As the light and the power faded from his form, and the euphoria from his newfound creation decreased, virulent pain began to explode throughout his body like hellfire. He stumbled, shaking, almost dropping the Corona Star as he fell to the ground in agony.

Dizziness and nausea overwhelmed him and he began to choke, huge whooping coughs wracked his system, and a sudden expulsion of blood covered the ground in rich, thick crimson liquid. His children crowded round in concern, covering up his heaving form as more blood dripped from his muzzle. After a while, the spasms and the pain receeded, and he began to regain his sense of calm from the rapturous high he had been exposed to.

Shaking the Risen away he rose again unsteadily to his hooves, blood still trickling out of his mouth and nose as he tried to wipe it away, eyes momentarily filled with fear and confusion. Around him the bodies of the Inquisitor task force lay in various states of dismemberment or destruction, varying from the everyday sword wound, to disembowelment and incineration.

Still there were a few usable subjects left.

Upon is signal, Warrior Drones began to pile up the corpses on their own backs, collecting them for tonight’s experimentation.

Whilst they had done so he had crossed the grass silently to stand before the lead inquisitor’s mangled body. Staring down into those glassy eyes, he could almost see the mutilated corpse of his brother after their ambush by Earthborn forces those many years ago, face a picture of confusion, horn carved off in a unclean strike by a soldier’s blade.

He spat to the side, a grim scowl crossing his face like a herald to his malice.

“Take her, I would have preferred she had not have had half her horn cleaved off, but there is not much we can do to fix that now. Let’s hope she serves me better in death than she did her former master in life.”

“Now, about you…” he turned to Scarlet, eyeing her up critically, “You must either be very stupid or very brave to do what you have done here. Given you assisted me in the disposal of this … filth, I’ll allow you to stay amidst the living, but for now I expect you to answer my questions and obey my orders without question, otherwise-“ he gestured to the numerous brutally maimed Inquisitor corpses “you can join these fools.”

“Once you have answered my questions to a suitable extent I will release you, but I will be watching you afterwards. Your life will depend on you keeping your mouth shut, or I will see to it that you’ll awake choking up on your blood the next time you go to sleep.”

Tsan and Lambda stomped over, the ground shaking somewhat at their advance as the machine ponies stared down Scarlet impassively, blades raised and ready to act out a killing strike in less than a heartbeat.

“Now, you’ll begin by telling me who you are, what organisation you work for and who you serve." He raised his muzzle slightly higher, sniffing as if he had encountered a putrid stench, "You reek of Alicorn magic.”

His head suddenly whipped towards the one standing Scholar and the still unconscious Dr Lens, his face shifting from a grim scowl to a barely restrained look of absolute rage and fury, “As for you!” he snarled, face a picture of hate, teeth grinding in disgust and purple eyes glowing in fury “You two are coming with me! For this I would have had you tortured and beheaded under different circumstances, sending your screaming faces packed in salt back to your employer as a message, but the manner of this… betrayal has left me with a minor sliver of doubt to your intent. You will follow me without question, you will speak only when spoken to, or I will make you wish you had been sent to Hell like these cretins, and then I'll hang your mutilated corpse from the tallest tree of this forest from a noose made out of your own intestines!”

Waving a hoof, he signalled two of his Jaeger Guard to grab the still unconscious Dr Lens, draping her over one of their backs whilst the other tied knots to her limbs in order to fasten her properly to her carrier.

“You life depends on what Dr Lens reveals to me Scholar, as I tear it from her screaming unconscious mind. Regardless…” Lines of Scalpels children surrounded the survivors of the massacre, hemming them in to walls made of living metal, whilst above The Spheres orbited, before being signalled forward to clear the way. With almost complete synchronicity, the lines of mechanical abominations straightened, before beginning the march into the night in a symphony of metal and whispered prayers to a mechanical god.

“We are going home.”

"Hey... don't worry about it. We both knew this could happen. Give 'em hell, Xeri..."

---

"Finish it, you damn traitor! JUST KILL ME!!"

---

As the sun rose over the Northern Mountains, a horrible wail of despair echoed from an imposing manor. Guards were roused, rooms were checked. The demand for justice gripped the entire area, but the culprit had vanished hours before. The weakening bond of a family was broken, with no heirs left to claim the Duke's seat.

