Gerhardt and his family had just finished slaughtering the last of the defenders of the military base they were assaulting when Gerhardt received a message through his built in communication systems.

‘Father, it was a trap. Unfortunately we have no choice but to retreat.’ Elizabeth informed him.

“What?!” He growled furiously in response. “Send me a full recording of what happened from multiple perspectives, now!” He demanded.

A few moments later he received the video footage he demanded. What he saw infuriated him to no end. It had indeed been a trap. Even with Inferna and her children warping space like demons, the ponies completely ripped them to shreds.

“Grrrr! This won’t do! Fine, if we can’t capture that base then we’ll just destroy it and build a new one on top of the ruins!” Gerhardt hissed in complete and utter hatred and loathing. “Return to our main base of operations and begin manufacturing bombs! In ten hours, we’re blowing that damned base straight to the infernal realm!”

‘Understood. We are already back at the base and will thus begin manufacturing the bombs immediately.’

Gerhardt shut off his built in communication system and punched a nearby wall hard enough that he punched a hole straight through it and completely destroyed his hand. Looking down at his now ruined hand he scowled at it and proceeded to rip it straight off. He would repair it later. For now he would have to do without it.

He then proceeded to use necromancy to resurrect several of the ponies that he and his family had killed. He made sure to keep their bodies and souls separate. “You are going to tell me everything you know. Plans, strategies, important locations, important military officers, supply routes, everything!” Gerhardt hissed at the ghosts of the pony soldiers.

“N-never…” One ghost moaned, struggling to resist the necromantic influence. The other ghosts also appeared to be trying to resist his influence.

Gerhardt scowled. “That wasn’t a request… You are going to tell me no matter what. Even if you force me to put your souls into artificial brains so I can rip the information from the memory banks! Though, before that, let’s start with some basic interrogation and torture… I’m sure at least a few of you will break before I have to shove your souls into artificial brains. As for the ones that don’t… Well… I will ensure your suffering will persist for the rest of eternity! If this universe even has an infernal realm, I will ensure those who force me to place them into artificial brains will suffer there until the end of time!” He hissed in a menacing and slightly deranged tone. His inhumanly intense hatred of the ponies as a species and towards the ones currently in front of him caused his E.P.U. to start heating up forcing his emergency cooling systems to kick in to prevent it from overheating.

As he said this, his internal thermometer detected a drastic drop in temperature and he heard a strange sound from up in the sky. Looking up he saw what appeared to be ghostly horses of some sort running across the night sky, obscuring the stars in clouds. Snow began falling from said clouds soon after.

“I am seeing unknown equine entities in the sky. They could be servants of Nightmare Moon. Investigate, capture some for interrogation, study, and experimentation, and dispose of the rest.” Gerhardt ordered through his built in com systems

[A few hours later, main base of operations]

About a quarter of the family’s production ability was currently dedicated to manufacturing bombs to destroy the base that Arthur, Elizabeth, Jack, and Inferna failed to capture. Their father wanted that base destroyed and by all the gods it would be destroyed.

In the meantime Elizabeth was currently making a new type of weapon of her own. Namely, she was augmenting several dozen ponies from the cities under the family’s control to turn them into living weapons without any free will. Her idea was to use the ponies to make cheaper and more expendable combat golems as well as utilizing another method of psychological warfare. Of course, she didn’t bother wasting the time or effort to remove their awareness since she honestly just didn’t care. So they all still retained their souls and were effectively prisoners within their own bodies without any control over their actions whatsoever, so they would feel every ounce of pain from the wounds inflicted upon them during battle and would be perfectly aware that they were being forced to kill other ponies.

Not that it truly mattered. Their thoughts and emotions were completely irrelevant as far as Elizabeth was concerned. The same could be said for all organic life forms that weren’t human or at the very least allied with humanity. And in this case she cared even less than she would for any other species since the ponies weren’t just random organic life forms but were enemies that were actively at war with her family. The fact that these ones had been civilians with families of their own was similarly irrelevant. The hypocrisy was not lost on her, she just didn’t care.

