but it shouldn’t be strictly necessary for her survival like it was for regular mortals.

“It’s alright Shining Armor, I’m fine.” Cadance said.

“She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen.” Shining Armor said in a grim tone.

“That’s why we're here.” Twilight stated.

“Why we're all here.” Applejack declared confidently, to which the others hummed their agreement.

“If we could find some way to get rid of these damnable crystals on my limbs, I could simply go back out there and kill it. It caught me off guard with this ability the first time, it will not do so again.” Gerhardt growled, still wanting to destroy this “King Sombra” creature.

The ponies from Ponyville shot him various looks, all of which he ignored, while Shining Armor just sighed and said, “I will admit that’s actually not a bad option considering what’s at risk if he regains control of the Crystal Empire, but considering what you told me and Twilight about the magic you were using against him and just how dangerous it is I would like to save that as a very last resort if at all possible. Though I would like to find a way to get rid of these crystals too, for both of our sakes.”

Gerhardt blinked in surprise and the ponies from Ponyville looked at Shining Armor in shock. “I will admit, considering how pacifistic you ponies tend to be, I was not expecting you to be so open to the idea. Though I will say, I completely understand your fears about the magic I would be using to stop it, better than you could ever know. As such I will respect your wishes and will not engage it in combat again unless there appears to be no other choice.” Gerhardt said with a hint of respect in his voice.

Shining Armor nodded at him appreciatively. “Thank you, Mr. Mechanica. Anyways, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies.”

“Crystal Ponies?! Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?!” Rarity asked in excitement. Then she appeared to realize that she was making a bit of a fool of herself and said, “Um, ahem. Please continue.”

“But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic.” Shining Armor finished explaining.

“A research paper!” Twilight Sparkle said in sudden realization.

“Huh?” Shining Armor asked in confusion.

“That must be part of my test, to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!” Twilight exclaimed happily.

“Yeah, who doesn't?” Rainbow Dash inquired, her voice thick with sarcasm.

“Oh-oh-oh! Lemme guess! Is it Spike? Nono, Fluttershy! Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked, pulling each individual she guessed over to her.

“Don't worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing.” Twilight said confidently.

Gerhardt thought this was completely and utterly asinine in the extreme. Why on earth would Celestia send Twilight out here along with her friends and him if all she needed Twilight to do was write a research paper as some sort of test? Twilight could easily do that on her own, not to mention how completely idiotic the entire concept was. A city is under siege by this “King Sombra” creature and Celestia’s oh so wonderful plan to save it was to send a civilian to write a gods damned research paper?

Why not come all the way up here herself and obliterate King Sombra in an instant or imprison him and be done with it? He knew damn well she could do so at any time she wanted considering the fact that she was a demigod and King Sombra’s power was only above average for a mortal mage. But no, instead she was willing to risk an entire city on some test for some civilian that consists of said civilian writing a gods forsaken research paper?! It didn’t make any damn sense to him whatsoever and it struck him as a stroke of sheer idiocy on the part of the princess. It was no wonder they nearly lost to the Changelings if this is how they went about dealing with threats.

All of the ponies except for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance began to leave the room before Twilight noticed that he wasn’t moving. “Come on Gerhardt, we could really use your help on this.” She said, motioning for him to follow her and her friends.

Gerhardt looked at her and said, “Actually, no, Miss Sparkle, you really couldn’t. If you’re planning to go around questioning the civilians that reside in this city as I suspect you are, then my presence would be more of a hindrance given my size and intentionally unsettling appearance and movements. I would be more likely to scare anyone you spoke with rather than actually contributing in any meaningful way. Not to mention the fact that I still cannot move my arms or my leg. Besides which this is your test. I have nothing to do with it. My time would be better spent here trying to find a way to get rid of these gods forsaken crystals and discussing with the Prince how best to prepare the defenses of this city in the event that the barrier were to fall and King Sombra were to get through. I was one of the leaders of my kingdom’s military for a little over eight hundred years after all, so I have plenty of experience in defending cities.”

“Oh… Uh… I guess I see your point… Well… Um… I guess we’ll see you later once we learn anything of any significance.” Twilight said, looking a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t be accompanying them. She then turned and began running out of the throne room in an attempt to catch up with the rest of her friends.