---

Xerihan limped into the town of Woodswatch, sporting a small bag and a ragged cloak that had seen better days. Following a small ghostly hare, he hobbled up to the edge of town. He paused, tracking the hare's path into a small tavern. Absentmindedly, he tugged at the straps keeping his face wrap taught with his good paw. "No reward without risk..." he murmured to himself. The griffon stepped forth.

Passing through the tavern door, Xerihan caught a glimpse of the hare by the stairs. He followed, drops of blood left behind with every step. His right paw was poorly bandaged, and a cursory inspection would show the bone had been broken and was in the process of healing. Xerihan limped up the stairs. Arriving at a closed door, the hare stepped through to his objective. The griffon swallowed; no turning back now. He gripped the handle and turned.

Stepping into the room, Xerihan could see two occupants: a large unicorn and a dog. The hare wouldn't have led him astray, and he recalled an odd meeting in a moonlit forest clearing.

Xerihan set his bag down, staring at the pup. "It has been a while, Thea."

Steel Hammer looked at Scalpel, his eyes were not filled with hate or anger. Just exhaustion and confusion. One caused by wounds, the other by the chaos that followed after being tossed into the air. He had been out for the first moments, but awoke to the sight of battle and the ritual: mechanical ponies, Inquisitors turning into chunky salsa, flying spheres, and the rising Noxferus.

For a moment Steel wondered if had died or was merely dreaming.

Then his memory returned, with a urgency to make sure Lens was still alive. Struggling, he stood and trotted back to where he stood a few moments ago. He ignored the carnage as best he could. One agent had staggered in his path, confused and worried. Steel stopped and broke the Inquisitor's neck. He spat at the body and continued.

Steel saw in the distance Scarlet and the Infiltrator battle. How the bounty hunter got there and why, he could not imagine. But when she finished Longsight, he sighed with relief. "Pity I wasn't there to land a blow," he said to himself.

Not far from Scarlet and Lens, he spotted Summer Dew about to attack. The smithy remembered the safe box he was carrying, now laying dented and ruined on his side, hanging by a single strap. In an instant, the Earth Pony swept in a circle, his rear facing the Inquisitor, the box swung in position. Giving all his strength, Steel bucked the box at lethal velocity.

Before Steel could speak with Scarlet, they were surrounded by the Noxferus' troops. He could do nothing but stand there, looking helplessly as Lens was bounded to one of the Risen. His heart began to pound, worried for her safety. But Lens told them how paranoid the Noxferus was, and was relived he did not merely terminated their lives here and then. He, Lens, and Scarlet were in a dangerous spot.

At the same time, Steel could not help but study the metalwork of the spheres and the other Risen. He frowned slightly, a bit disappointed that the alloy was not to is standard. If I survive this, I need to tell this guy that how could improve his metalwork.

He looked at Scarlet and wondered what she would do. Hopefully it wasn't going to fight, and he hoped that she could get away. He gave her a look and shook his head, hoping that would communicate not to fight back.

The seconds of silence seemed to haunt his mind.

Theá and Amaretto had finished eating and simply sat together in silence for several moments when the door opened, revealing a beaten and battered Gryphon.

Moments before, Amaretto noticed, Theá's ears her gone erect and turned towards the wall, slowly rotating as if following some feint sound. Now he figured that it was just the gryphon. He stood up, grabbed his sword in his magic and darted forward, the sword pressing against the Gryphon's throat, Amaretto himself at eye height with the hybrid. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a short command from the goddess.

"Stand back," she said, eyes trained on the unicorn. "He is no enemy."

Amaretto did as told, albeit reluctantly, and sheathed his sword. He grumbled something unintelligible as he stepped back, allowing for entry, and closed the door behind the Gryphon. Though the sword was gone, there was no doubt from the look in his eyes that he wouldn't hesitate to attack, wounded though the newcomer may be.

"It has indeed, Xerihan," Theá commented, still lying in the bed. "Almost two weeks. What brings you here? And for that matter," her gaze briefly diverted to his bandaged paw, "what happened to you?"

Xerihan backed his head up reflexively when Amaretto brought his sword to bear, but otherwise the griffon didn’t move. “Hello to you too, unicorn,” Xerihan replied bemusedly. Once Amaretto had sheathed his sword, the griffon turned his attention back to Thea.

