It was different this time.

He was in the bowels of a massive machine, ancient writing and twisting pictograms covering every inch and glowing with power. The air physically hummed with ambient magic, giving off the feeling of being inside a thunderstorm. Across him, his hair began rising, almost electrified by the conditions he was in.

Above hum huge grinding cogs gave out an uproarious amount of noise, closely followed by steam pistons and the crackling of long glass tubes with electricity running through them. Nearby a steam furnace stood roaring, white hot flames licking the glass port with glee. He stood in awe of the sheer immensity of it all, it seemed as if he was standing in the very centre of a titanic factory, as far as he could see huge brass constructs spread in a unbroken line, a network of engines powering the unseen central core of the machine in whatever esoteric purpose it had been fashioned for. Passing along this he darted down a corridor lined with strange lines ending with circles, with many more branching off into the depths of the bizarre machine like construct.

He walked for seemingly an eternity through halls of various purposes, some were alchemical and held huge vats of components for mysterious purposes, and others were huge lines of moving plates, on which strange machine like constructs created bizarre and fantastical devices, some even including metal limbs and others reminiscent of his puzzle boxes. Other rooms seemed to be dealing with raw material such as iron ore, moving it towards a titanic structure involved in smelting, containing massive crucibles of melted iron. Further rooms contained huge stockpiles of organised metal girders, gears, machinery, coal and brass. 

From afar he saw the occasional dark shadowy figure, clothed in black covered in orange symbology. They appeared to be ponies, although the comparison was somewhat a loose one, a mass of brass tubing covered the majority of their faces and plating, at least one eye was a simple glass orb emplaced into where its socket would have been, glowing bright orange from the dark of their hood. Some of them stood on metal legs, others had reinforced spines with a series of mechanical arms which twitched and moved up and down, arranging small mechanical devices into intricate works of art. They didn’t see him, and they didn’t respond to stimuli of any sort, continuing their work. Occasionally one would enter the room with a series of books and metal plates detailing a type of detailed but unknown script, some even seemed able to fly with fast wing beats on long, delicate, sharp wings. Despite the focus of their work he could see the movements of a powerful mind behind all the wiring and metal, there was a fervour there for almost religious dedication to their work, occasionally he even heard them murmur something which sounded almost like psalms or religious teachings. 

As he progressed, he saw more and more things, even alchemical laboratories and immense power stations infused by raw lightning storms and other unknown means of power, not limited to magical engines which glowed violet in their dark citadels of steel and brass. Across all these things however, huge pipes and networks of cables spread, giving a strange but reassuring hum to the almost eldritch world around him. He had seen no windows, but something told him he could not have been on Equestria, although he had not assurance of this as a fact, something just felt off. 

Finally it seemed he had reached the centre after traversing the strange world which he had entered in. Two great mechanical doors opened before them, opening like some strange otherworldly metal flower, showing the way across an immense bridge surrounded by black water. As he crossed he saw a large domed building, showing more signs of being a palace than part of the huge industrial workhouse which surrounded it. Its domes and spires stretched high into the great spherical orb which seemed to consist of this level of the machine. Surrounding the ornate bridge huge statues stood, each one consisting of an Alicorn in a different position, although with no clear details to it. As he trotted across he stared into the pitch black waters and wondered what it really was, beneath it all he could see some faint glowing lights, the same as he saw in the engines… in fact the lights seemed to be lined up in huge systematic lines, and the occasional violet lightning coursing across to the next through the waters.

Could it be some sort of conductive fluid?

In this case, was it that this was simply a very ornate reactor core for some strange unknown energy?

What it could be powering he had no idea, but he was determined to cross the bridge and find out what lay beyond. As he made his way across the long bridge, he realised that despite what he thought, the palace did not in fact stand at the edge of the sphere; it was directly in the middle. Furthermore the bridge was a lot more detailed than he had first assumed, covered in little figures of ponies, dragons, griffons and mules all involved in some form of work, occasionally at central points this would be broken off as the figures stood before three others, themselves bowed in reverence. He could not tell whether all the figures were Alicorns… only one was definitely winged and horned, but he felt that he did not have time for a closer examination. 

Finally reaching the massive domed construct, he pulled a mechanical lever to the side and it began to slide open, lifted by a metal arm which raised it high up into the air. Trotting through he was stunned at the opulence of the place… it was fit for a king… or an emperor. The same wall pattern he had seen elsewhere was here, but in between dancing figures leaped, and the intensity of the detail was even more profound. Silk banners hung from the roof, and huge Saddle Arabian fineries and tables covered many portions of the various rooms. Everywhere there were books, but not the paper and ink kind. It seemed as if whoever had designed then had viewed durability as a primary necessity. Each book consisted of hard brass metal sheets, covered in a tiny esoteric scrawl that looked almost like a code of sorts in an unknown language, the same he had seen across those books carried by the strange half machine ponies he had encountered.

As he worked his way through the palace, he encountered a great metal stairway leading down deep into the belly of the palace. Curious he worked his way down, admiring the huge bronze lions which guarded a great gold door. As he lifted a hoof, he pushed it against one of the great arched doors and started when it opened easily.

As he walked in he gasped, before them a magical orb glowed brightly in the centre of the room. 

It was the world, each continent, each ocean, each mountain, each desert, every grassland and each jungle, all in exquisite detail.

It was beautiful.

Behind it he saw a figure, and as he turned his head he realised who it was. Its stance was different and its horn was aglow with magical energies, but it was the same one from the dream before… it was the machine-like Alicorn. Once again it raised its eyes in a rapturous stupor and smiled at him in is strangely twisted way.

“Behold the Mundus.” It gestured “wondrous.”

Turning its eyes back to him, it smiled again, oil spilling over its chin, and spoke words which resonated throughout his mind, consuming all.

“हम मशीनों की आवाज कर रहे हैं.”

--

Scalpel blinked awake, temporarily stunned by a wave of information and dreamlike haze. He had been leaning back on a chair after his work on the second one, and must have gone into a doze and drifted off.

With the completion of his second project , he figured he’d give have a good shot for tonight’s work, with a little luck he’d be able to get both brains and brawn compared to Grunge’s singular brawn. Still, right now he had some ideas to write about, these dreams although peculiar provided a sudden good source if ideas and possibilities… he already had some planning to do with what he had seen, and even more detail on the Machine-Alicorn. 

He must record this new information… although he did wonder where these dreams were coming from. Regardless, he thought it was about time to renew his contacts in Moon and Star and other territories, just to make sure they knew he was alive, but that could come afterwards.