When she was gone Gerhardt sighed and looked at Cadance and Shining Armor. “I have no idea what Celestia is thinking, but if this has to be the single dumbest plan I have ever heard. Sending a civilian to write a research paper as some sort of test when an entire city is at stake? Gods above… Regardless, how many soldiers do you have stationed here at the moment, how many of them have started using the training methods and magical exercises that I have detailed for you, and do you have a map of this city?”

“You’re giving Twilight and her friends too little credit, they have saved Equestria on multiple occasions. Besides, they aren’t just normal civilians. They’re the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, which are by far some of the most powerful artifacts in all of Equestria. Anyways, to answer your questions there are absolutely zero soldiers stationed here. Well unless you count me in which case it would be exactly one soldier. As for a map, there might be one somewhere in the castle but if there is I have no idea where it is.” Shining Armor explained.

Gerhardt’s eyes dimmed significantly upon hearing this information. “Of course you don’t…” He sighed in exasperation. “Fuck… Alright… Miss Sparkle was telling me about these “Elements of Harmony” but I thought they were supposed to be philosophical concepts not actual tangible artifacts that she and her friends wield. I didn’t see any of them carrying anything of note, unless you count Miss Rarity’s scarves, so I don’t think they brought these artifacts with them. I strongly suspect I already know the answer but I still have to ask, is there any chance that these elements are located somewhere here?”

Both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance shook their heads. That was the exact answer he was expecting but really didn’t want to hear.

“Right… Please excuse me for a moment. I have a demigod to go yell at. If I do not return soon, then you can assume that I have probably angered her and am likely either dead or have been sent to prison.” Gerhardt said in a dangerously calm voice before opening a portal to Canterlot and levitating himself through it. Once he was through the portal, he closed it behind him and immediately cast a sound dampening spell on the door to the throne room so no guards would come rushing in to apprehend him as soon as they heard him start shouting at the Princess.

“CELESTIA!” Gerhardt roared, his voice extremely distorted with a very clear background hiss of static, though not to the point it couldn’t be easily understood.

Celestia who had been reading a scroll and had not noticed him until now jumped, very startled by this. Quickly looking to see who it was she started to calm down upon seeing it was just Gerhardt. “It’s just you, Mr. Mechanica… You startled me. How are things in the Crystal Empire, has something gone wrong?” Then she noticed the crystals sticking out of his arms and legs. “Oh…”

“Something wrong?! You’re asking me if something is WRONG?! YES THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG! WHAT IN THE NAMES OF ALL THE GODS WERE YOU THINKING?! THIS SO-CALLED “CRYSTAL EMPIRE” IS UNDER SIEGE BY A POWERFUL ROGUE MAGE AND THE ONLY ONES YOU SENT TO DEFEND IT WERE PRINCESS CADANCE AND PRINCE SHINING ARMOR?! YOU DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TO SEND ANY FUCKING SOLDIERS ALONG WITH THEM TO DEFEND THE GODS DAMNED CITY IN CASE THE BARRIER WERE TO FALL BECAUSE PRINCESS CADANCE COLLAPSED FROM EXAUSTION FROM NOT EATING OR SLEEPING! WHAT IN THE INFERNAL REALM IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Gerhardt roared furiously.

Celestia cringed in pain as the sheer volume of Gerhardt’s voice hurt her ears. “Now just calm down, I can see that you’re angry—”

Hearing that Gerhardt immediately cut her off, “ANGRY DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN TO COVER IT! I AM ABSOLUTELY FUCKING FURIOUS! NOT ONLY DID YOU LEAVE THAT CITY HORRIBLY UNDEFENDED, BUT YOUR ENTIRE PLAN TO SAVE IT WAS TO SEND A BUNCH OF CIVILIANS OVER TO WRITE A RESEARCH PAPER AS SOME SORT OF GODS FORSAKEN TEST! DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW MANY LIVES YOU ARE ENDANGERING FOR THIS YOU LUNATIC?!”