“I’ve come back from up north. The short of it is I’ve few places left to go, and I figured I should make good on my promise to help and provide information. Speaking of, the abilities you gave me - they were extraordinarily useful. Thank you.”

“I did not so much give you abilities as I allowed you to simply do better at hiding and sensing than usually,” Theá noted, lazily changing her posture. “But that aside, you have information? Of which kind, and who—or what—is it about?”

As she spoke Amaretto walked over to the window, eyes trained on the horizon, and pretending to not care for the newcomer. Even then, his ears struggling to not turn towards Xerihan and Theá was enough to know that he was listening.

“Well, as I said, I went north, back to my family. I helped my father, one of the nobles and clan leaders in the Griffon Kingdoms, in exchange for protection from the Cult,” Xerihan replied crisply. “Ricket and I mostly spied on the other clans, but there were a few kidnappings and assassinations. All to help my father position himself for a political takeover. He had enough allies and followers to heavily influence the next assembly of nobles, which is in a few days. That was when he abandoned me; he gave me six hours to leave before the guards would attack me. He had no more use for me.”

“So your cock of a father threw you out after he got what he wanted. Is that what I’m hearing?” Amaretto asked, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder. “Doesn’t sound like much of a father, if you ask me.” He turned back to watching the horizon. “Parents should take care of their bloody children, not use them for their own gains.”

Theá—having watched Amaretto speak with some interest—turned back to Xerihan. “I must agree with Amaretto on this. For what it’s worth, you have my sympathies. But from what you’re telling me, the one you call Father is taking over the Gryphon Government for himself, and have thrown you out now that he has what he wants.” She went silent for a time, then, eyes cast towards the ceiling as she thought. After about a minute’s silence she finally spoke up again. “You mentioned Ricket. I remember him. What happened?”

“He’s dead,” Xerihan answered detachedly. “Killed by Snap Freeze. After which I killed Snap Freeze in turn. And now that I’ve broken both the mental link and killed one of the Cult’s best assassins, I doubt the Cult will spend many more resources trying to track me down. And if they do, it won’t be nearly as troublesome as Snap Freeze.”

Walking to one of the beds, Xerihan leaned against it and sighed deeply. He stared through the wall. “About the griffon kingdoms… it’s not all bad news.” His gaze returned to Thea. “If you’re unaware, nearly every clan has spies in all the other clans. It’s part and parcel of the culture. Before I left, I… killed my father’s last heir. And my father is old; I doubt he could sire another child. With no heirs, his power will be suspect at best. I’d wager it will be enough to destabilize his position.” The griffon shrugged. “I did what I could to stop him. Hopefully he won’t be able to bear the griffon kingdoms against Equestria, or whatever schemes he has in mind.”

“Even if he did,” Theá answered grimly, though with a smile almost audible in her voice, “he would find himself faced with a foe he could not possible match.”

“I’m sure the Gryphons will be scared to death by a Cocker Spaniel threatening them with divine retribution… With luck they’ll laugh themselves to death.”

Rather than honour him with a response, Theá settled for a baleful glare that didn’t really have the intended purpose of drilling a hole through Amaretto’s skull. She kept it up for all of three seconds before she decided that Xerihan was more worthy of her attention. “At any rate, if you say that the Gryphon Kingdoms are of no threat, then I will trust you. For now, however, I believe your wounds should be tended to. Amaretto, your bandages.”

Bandages were fetched, and water was carried in from the bathroom in a small basin, heated up by Amaretto’s cobalt flames. He offered no protest at any point, obviously respecting the alicorn a great deal, in spite of his sarcastic comments and jokes. “Show me your paw,” he demanded, a rag for cleaning held in his magic beside a fresh roll of bandages.

Cracking a small grin, Xerihan gladly complied, though not before snarking, “S’long as you promise not to stick me.” Then he remembered a relatively important fact: “Uh, wait. I think the bone was broken.” He paused, then grimaced “Just don’t be too rough.”

“Can’t promise that,” Amaretto replied, his tone even more grim than Theá’s from before. Not to mention as close to uncaring as possible. The dirty and torn bandages already wrapped around the wound were undone, careful as to not cause unnecessary pain, and promptly burned into nothingness by the same cobalt flames.