“Hm… Now isn’t this fascinating.” Inferna stated walking into the lab, using her more human lower body so she could actually fit inside the building. “I must say, I love what you’ve done with them, dear sister. I assume they are all still fully aware, so their suffering will be beautiful once they enter combat. Though if I could suggest one alteration, it would be to install devices into their brains to force them to constantly experience excruciating pain thousands of times more intense than what fully organic brains are capable of experiencing. The gods know these equine bastards deserve it and worse.”

Elizabeth was surprised when Inferna walked in but she didn’t show it. Instead she merely continued to work. “No. There isn’t enough room in their heads to install such a powerful processor. I would have to attach it to them externally and then wire it into their brains. Not only that but it would be nothing but a waste of time and resources. Both of which are in limited supply, I might add. They aren’t worth it. Now, what do you want? As you can see, I am rather busy developing cheaper, faster to build, and more expendable combat golems to supplement our forces. We have two whole cities worth of organics at our disposal, so we should use them. And merely killing them all and turning them into undead would not be using them to their fullest possible potential.”

Inferna sighed and walked over to one of the “golems” Elizabeth had finished and gave it a malicious smile before casting a pain curse on it’s soul. “Ah, how boring… I do see your point, however. I suppose simple pain curses will just have to do until we have enough time and resources to expend on them. Regardless, I actually wanted to request your assistance with a little project.”

“That being…?”

“I would like your assistance in altering the standard architecture of basic artificial brains to be able to comprehend and operate in all three: standard, non-euclidean, and standard multidimensional space. The fact our brains were unable to process exactly what we were doing to space and how to maneuver through it rendered any advantage doing so may have given us completely null and void. In fact, I would even go so far as to say it completely screwed us. My plan was good in theory but was horrible in practice due to the limitations of our hardware.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Pointless. I agree that it could provide a distinct strategic advantage, however that advantage is not sufficient enough to warrant wasting our time redesigning already functional technology in order to pursue it. At least not at the moment. There is a proper time for everything, and this is simply not the time. Why don’t you go do something actually productive with your time rather than pursuing unnecessary goals that will ultimately waste our limited time and resources?”

Inferna crossed her arms. “I see… You lack the knowledge to assist me. Father must have made an error while uploading information into your brain when he first built you. What a shame. I suppose I’ll just have to ask one of my children or my many nieces and nephews to help me instead.”

“Hmph… Your crude and unsubtle attempt at manipulation will not work on me. I have all the same knowledge that everyone in our family does, so your words mean nothing to me. So my advice still stands. Go do something productive with your time rather than wasting our time and resources. This conversation is over.”

Inferna huffed in frustration before stomping out of the room. As soon as she was gone Elizabeth sighed and shook her head at Inferna’s immature behaviour. “Where did father go wrong with her? First she endangers herself and the entire mission in her rage over her children’s souls being destroyed, which she was aware was always a risk, now she acts like a spoiled child when she doesn’t get her way. She doesn’t deserve her position as a leader… Perhaps I should talk to father about this. Then again, father’s clearly not in the proper state of mind to be dealing with such things at the moment, so perhaps it would be wiser to speak with my siblings instead? Hm… I’ll have to think about it. In the meantime, I suppose I’ll start preparing for the bombing of the pony military base.”

[Later]

Gerhardt had finished interrogating the ghosts. All of them broke in the end so he showed them mercy and sent their souls to go attack the nearest pony population center, where the ponies soldiers would surely show up to destroy their souls and put them out of their misery. Now he opened a portal back to the main base and met with Arthur.

“Are the bombs ready?” He inquired.

“Yes. We even have a surplus of about five. All of them are the equivalent to about fifty tons of tnt. We didn’t think anything larger would be necessary for something so small as this.” Arthur stated.

“Good. Bring one to me.”

Arthur raised a hand and opened a portal. He then levitated a bomb through it and over to Gerhardt. It was about the size of a human head and was shaped almost like an egg with stabilizing fins in the back to help it fall straight.

Gerhardt took the bomb and opened a portal to the sky above the pony military base before stepping through. Only two of his wings were still functional, but that was sufficient to keep him aloft in the dark sky. Looking down, he saw the military base surrounded by a dark blue shield.