“What? I just told her that her test was to try to find a way to protect the Crystal Empire. She interpreted that as me wanting her to write a research paper?” Celestia said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Also, considering how you handle situations and the memories you showed me I really don’t think that you’re in any position to lecture me about endangering ponies lives, Mr. Mechanica. It is quite hypocritical. Besides, I have full confidence that Twilight and her friends will succeed.”

Gerhardt’s E.P.U. was starting to heat up from the sheer amount of pure unbridled rage it was currently being forced to process. “NO, THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE DEAD WRONG YOU PACIFISTIC BITCH! I HAVE NEVER ENDANGERED THE LIVES OF MY PEOPLE! NOT ONCE IN ALL MY CENTURIES AS A HIGH LORD DID I EVER DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD PUT INNOCENT LIVES AT RISK UNLESS IT WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT AND I HAD NO OTHER FUCKING CHOICE IF I WANTED TO LIVE OR IF I WANTED TO DEFEND EVEN MORE CIVILIANS FROM BEING KILLED OR WORSE BY WHATEVER WAS ATTACKING THEM AT THE TIME! I DID EVERYTHING WITHIN MY POWER TO DEFEND MY PEOPLE BECAUSE I ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT THEM, UNLIKE YOU CLEARLY!”

Celestia actually looked both highly offended and somewhat taken aback by this.

“FURTHERMORE, THAT IS BY FAR THE WORST REASONING FOR SUCH UTTER BULL SHIT THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD! YOU’RE CONFIDENT THAT SIX CIVILIANS WILL SUCCEED IN STOPPING A POWERFUL ROGUE MAGE SO YOU THINK IT’S OKAY TO PUT THOUSANDS IF NOT MILLIONS OF LIVES AT RISK?! WHAT IF YOU’RE WRONG AND THEY FAIL?! THEN EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO THE PEOPLE IN THAT CITY IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT BECAUSE YOU WERE OVER CONFIDENT IN THE ABILITIES OF A BUNCH OF FUCKING CIVILIANS! ANY LEADER WITH HALF A FUCKING BRAIN WOULD REALIZE THAT IT IS SIMPLY NOT WORTH THE RISK! ESPECIALLY NOT FOR SOMETHING SO UTTERLY ASININE AS A GODS DAMNED TEST FOR A SINGLE FUCKING PERSON! EVEN IF THEY DO END UP SUCCEEDING THE FACT YOU HAVE DONE THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE PROVES THAT YOU CARE MORE FOR THESE FEW FUCKING INDIVIDUALS THEN YOU DO FOR THE FATES OF THE ENTIRE REST OF YOUR PEOPLE!”

Celestia was visibly shaken by Gerhardt’s words and was starting to look somewhat uncertain but still said, “N-no. That’s not true at all! I am doing this for the sake of my little ponies. Twilight and her friends are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony—”

Gerhardt cut her off once again, “WHICH THEY DO NOT HAVE! I DON’T GIVE A DAMN HOW POWERFUL THESE ARTIFACTS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE, THEY ARE FUCKING USELESS IF THEY AREN’T AVAILABLE TO BE USED IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND DON’T LIE TO ME, CELESTIA! IF YOU WERE DOING THIS FOR YOUR PEOPLE THEN YOU DAMN WELL WOULD HAVE SENT MORE THAN JUST PRINCE SHINING ARMOR AND PRINCESS CADANCE TO PROTECT THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE BEFORE THOSE SIX HAD EVEN ARRIVED! THE FACT THAT YOU DIDN’T IS MORE EVIDENCE OF HOW LITTLE YOU CARE FOR THE SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF YOUR PEOPLE! BECAUSE IF CADANCE HAD COLLAPSED FROM EXHAUSTION BEFORE THEY HAD EVEN ARRIVED AND THAT BARRIER HAD FALLEN, THE CITY WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY DEFENSELESS! AND SHE IS ON THE VERGE OF THAT AT THIS VERY MOMENT, AND THOSE SIX HAVE NOT HAD NEARLY ENOUGH TIME TO FIND ANY WAY TO DEFEND THAT DAMNABLE CITY WHATSOEVER! SHE MAY BE A DEMIGOD BUT EVEN SHE NEEDS TO FUCKING REST!”

