I stood in my room looking over the remains of my old left arm. Parts in the destroyed arm were still usable and it seemed with my techno-magic I had gained a bit of information. I knew how to design a basic computer. I just needed power and using the remains of my arm along with materials that Runestone had brought at my request I thought I could build a fairly simple power converter and computer. I just hoped that the power created didn’t explode in my face. To my right was a unicorn who specialized in metal manipulation. She had shifted the metal into the forms that I asked for and wired them through the makeshift computer which also possessed a few rune covered crystals made to certain specifications which had been designed by Runestone and myself and even more of the remaining few left arm parts. The screen was actually a glowing crystal with an attached keyboard that could change languages depending on which mode you set the keyboard.

“Sir are you sure this box of metal and crystal will do as it is designed?” she asked.

“No actually I’m pretty sure it will explode,” I replied forming a crystal shield and holding it in front of us. “Mind flicking the magic switch?”

“Fwik...vvvvvv rrrrrrrr,” the humming started after a minute and I could feel the crystal within activate pulling heat into one crystal and transforming it into cooling magic.

“Magic computer activation test number three is a success now just to do it without the need for arm parts of which we are in short supply,” I said before shattering my shield and typing on the computer some of the most basic things such like hello. “Test two working,” I checked off my mental list. “Now three,” I switched the typed language to that of the Kingdom’s books and began to type down the title of a book which was translated on screen. “Sex magics for virgins.”

“How do the tests go, my king,” asked a snickering Chrys who had been making continuous jokes from the corner. I understood most but some I didn’t and that worried me.

“I’m not a virgin!” I shouted as Dart walked in.

“Is this a bad time?” she started backing up.

“No!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” she looked at Chrys.

“Yes or no sir I don’t understand?”

“No it isn’t a bad time and yes I am sure now what do you have to tell me?” I asked my face most likely red.

“Oh the Equestrians are requesting your presence. I told them you were probably getting ready so here I am asking you to get ready.”

“Chrys please leave while I change,” I said as the computer continued to whir. “And shut that damn thing off.”

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We had been waiting for at least half an hour by now and I was beginning to wonder how long it took their king to dress when the pony named Dart rushed back in. She sat in her own chair within the meeting room that had been set up for us to meet the king in.

“Sorry he was making something he's just gotta clean up and get down here,” she explained while Cadance once again tried to awaken my brother who seemed to have finally awoken and was being reprimanded for his inaction the other day. I think myself and Dart were the only ones who saw the king enter and his quiet walk to the kingly chair which he sat in. I managed to stay quiet despite my thirst for answers as to who and what he was and instead waited as he looked around the room before forming a hammer of crystal and banging it on the table.

“Hello there, welcome to my home,” he said surprising all of them at what seemed to almost be teleportation.

“How the buck did you do that?” Rainbow said before she was hit lightly by Flutters who began whispering to her about language and what was not said to royalty.

“You were all too self absorbed to notice my entry so I decided to give you all a good scare,” he chuckled and even as the lower part of his face was revealed by his mask slipping I didn’t get a good view under his dark hood. “Calm yourselves there is no need to get so riled up about simple words,” he said to Flutters who stopped but told Rainbow they’d finish later. “I have yet to introduce myself to you personally so allow me to do so. I am King Jekyll ruler of the Crystal Kingdom and before you say empire let me tell you that the people of this kingdom associate the word empire with Sombra’s rule. He is gone now but fear remains long after those who brought it are gone.”

“But you can’t change it, it belongs to Equestria,” said Barb.

“Who came here and claimed it and the snowy wastes it resides in?” asked the king.

“Well after the war Celestia claimed it to keep it safe.”

“I do not recognise any claim over this land other than my own claim,” he said shocking Barb.

“But Celestia?”

“Does not rule here,” said the same alicorn we had met outside the city. “I and the king rule not Celestia.”

“Enough about this,” said Jekyll. “If you cannot claim this land then what will you do here?” he asked Cadence.

“I will attempt to form trade routes and alliances with the Kingdom and Equestria as well as tell you of the darker nations.”

“Darker nations?” asked the pony named Dart.