Then the rag was applied, wiping away caked blood and washing the bound, undoubtedly causing quite a bit of pain. “You know, I could sterilize the wound if you want,” Amaretto said as he continued his work. “I’d burn the blood vessels and remove any dead flesh to avoid infections. It’ll hurt like hell, but at least you wouldn’t risk dying from infections.” He soaked the rag in the water, washing the blood off of it, and then returned it to the wound. “What do you say?”

Xerihan groaned, but he agreed. “Just be quick about it,” he added. “And don’t heat up the metal if possible”. To distract himself, he turned back to Thea. “I’ll admit Thea, I was skeptical when the hare led me here. What have you been doing that you’re in this small town?”

I should probably warn him that it’s hellfire, hot enough to burn through a Changeling’s chitin… Bah. He’ll survive. Amaretto lit his horn, starting to summon a small which he concentrated on making as hot as he could.

Meanwhile, Theá had turned to Xerihan, looking thoughtful as she thought over his question. “I cannot answer you in any way but this: I do what I am. As of now, only Amaretto,” she nodded towards the stallion who was in the process of hovering the coin-sized—and incredibly hot— flame closer to the wound, “knows of my doings here. On a side note, you may want me to hold you down.” A green shimmer of magic surrounded Xerihan, holding him down as well as casting a filter across him, muting almost all sounding within a small area around him. She knew he would scream. For his part, Xerihan stared at her dumbfoundedly.

The flame touched the Gryphon’s flesh, instantly bringing forth the smell of burnt flesh as blood boiled at its touch and vaporized, blood vessels closing, and infections annihilated. He kept it up for another few seconds, making sure that all of it was cleanly burnt away before he extinguished it. “And now for setting the bone… Sorry mate.” He grabbed hold of the two parts of the broken bone with his magic and, with a powerful yank, set it straight. He figured it probably caused another small fraction seeing as it had partially grown together already, but breaking that up was a necessary evil.

He then went about bandaging the wound and applying a splint to keep the leg straight, Theá dispelling the sound bubble and releasing her grip on Xerihan.

Xerihan had managed to not scream during the disinfection, but when Amaretto set the bone he couldn’t help himself. “GrrrraaAAAAHHHHH!!!”. A second passed where Xerihan simply lay there. Then he looked up, and his mood had turned acidic.

“That’s one of the things I miss about being a noble’s son,” he growled. Once he was bandaged, the griffon hastily pulled away from Amaretto and nursed his paw. “Proper medical care. And I’d appreciate it if you gave me prior warning, for future reference!” he snapped. Forcibly calming himself, Xerihan sat down on the bed opposite Thea. “Well then… it sounds like you’re keeping things close to your chest. Do you need help? Or rather, do you even want it? I have little else to do, you know.”

Amaretto seemed uncaring at best in regards to the acidic tone, a raised eyebrow being the only reaction. “Warning you would not have eased the pain,” he said. “If anything it would just have made you tense up and made the pain worse. I did what I was asked, and I did it quickly and efficiently. Your leg will heal and be good to walk on in a few months’ time.” He stood up and went about cleaning up whatever blood there was, and discarding the, now dirty, water.

Theá stood up on the bed, stretching like any dog would before laying down again. “What I need right now is not help, but rather information. In your state, however, I doubt you would be of much use. You may, however, be able to tell me something. Tell me, did you ever encounter a unicorn doctor by the name of Silver Scalpel?”

“Silver Scalpel?” Xerihan perked an eyebrow. “I don’t believe I’ve heard that name before. Why do you ask?”

“For reasons that are my own. As I mentioned before, I do what I am.”

“Anything else?” Amaretto asked, closing the door to the bathroom behind him. “Chick’s cleaned up, dirty bandages thrown out and what not.”

Theá shook her head, ears flapping about. “That’ll be all for now.”

“I’ll go down to get a pint, then. Send a bug after me if you need me.”

“I will. Now,” Theá turned back to Xerihan. “You said you know nothing of him? Hmm… Is there anything else you discovered in the past two weeks that might be worth mentioning?”