“B-but… Shining Armor is there with her… He… He should have been able to swap out with her in keeping the barrier up so she could rest… The Crystal Empire shouldn’t have needed anypony else to help defend it from King Sombra...” Celestia said, visibly growing more and more distressed.

“HE TOLD US TO OUR FACES THAT HIS PROTECTION SPELL WAS COUNTERED BY KING SOMBRA! MEANING ONLY CADANCE’S SPELL WAS EFFECTIVE AT STOPING HIM AT ALL MEANING SHE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT IS MAINTAINING THAT FUCKING BARIER! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT HIS HORN GOT HIT BY THE SAME SPELL THAT HAS RENDERED MY ARMS AND MY LEG FUCKING USELESS AROUND THE SAME TIME THAT I DID, MEANING HE CAN NO LONGER CAST ANY MAGIC WHATSOEVER! HOW IN THE NAMES OF ALL THE GODS ARE YOU NOT AWARE OF THE FACT THAT CADANCE IS THE ONLY ONE MAINTAINING THE BARRIER?! I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED YOU CASTING TELEPORTATION SPELLS SO I KNOW DAMN WELL THAT YOU COULD BE SENDING LETTERS TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE AND THAT PRINCESS CADANCE COULD BE SENDING LETTERS BACK HERE!”

Celestia was visibly regretting her recent decisions regarding the Crystal Empire. “W-well… Cadance can't really send any letters if she’s busy maintaining the barrier… Shining Armor should have been able to though so if things are so bad over there, I don’t understand… Sweet harmony… Mr. Mechanica, I realize that you’re very upset right now but would you be willing to open another of your portals back to the Crystal Empire? I… I need to fix this before Sombra can get through the barrier… I know a spell to get rid of the crystals on your limbs if that helps any.”

Gerhardt seethed for a few moments before sighing and saying, “I apologize for shouting at you, but… Gods… I have no words… This whole ordeal was a huge mistake on your part Princess. Remember that and learn from it so as to not make a similar mistake in the future. If you wish to test Miss Sparkle for whatever reason then do it in a way that does not put other’s lives at risk if she ends up failing, no matter how slim you think the odds may be.” His voice was still heavily distorted from the rage that he was now attempting to suppress, but he opened up a portal to the throne room of the castle in the Crystal Empire.

“No, no, I… To be perfectly honest… I’m pretty sure I deserved to be yelled at for this… You’re correct I should not have attempted to use this as a test for my student considering the stakes… or at the very least if I was going to I should have thought things through more and made better preparations… I will do as you suggest and try to learn from this… Thank you, Mr. Mechanica… I intended this as a learning experience for Twilight, but it ended up being a learning experience for me… Harmony… I can’t believe I did something so reckless.” Celestia said as she got up off of her throne and began walking towards the portal.

“We all make mistakes, Princess. I know that better than anyone, having made countless in my life and knowing that I will make countless more in the future.” Gerhardt said as Princess Celestia walked through the portal, his voice starting to sound a little bit less distorted. Once she was all the way through the portal Gerhardt walked through after her and closed the portal behind him.

Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor were both staring at him and Celestia in shock. “You actually went all the way to Canterlot and yelled at Princess Celestia…” Princess Cadance said in astonishment.

“That he did. My ears are still ringing from it. He can be surprisingly loud if he wants to. I’m actually surprised my guards didn’t come rushing in the moment he entered the throne room considering how loudly and angrily he shouted my name.” Celestia confirmed.

“I cast a noise dampening spell on the door specifically to prevent that very thing from happening. They couldn’t hear a thing that entire time.” Gerhardt stated unabashedly.

“Ah. That would explain it.” Celestia said, seemingly neither all that upset nor surprised by this revelation. “Mr. Mechanica, could you please stand or… float next to Shining Armor for a moment? I would like to only have to cast this spell once if you don’t mind.”

Without saying a word Gerhardt levitated himself next to Shining Armor before finally setting himself on the ground and standing on his one functioning leg. As soon as Gerhardt was back on the ground a golden aura surrounded Princess Celestia’s horn, her eyes began to glow, and she appeared to start radiating light. Said light then seemed to cause the black crystals on Shining Armor’s horn and Gerhardt’s limbs to crumble away and vanish as if they had never existed in the first place. The only signs that they had existed were the holes the crystals had poked through the arms of Gerhardt’s robe and the left leg of his pants.