“Yes dark nations such as the Apes, Changelings, Dogs, and Caribou.”

“I plan to make the kingdom into a place where all species shall be welcome so I will wait to hear multiple accounts before I pass judgement on other nations I have yet to encounter,” said the king.

“You can’t you’ll only allow them a gateway into other nations but it matters not they have no way to get here. Their kind are banned from all the surrounding nations’ lands,” explained Cadence.

“There are always ways of getting around the rules. We could make compromises of some kind where I built railways to all nations that all are allowed to ride.”

“I cannot allow you to interact with such dark races you will corrupt the ponies here.”

“That is not your choice to make little alicorn,” said the king while the alicorn at his side seemed to tense her horn faintly glowing ready for anything.

“Then I unfortunately must challenge you to a battle in order to take control of these lands by right of conquest,” stated Cadence with a cold voice.

“And when I win what will I receive?” asked the king as his alicorn companion dispelled her magic and smiled a horrifying smile that belonged on a predator and gave me chills.

“Well what do you want?” asked Cadence rather foolishly in a way that even I could see.

“I will have free reign to build a railway system through Equestria and two of the current group will stay here and serve me and your husband will be one of the two.”

Cadence waited at least five minutes before speaking again and what she decided horrified me. She turned to each of us with a small frown and ended on Barb.

“Barb, I need you to send a letter for me to the princesses. I am going to consult them,” was what she said before turning back to the king with a frown. “Shall we speak again in a few days so that we can both finish off all we need to and prepare?”

“Yes that is a good idea and while you are here you are free to roam the city but should you attack one of my people you will be detained.”

“Why would we attack another pony?” asked Rarity.

“I have multiple species in my kingdom including Changelings and I will not tolerate any of my people being harmed by xenophobic ponies,” he said before leaving the room the alicorn now possible changeling following him.

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I felt the heat wash over me as I worked within the workshop along with the others. I used my magic to pick up the newly forged helmet and begin carving runes into it along with installing crystals into key places as I had learned from reading ancient texts on the crystal golems that came before Sombra’s crude imitations.

“Stone, we have finished the designs for the special weapon that was designed before Sombra took control halting the project,” stated one of the pegasi as he handed me the fireproofed paper.

“Good job Bellows got to construct it while myself and the unicorns finish up our newest project,” the black furred and orange maned pegasus looked up at the project and saw a large suit of armor which could only fit one being. “Armor fit for a king,” I started finishing off the helmet before cooling it with a blast of magic and allowing the heavy helm to clank into the stone table where the new armor was laid out.

“But the king’s arms and legs?”

“We’ve had ample time to study the connection mechanisms using Chrysalis’ dreamwalking and observing his limbs and the connectors when he passed out from using too much magic. We have enough understanding to make a connection system and if we fail the king will fix it with his power.”

“The prototype will go perfect with this,” said bellows as I copied the blueprints onto a thin crystal plate and looked at the long metal tube with a crossbow trigger on its bottom. I’d leave this to those inept at runes and stay in my profession. “Ah buck it, get to work Bellows and find that damn sentient construct we made for the king, the one he named his Swarmlord, whatever that means.”

“Yes sir,” said the younger pony.

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It had been a day since the Equestrians arrived and they had yet to cause any problems even after seeing plenty of Changelings. While the days passed I planned on testing out my new technomagic computer but Chrys was determined to drag me to the workshop. I eventually allowed myself to be taken to the workshop where I beheld the most glorious thing I had ever laid my eyes upon. I also learned that Chrys had been waltzing through my mind when I was asleep but upon seeing what she and the others had created from doing so I forgave them. It wasn’t perfect but I could fix that with my technomagic. The creators left the naming of the creation up to me and so the massive suit of armor was dubbed the Grey Knight.

Author's Note

This is the armor made by Runestone, Chrysalis, and the workshop ponies but it is just silver without the cloth on the knight's shoulder. As I stated before many suits of armor will have a set form while the armors of guards and some others will have no pictures to go with it and just a description so each reader can come up with their own visual representation of the armor. I have yet to decide on the weapons but needless to say, the Equestrians are in for a treat.