“What?! How could they have known we were going to bomb them?!” He roared furiously. Unable to contain his rage he threw the bomb down at the shield with every ounce of strength his artificial limbs could muster. And with the augmentations replicating the biological magic of the Earth Ponies that this body had been built with, that was actually quite a lot of force.

As soon as the bomb hit the shield, it exploded with a massive blast of highly destructive arcane energy. When the energy faded moments later the shield was still there appearing no worse for wear.

“No, no, NO! GODS DAMN IT! RAAAAAA@!#$%^&^#$!@!$@!#$*(*=^%$_+@!-$#@!~#%!!!” Gerhardt screamed with impotent wrath, his voice rapidly devolving into little more than static. After a few minutes of screaming in fury, he finally regained his composure and returned to the main base still fuming with unholy rage.

“They knew! They fucking knew we were going to bomb them and that demigod bitch raised a shield to stop us from destroying that damned base!” He shouted as soon as he was back.

“Really? How is that possible? There are no ponies among our ranks and none of us are displaying any signs of disloyalty towards the family, so they can’t have any spies among our ranks.” Jack stated, as he was one of the few individuals in the area to hear Gerhardt.

“YES! I don’t have the faintest clue how it’s possible, but they knew! They must be spying on us somehow! Perhaps they’re using some form of magic we aren’t familiar with?! That’s the only thing that would make any sense!”

‘In that case, I would recommend we cease all verbal communication and instead communicate strictly through encrypted wireless transmissions. Similar to how the Machina Hominum communicate with each other back on Earth. That way they will be incapable of listening in on our conversations if they are somehow spying on us.’ Jack said through their built in communication systems without saying a word verbally.

‘Agreed… This is Gerhardt 0001 to all of my children and grandchildren. The bombing of the equine military base has failed. The ponies somehow knew what we were going to do and Nightmare Moon raised a barrier to defend the base from our attack. We are now operating under the assumption the ponies are spying on us via some heretofore unknown form of magic. We will have to investigate this. Regardless, until we know how they are spying on us and how to counter it, all verbal communication is to cease. We will communicate strictly through highly encrypted wireless transmissions from this point forward, similar to the Machina Hominum but with further security measures to ensure our transmissions can not be intercepted or deciphered by the Equines.’ He said. He then received dozens upon dozens of confirmations simultaneously. Though one caught his attention in particular.

‘Father, this is Arthur 0001. With both missions having failed we need to reconsider our strategy. Specifically, we need allies. We can’t keep this up on our own. Surely there has to be other species we can get in contact with.’

‘Hm… Yes… Allies… That’s it! Thank you, Aurthor, I now know exactly what we must do. Inferna, gather the Nightmares. Especially the demonic ones. We are heading to one of the cities under our control.’

‘As you wish, Father. Should I gather all of them that remain or only a few?’

‘All of them. We need allies so we are damn well going to get an ally that will make Nightmare Moon tremble in fear! This world’s equivalent to the devil.’

‘Father, no! I must protest! This is beyond insanity! Not to mention the moral and ethical ramifications! We are many things but we are not evil!’ Arthur exclaimed.

‘Arthur, you are so very young and you have much to learn. Especially if you believe that. Morality is nothing but a hindrance to progress and good and evil are purely subjective. They are only objective when in reference to demons. Yes, I realize how that sounds. However, the devil is notorious for making deals with mortals so long as it advances his agenda of spreading misery, suffering, blood, death, and carnage. As well as collecting souls to torture for eternity within the infernal realm. He will try to deceive the one he makes the deal with however if one is intelligent enough they can see through his tricks and make him accept a straightforward contract with no strings or loopholes. It has been done twice in my lifetime and it has had disastrous consequences for the enemies of those he has made deals with. It will be no different this time. Besides which, this is our best option for victory. Nightmare Moon is only a demigod so she cannot possibly hope to stand against the power of a Greater Spirit on her own.’

It took a few seconds before Aurthur finally responded. ‘Very well, father… However, I will be setting up counter measures in case this goes wrong. Namely, my children and I will be creating something to banish this malevolent entity back to the infernal realm where it belongs as soon as it becomes a threat, because it will become a threat. I will also be requesting assistance from the other branches in this matter.’ He sounded very reluctant to accept this.