With the crystals gone feeling returned to Gerhardt’s limbs almost immediately and he could once again move them. The holes in his clothes were somewhat annoying but he could deal with those for a while as they were mainly aesthetic. There was a chance his sleeves might rip off at some point while he was working considering how perforated they were, but he would deal with that if and when it happened. Maybe he could ask Rarity to repair the damage at some point after he eventually commissioned his formal uniform from her and had other clothes to put on first since, while he didn’t exactly have anything to hide anymore, he still found the idea of walking around everywhere without any clothes to be somewhat embarrassing.

“Good, I can move my limbs again. So, what now? Do you just take over maintaining the barrier for Princess Cadance and wait for Twilight and her friends to figure out a way to save this city as you had originally planned? Or do you already know of a way to save it and just want them to figure it out for themselves? Other than me leaving this barrier and hunting down King Sombra in order to kill him, of course, since the Prince has requested that we save that as a last resort considering how dangerous the magic I would be using is.” Gerhardt inquired, still trying his best to calm down from this whole debacle.

“Well… The main issue with the test I had in mind is the fact that Princess Cadance is the only one maintaining the barrier, which I honestly had not expected to be the case. I had thought that Prince Shining Armor would have been able to assist her.” Princess Celestia said, thinking about it for a moment.

“Hehe… Yeah… Sorry about that… King Sombra sort of countered my protective spell…” Shining Armor said, somewhat embarrassed by this fact.

“I know. Mr. Mechanica already informed me of this. It’s honestly my fault. I really should have expected that and thought this entire thing through better. Anyways, to answer your question, yes I believe that would be the best course of action at the moment. I honestly have no idea how to save the Crystal Empire so I was hoping Twilight and her friends would be able to find a way to do so. They have never failed in the past despite all the odds being stacked against them, so I truly do not expect them to fail this time either. I also sort of wanted you to learn a bit about friendship from working with them to save the Crystal Empire as well but I suppose that’s probably not going to happen given the circumstances. Oh well.” Celestia stated before a golden aura once again flared up around her horn. “Cadance, you have done extremely well in keeping the Crystal Empire safe for this long without any food or sleep, but I shall take it from here. Please go get something to eat then rest, you’ve more than earned it.” She said with a warm smile.

The blue aura around Cadance’s horn vanished and she sighed in relief. “Thank you, aunty. I’ll go do that right away. I feel like I could sleep for a week…”

Celestia chuckled and said, “I’m sure that Luna wouldn’t mind keeping you company in your dreams if you did, though I doubt you’ll need to.”

Princess Cadance walked up to Celestia and gave her a quick hug, which Celestia returned, before releasing her and heading out of the throne room. Shining Armor quickly followed after her.

Once the both of them were gone Gerhardt — having calmed himself down enough for his voice to have returned mostly to normal — looked at Princess Celestia and said, “Now, Princess, there is something you mentioned back in your throne room in Canterlot that I found somewhat odd. Now, I have come to realize that magic works a bit differently in a few ways here then it does in my world. However when I was yelling at you about teleporting letters between Canterlot and here, you seemed to suggest that it should be possible for Prince Shining Armor to do so as you, Princess Cadance, and Princess Luna can. In my world teleportation is impossible to use as a means of transport for anyone who isn’t either a god, a spirit, or a demigod like you and the other Princesses. The only thing it’s good for is making weapons, which is exactly how this weapon works.” He pulled out his teleportation pistol and checked to see if the safety was on. It wasn’t so he immediately switched it on.

With the weapon on safety again he continued, “It utilizes weaponized teleportation failure, making it extremely effective against pretty much all forms of armor. With all of that in mind, is it possible for mortals to use teleportation as a means of transport in this world or were you trying to imply something else?”

Princess Celestia gave him a confused look but said, “Yes? I know that Twilight uses teleportation quite frequently. Though since we’re asking questions I have a couple for you as well. First, how and why would magic work differently in your world then it does here? Second, just a moment ago you said something about the magic you would be using to kill King Sombra is dangerous, what do you mean by that exactly?”

Gerhardt sighed and put his teleportation pistol away before saying, “Damn it… I was really hoping you wouldn’t think to ask that first question. Let’s just say there is quite a bit more to it than me just being from another planet. I just didn’t want to tell anyone this because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. The fact that I am an alien is likely difficult enough to believe on its own, let alone the full truth of my origins. As for your second question, do you remember that second memory I showed you after the negotiations with Queen Chrysalis? The one with the reanimated corpses and ghosts? Since King Sombra appears to be ethereal and appears to be immune to most forms of attack, that's exactly the type of magic I would be using against him, though not exactly in the same way as what you saw in that memory. I wouldn’t be reanimating any of the dead or anything of that sort. No, instead I would be lacing that form of magic into combat and war spells in order to harm him and potentially even destroy his very soul, thus I would be destroying his very existence.”

Celestia gave him a look of abject horror. “You can do that?! Why can you do that?! What possible reason could you have for ever having developed such a horrific magic?!”

“First, I had nothing to do with the development of that type of magic. Well, not really anyways. Second, you do remember the ghosts from the memory I showed you, correct? They and several other forms of metaphysical undead are immune to everything but that particular form of magic yet they can still cause horrific destruction. Thus we had no choice but to invent spells to harm them, which unfortunately means destroying their souls since that’s all they really are. Souls bound to the physical world, forcibly made manifest, and enslaved through the most horrific and evil aspect of this magic. Unfortunately King Sombra appears to be in a similar state of etherealness as those undead thus the reason I would have to resort to such barbaric methods in order to kill him. I take no pleasure in destroying souls, Princess. I never have. I hate using this magic in such a way. It’s absolutely appalling to me. However, unfortunately sometimes there isn’t any choice.” Gerhardt explained somewhat remorsefully.

After pausing for a moment he continued, “Now, there are absolutely wonderful ways in which it can be used constructively that aren’t either lethal or morally reprehensible in the least as no form of magic is inherently evil, it all depends on how it’s used, but more often than not that good can not be used because it’s too dangerous to risk allowing this type of magic to spread due to the harm that can be done with it. That’s where the danger in it lies, in allowing the knowledge of how it works and how to use it to spread to others. Thus the reason I am so intentionally vague in describing it. I cannot trust anyone with it, not even you. If I am ever to die here in this world then better that it dies with me than allowing it’s use to spread due to the horrors that could be unleashed if it fell into the wrong hands, as it had in my world.”

“I see… That’s unfortunate. After hearing about all the bad that can be done with this magic I would have loved to see what sort of good can be done with it, but after what you showed me in that memory of yours and hearing what you have told me I completely understand why you are so cautious. In fact, I’m glad that you are as while I would love to see the good it can do, I would be absolutely devastated to have to deal with the harm it can cause in the wrong hooves.” Celestia said, still looking a bit disturbed but not nearly as absolutely horrified as she had a few moments ago.

“You have no idea…” Gerhardt sighed as he recalled the entirety of the events of the First Necromantic War. That was one issue with his augmentations, he could never truly forget anything no matter how much he desperately wanted to. Things could slip his mind temporarily as he focused on other things but he could never truly forget any of it. Technically he could just delete portions of his memories, but he had never done such a thing in the past and he had no intention of ever doing so in the future. After all, how could he learn from the past to ensure that history never repeats itself if he didn’t even remember it? Horrible as some of his memories may have been, deleting even the smallest portions of them was simply out of the question.

“Well, moving on from that… It seems as though we will have quite some time before Twilight and her friends can figure out a more permanent way to protect the Crystal Empire. So I have another question. I realize it may be a rather long story but since you were talking about the differences in magic between your world and this one I started wondering, just how and why is it that you ended up here in the first place? I remember you mentioning that you were banished here by somepony but not much else I’m afraid.” Celestia inquired.

Gerhardt frowned slightly and said, “I would rather not talk about it.”

“Oh? Why not?” Celestia asked somewhat suspiciously.