‘Very well. Inferna, I will be waiting in Tall Tale for you and your children. I will have the undead stationed there begin the process of rounding up each and every last one of the civilians for use in the ritual.’ Gerhardt said before opening a portal to Tall Tale and stepping through.

[A few hours later]

The sounds of tortured, terrified, mournful, and violated screams filled the air as the streets ran red with the blood of the thousands of ponies who had inhabited the city. A malevolent red aura engulfed the entire city as Gerhardt and Inferna along with all of Inferna’s children conducted the ritual. As a result from the streets of Tall Tale it looked as though the night sky had turned a dark crimson red. Some of the pony victims of the ritual died from the horrors they were being subjected to. However even then they were granted no peace as their souls would immediately be resurrected with necromancy and would continue to be tortured in ways too horrific to describe.

About thirty minutes passed before the blood and mutilated corpses started to move. They began pulling themselves together and clumping up in the middle of the city forming a large mass of meat, bone, and viscera that vaguely resembled a some sort of twisted and nightmarish tree that was actually larger than many of the buildings in the city, most of which were small skyscrapers. The blood was all pulled into the ground to water its roots. Once the tree was formed, the living victims and the souls began to be pulled towards it as well screaming the entire time. As soon as they touched it they were immediately pulled inside where they then disappeared beneath the blood and gore.

Suddenly the demonic Nightmares sparked all at once before heading towards the tree. Inferna tried to stop them, however they were no longer listening to her orders or the orders of anyone in the family. Gerhardt walked ahead of Inferna and her children until he was standing about a hundred feet from the tree with his arms crossed, waiting. He had never bore witness to the birth of a spirit’s physical form before but he assumed it was about to happen if the “tree” was any indication.

He wouldn’t have to wait long before an unholy shriek emanated from the tree and something began pulling itself up out of its blood soaked roots. It was by far the single most terrifying thing Gerhardt had ever seen in his life and since he had seen an archdemon before that was saying a lot. Its form was impossible to describe as it just kept shifting until it finished pulling itself all the way up out of the ground at which point it had finally settled on a form much like Gerhardt’s except made of flesh and bone rather than metal. Gerhardt had to wonder if that was the universal appearance all devils took or if it had decided to base its physical form on his appearance since he had been the one to lead the ritual.

Finally it turned and looked at him with a spike toothed smile causing a jolt of terror and existential dread to shoot through Gerhardt’s very soul. He was looking into the eyes of the purest form of evil and it was far worse than he ever could have possibly imagined. He was already starting to regret his decision and was on the verge of praying to the greater gods of this universe for forgiveness when it teleported directly in front of him causing him to stumble backwards in fear. He actually had to use his wings to stop himself from tripping and falling on his ass.

“You… You’re the one who led this ritual and granted me this physical form. Gerhardt Mechanica.” It said in an eerily normal sounding voice that was completely at odds with its appearance and the malice in its eyes. Though Gerhardt couldn’t tell if it sounded like a man or a woman. Perhaps it hadn’t decided yet as Greater Spirits were actually able to choose which sex they wished to be and it had presumably only just gained sapience.

“I am…” Gerhardt said, trying his best to keep his cool.

“That wasn’t a question. That was a statement of fact. Regardless, since you have just given me a lovely sacrifice and meal I suppose I will spare you and your family… for now… Ah but you have a reason for this don’t you? You want to make a deal… Don’t bother saying anything, I already know what you want. Vengeance, bloodshed, the destruction of your enemies, and ugh… peace.” It shuddered and sneered at the word “peace” as if it had just tasted something truly repulsive.

“I can give you all of this and more… for a price…” It smiled at him sadistically.

“Yes. I am aware. You want souls to torment. And you will have them. My children and I will collect thousands if not millions for you in return for two things. Your assistance in this war and a guarantee that you will never harm any member of my family specifically.” Gerhardt offered, trying to force himself not to stutter in terror and to put on at least a façade of confidence. However, he was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that this creature could see past his façade as easily as one could see through a perfectly clear pane of glass. Still he couldn’t let himself show any weakness otherwise he feared what this spirit would do.