Gerhardt sighed as all the immense stress, anxiety, fear, and worry returned full force, hitting him like a freight train as he started thinking about the current state his kingdom was in. It was enough that he would likely be on the verge of tears if he actually had tear ducts. “Gods damn it… I just wanted to avoid thinking about it, but it’s too late for that now… You really wish to know how and why I ended up here? Fine… I’ll tell you the entire gods forsaken story...”

Realizing that she may have pried a bit too much Celestia said, “If thinking about it upsets you then you don’t have to tell me.”

“No, as I said, it's too late. I’m already thinking about it and trying to ignore what’s happening like a child won't make it stop. So, as you said this is a fairly long story. About eight hundred years ago a lesser god of nature by the name of Silvanus appeared before me and provided me with the arcane equations for the very magic that we were just discussing as it had not been discovered at the time. In exchange he wanted me to use the equations to build some machines for him. Machines that would allow individuals to communicate with their deceased loved ones one final time during their funerals. So I did. It went quite well for a time. However, then Caedes, one of my former apprentices, got a hold of the equations. He then used them to create a whole new field of magic called Necromancy, the magic that we were just discussing.” Gerhardt explained in a very grim tone.

“Why are you telling me what it’s called only just now?” Celestia inquired in confusion.

“Because I finally realized just how asinine and overly paranoid of me it was to try keeping the name secret. After all, knowing the name alone does not mean you know how to use the magic. Regardless, once Caedes invented necromancy he started going mad with power and became a megalomaniac with a god complex. So he gathered what other mages he thought would be willing to follow him and went rogue. He and his followers then proceeded to begin raising a massive legion of the undead which he then used to cause one of the largest disasters in the history of my world, the First Necromantic War.”

“First? You mean there were more after that?!” Celestia exclaimed horrified by the prospect.

“There were eleven truly major Necromantic Wars and hundreds of smaller ones some of which occurred alongside other wars both large and small. As I told you, my world is not nearly as peaceful as yours. So, to say Silvanus was not happy with what Caedes did to his gift is an understatement. He was furious and for some reason he blamed everything that happened on me rather than Caedes when my only contribution was taking the arcane equations he provided me with and developing the devices that he specifically requested. He hates me for it and has held a grudge against me for the past eight hundred years.”

“That… Sounds a lot like what happened between my sister and I… She held a grudge against me for a thousand years. Though I will admit she had a significantly more valid reason to do so then this Silvanus individual seems to.” Celestia said somewhat regretfully.

“No. I read what happened between you and your sister in a history book. The only similarity is the long held grudge. Anyways, despite his grudge, due to the rules the Greater Gods set in place after the War of Survival he could do absolutely nothing to harm or kill me or my people so long as we did not attack him first, which we didn’t. However he found a significant loophole. There was nothing in the rules that said he couldn’t get rid of me as it doing so was not explicitly causing me any physical harm. So he banished me. Now due to gods forsaken politics my Kingdom has more than likely been forced to declare war on him as a result of what he did. As such he is likely devastating my kingdom at the moment, killing hundreds of millions, and he likely intends to completely exterminate my people. It will inevitably turn into a second War of Survival, but far bloodier and more devastating than the first… Damn it… Why couldn’t he have just killed me, or let me escape so I could publicly execute myself…? At least then my kingdom wouldn’t be in this mess…” Gerhardt finished explaining. He felt like crying from it all, but he wasn’t physically capable of doing so. All he could do was dim his eyes and look down at the ground.

Celestia gasped in shock. “Gerhardt, you can’t honestly mean that!” She exclaimed.

“I do mean it... My entire purpose in life consisted of doing my work and protecting my kingdom... So knowing that my kingdom is in this situation because of me, it’s… gods… it’s unbearable… I would rather have my soul be destroyed with necromancy a million times over if it meant preventing this from happening to my kingdom… All of this merely because I have lived this long… You know… I should have died many times throughout history but somehow I survived each and every time… All of this is happening because I was too stubborn and selfish to just lay down and die when I should have… Now it’s too late...” Gerhardt told her. Much like how his voice had distorted from his rage earlier, his voice had now started to lose quality as he continued to speak, which was the closest he could possibly get to sobbing. “Now you know the full story about how I got here and why I don’t enjoy thinking about it… Are you satisfied, Princess?”

Celestia gave him a sympathetic look and said, “I’m so sorry, Gerhardt… I had no idea how bad of a situation your kingdom is in at the moment or how sensitive of a topic it was for you. I should never have brought it up… You can’t blame yourself like this. You shouldn’t have to feel guilty for merely living. It isn’t your fault any of this happened. It’s Silvanus’ fault for blaming you, holding a grudge for this long, and doing this in the first place. It seems to me that he’s no better than this Caedes individual. Besides, you couldn’t have known this would happen and even if you did know and you did end up… executing yourself… who’s to say that Silvanus wouldn’t have just done the same thing to another high lord instead of you? There’s nothing you could have done to stop this.”

Gerhardt was silent for a few moments before saying, “Thank you, Princess… I probably needed to hear that… I suppose I am probably being a bit of a pest right now annoying you with my problems and the problems of my world… After all, what do you care? You have nothing to do with it… So, I believe I will leave now and stop bother—”

Right as he was about to turn to leave Celestia cut him off mid sentence and said, “Gerhardt, you aren’t bothering me one bit, I’m the one who asked after all. Besides this is what friends are for, being there to listen to each other and if possible help each other through whatever it is that may be troubling them. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is anything I can do to fix the situation your kingdom is in, but I am more than willing to listen to you and help you through this as best I can. I’m sure that Twilight and at least a few of her friends would be more than happy to do so as well. Whether your issues have anything to do with me, them, or Equestria or not is besides the point. Though we would all certainly appreciate it if you would do the same for us if something was wrong and any of us came to you to talk about it.” She gave him a warm smile.

“I see… I will keep that in mind, Princess…” Gerhardt said appreciatively.

Before either of them could say anything else, the door to the throne room opened up once more and both Twilight Sparkle and Spike came walking in. Twilight appeared to be carrying a large book with her magic. “I think we’ve found a solution!” She said as she entered. Then she seemed to notice that both Cadance and Shining Armor were gone and saw Celestia standing there instead. “P-Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?! Where are Cadance and Shining Armor?! Oh no… I didn’t fail my test did I?!” She exclaimed in surprise and worry.

Celestia looked at Gerhardt and said, “Well, that was a wonderful discussion, but it seems we will have to cut it short. Thank you, Gerhardt.” She then looked back to Twilight and began walking towards her. “Twilight, just calm down. You haven’t failed. Gerhardt here just took a quick trip back to Canterlot and yelled at me for how poorly I handled this situation, and after hearing what he had to say I honestly have to agree with him. I should have expected King Sombra to counter Shining Armor’s protection spell and sent Luna to help Cadance maintain the barrier. Cadance shouldn’t have had to do it entirely on her own and exhaust herself like this. The fact that she did have to is a failing on my part. So I requested that Gerhardt open up another portal back here so I could fix my mistake and take over for Cadance in maintaining the barrier so she could go eat and get some rest. Shining Armor went with her. Now, why not tell me what exactly you managed to find out?”

Twilight sighed in relief. “Oh thank goodness… Wait… You yelled at Princess Celestia?” She asked Gerhardt incredulously.

Celestia chuckled and said, “Cadance asked the same thing, so I’ll give you the same answer that I gave her. That he did. My ears are still ringing from it, not as much as they were earlier but still. He can be surprisingly loud if he wants to.”

Twilight blinked a few times in disbelief before shaking her head to regather her thoughts and saying, “Alright, well I found this book in the library.” She levitated the book over to Celestia before proceeding to explain her plan.

Author's Note

Character development! Finally, some actual character development for Gerhardt, however minor it may be! Mwahahaha! In all seriousness though, I hope I handled the chapter well enough. I'm actually a bit worried since this one didn't really take me all that long to write.

One minor issue I have noticed on my own is that Gerhardt says the word "fuck" a bit too much when he's yelling at Celestia but he was reeeeaaaally angry at her at the time so I decided it was somewhat appropriate. There were actually more "fucks" in there before but I deleted a few of them so it wasn't too ridiculously excessive.

Can't really think of any fun facts to share this time, sorry!

Anyways, as always, constructive criticism is more then 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!