“Hm… A good deal. However, I’m afraid that last part is going to cost you extra. So I want those souls and something from you specifically.”

“That being?” Gerhardt inquired.

“Nothing that should matter to you in the long term. So do we have an agreement?” The devil inquired, holding out a hand for him to shake.

“No. I refuse to agree to anything unless I know what it is beforehand. I refuse to give you my soul and I refuse to be your servant.” Gerhardt said defiantly, praying to all the gods of both this universe and his own that saying that wouldn’t provoke the devil.

The devil chuckled in amusement. “It’s funny that you think you have a choice. You need me, I don’t need you. In fact the only reason I’m giving you a chance to make this deal is this glorious sacrifice you prepared for me. However, my patience is quickly running thin. Keep your soul, that’s not what I want. Now, unless you wish to be my newest toy for the rest of eternity, do we have an agreement?”

Gerhardt gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. He really didn’t want to do this without knowing what he was agreeing to. Unfortunately it didn’t seem this creature was going to give him a choice. Well… At least he would be allowed to keep his soul… So he reached out and very reluctantly shook its hand. Pitch black arcane energy enveloped both him and the spirit for a moment as the contract was sealed.

When it was over he opened his eyes and looked at the devil. “Alright… The contract is sealed. What did I just agree to?”

The devil gave him a wicked smile. “Four things. One, your family will claim a minimum of a million souls for me. Two, the ‘demonic Nightmares’ you created are mine and you will produce a minimum of a thousand more for me every year for a century, all of which should be as powerful if not more powerful than your children. Three, you will be my champion in the mortal realm and will claim souls for me for the rest of your days. Finally, you are now cursed. You will have small bouts of sanity every so often where you will be forced to realize the horrors you have committed and will commit in my name. Your suffering during those times will be absolutely delicious…”

Gerhardt blinked, not understanding what it meant. “What? I’m perfectly sane!”

The devil chuckled and poked him in the forehead.

Suddenly his vision was obscured by static before clearing a moment later. He then fell to his knees and stared up at the tree of gore in absolute horror. “By the gods… What have I done…?” He then looked at the devil not in fear but in remorse. Its very existence in this form was representative of what was by far the single largest mistake of his life. The Undead and Nightmares were bad enough but this? This was far too much even if he was desperate…

Placing a hand against his head he tried to cast a spell to destroy his own soul. However his magic was blocked by something. Trying to access it was as if he were beating against a bulletproof glass wall that was ten feet thick with nothing but his bare hands prior to receiving his augmentations. “What have you done?!” He demanded furiously, looking at the devil.

“Oh nothing. As part of the curse, you are simply incapable of committing suicide. I knew you would try but that would be far too boring. Oh don’t worry, when you lose your sanity again you’ll forget all of this. That way your suffering will always be fresh and new during the short bursts in which you regain your sanity. This is the price for me not harming your family. Be grateful I’m in a good mood, because I could have easily made it far worse on you.”

Gerhardt just sat there in silence staring at the tree of gore, reflecting on the severity of his mistakes. The worst part was that he knew he deserved this for what he had done in this world and what he was inevitably going to do.

“Now, let’s go draw out that demigod so I can capture it…” The devil said sadistically, forcing Gerhardt back up onto his feet with telekinesis.

Gerhardt was about to ask what it meant by that but quickly realized. Of course it didn’t want to kill Nightmare Moon, that would be too easy. It wanted her as another prisoner to torment for eternity. The fact she was a demigod likely only made it want her more.

Suddenly there was a wave of darkness and Gerhardt found himself in the middle of what appeared to be the military base his children had failed to capture. He was then forced to watch the most horrific slaughter he had ever seen in his life as the devil butchered the defending equines as if it were shredding through mere scraps of paper. Well, he called it a slaughter yet none of the defending equines died. No. They only wished they were dead. Instead the devil kept them alive as it tore them apart, tortured, and violated them. It was such a horrific display that it put what Gerhardt and his Nightmares did in Tall Tale to shame despite being on such a significantly smaller scale. It took about thirty minutes in total and during that time Gerhardt’s insanity eventually returned. His burst of sanity had only lasted ten minutes in total.

Eventually Gerhardt’s sensors detected the presence of a demigod. Looking in that direction he saw Nightmare Moon flying there in the air about twenty feet off the ground, looking at the scene of carnage in horror.

As soon as she showed up the devil stopped what it was doing and looked up at her. Suddenly Gerhardt’s sensors began detecting the presence of another Greater Spirit and before the devil could say anything a small pink cloud appeared above its head and began raining some sort of brown liquid on its head. Snarling in fury it pointed a claw at the cloud and zapped it with a bolt of pitch black arcane energy. Suddenly it turned into a floating mass of gore raining blood instead of whatever that brown liquid had been.

“Alright, ew. Wow… You’re even less fun than I expected when little Luna here told me how you gained your physical form.” Said a disembodied voice that came from seemingly every direction at once. Suddenly a creature that looked like one of the chimeric creatures created by the most insane necromancers from Gerhardt’s world if it was actually a living being rather than a patchwork undead monstrosity appeared next to Luna.

“I told you, I’m Nightmare Moon! Luna is gone!” Nightmare Moon growled at the chimeric spirit.

“Whatever you say, Luna. Anyways, what’s your name supposed to be and what do you represent if you don’t mind me asking?” The chimeric spirit inquired, floating over to the devil.

“Hm… A name… I suppose you can call me Malice. I am the Spirit of Evil and Malevolence. And you are?” Malice said in a calm but annoyed tone.

“I am Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. It is my immense displeasure to make your acquaintance. You being the spirit of evil certainly explains why you are so unbelievably disgusting. You know, normally I’m not one to end lives but…” Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly all of the ponies that Malice had been torturing died from numerous different rather ridiculous causes. “I’ll make an exception just this once for the poor souls you were torturing.”

Seeing all of its victims up and die, Malice simply chuckled before snapping its fingers. Suddenly their souls were all resurrected and were being tortured by unseen forces. “That’s fine. I don’t care if they lose their physical forms. I get to keep my toys either way. Unless you want to destroy their souls. By all means, go ahead. If you really wish to help them, then erase them from existence because that’s the only way I’ll let go of any of my toys.”

Discord scowled at Malice. “You truly are evil.” He then looked at Gerhardt. “And you’re the one who granted this monster a physical form I presume?”

Before Gerhardt could say anything Malice snapped its fingers and Gerhardt vanished. It had teleported him back to the tree of gore. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do anything to that one. I have a contract with him, you see. He and his family are going to claim quite a hefty sum of souls for me once I capture that demigod and start tearing this pathetic kingdom to shreds. Though I suppose that will have to wait. For now, how about you and I have some fun?!” Malice said before flapping its wings and launching itself into the air.

“I don’t think we have the same definition of ‘fun’ but all right. If that’s what you really want, I suppose it has been quite awhile since I’ve really cut loose. So I’ll have plenty of fun. I don’t know about you, though.” Discord said while stretching in preparation. As he did this he also snapped his fingers and teleported Luna back to Canterlot.

Author's Note

I'm honestly not sure about this chapter. I actually had three different ideas for how this could go. First, Gerhardt makes a deal with Malice. Second, King Sombra finishes conquering the Crystal Empire and attacks Equestria, then Gerhardt and his family ally themselves with him. And third, Gerhardt's family seeks out the Dragons, the Griffons, the Deer, the Minotaurs, the Yaks, the Buffalo, and/or the Diamond Dogs to convince them to help them fight Nightmare Moon.

So if you guys don't like this version and would have preferred one of the other two versions just let me know. I'll happily rewrite it.

Fun Fact: While any spirit can technically reproduce with mortals they are technically sexless. Only Greater Spirits ever really choose a sex due to the given world's perception of the concept they embody. So if a world views war as a more masculine thing then the greater spirit of war would be male. If a world views Nature as feminine then the greater spirit of nature would be female. The world of MLP, however, doesn't view evil as male or female thus Malice is neither.

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!