Xerihan shrugged, unsure as to what would be useful. “Well, there were miscellaneous things I learned about the nobles up north. Griffon politics, nothing you’d be terribly interested in, I suspect. I managed to find a zebra in the Everfree that brewed me a potion to permanently sever my mental connection to the Laughing Mare, as well as the psychological addiction she had me bound under. I reconnected with a colleague, a young stallion that specializes in disguises. You know about the family of travelling ponies I encountered a few weeks back, as unfortunate as that was. Doctor Charred passed Ricket and myself as we left Trottingham, and before that was when I fell out with the Cult and ran.” Xerihan tapped a claw against his chin, his head tilted in thought. “Nothing else springs to mind, I’m afraid.”

Sighing, Theá rested her head on her paws, contemplative. “You are right that the squabbles of nobility are of no concern to an Immortal. As for the rest of it, I’m glad you are rid of your addictions and whatever else ailed your mind… If nothing else, I suggest you sleep. You’ll need your strength.”

Tenderly moving his paw, Xerihan nodded in agreement. “As good a plan as any. Good night, Thea.” Nothing else needed to be said. Picking up his bag, Xerihan opened the door and turned into the hallway, then closed the door behind him.

Fifteen minutes later, he had paid for a room in the same inn, and had tucked away his few meager possessions. Settling into the bed and trying to ignore the pain in his right paw, Xerihan could only wonder at what his next step would be.

Blue Skies

The bells of the church of Blue Skies rang out to to announce to the world that a loving couple had been wed into eternal bliss under the eyes of the Goddesses.

Congratulations had been offered, various items had been thrown in celebration and the happy couple had departed shortly after the kiss that sealed their vows to spend the rest of existence by each others side. In fact, the newly wed couple had looked so cute and happy together laying beside the church's alter (The bride had nuzzled her head against the grooms neck and used him as a makeshift pillow) that Laughing Consort had deemed it an injustice to even think about parting them. Despite all the extra work that creating an Alicorn with them as the base would be, it was a task that Laughing and the rest of the wedding party was more then happy to take on.

However, that was not the only good news that would grace them this day. One of the Wedding Party members that had been sent out to check on how the party with the slaves and servants had gone before returning with a wide grin and a small Pegasus foal riding on his back. The foal was smiling widely, but his eyes appeared to be having a lot of trouble focusing on anything. The cultist announced loudly as he darted past his brothers and sisters who were busy taking care of and sorting through the rest of the guests "FATHER CONSORT, I'VE FOUND A CHOSEN!"

Laughing Consort paused in his work, carefully putting down the remains of the father of the bride before looking at the cultist carrying the foal. "Then what are you waiting for? Bring them here and go and fetch some water and food!" The child was quickly placed in front of Laughing Consort, several cultists including the one who had brought the child running off to gather what he had requested. With a sad smile on his face, Laughing knelt down to look the foal in his unfocused eyes before softly asking "Can you hear me?"

The child took a little while to respond to the fact that someone was talking to him at all. This wasn't that strange; All Chosen felt like they were underwater after their first encounter with Laughing's concoction because the senses had to readjust to being limited to the senses of a body after briefly being graced with so much more. The child slowly nodded his head, but didn't seem able to speak at the moment.

Laughing let out a small sigh before speaking again. "Do you remember much of the eternal party? Of meeting the pink hostess?" The child shook his head a little, Laughing reaching out to help steady the poor foal. "That's okay. Few remember right away. The shock of seeing so much and embracing so many new senses at once is an experience that needs some time to be filtered by our mortal shells. Do you want me to tell you what is happening?" The foal nodded his head, but it was clear that his unfocused state made such an act tricky. Dizziness sucked after all.

"Well my friend, I have some good news and some slightly-not-so-good-news-at-the-moment-but-it'll-turn-into-good-news-later." Laughing started, his smile and tone playful and friendly. "The good news is that your friends, family and almost all of the ponies in your town have been invited to join the greatest party their ever was. They have been freed of having to work or feel hunger pains and can now enjoy the fun and enticement that awaits them at the eternal party of the Laughing Mare. The slightly-not-so-good-news-at-the-moment-but-it'll-turn-into-good-news-later is that the Laughing Mare has chosen you to stay behind and help send out more invitations to her party. She has taken a good old look at you and seen something that told her that you were worthy of helping bring more ponies to her party. While that does mean you're going to have to miss out on the party itself for a while, when you're finally done your work you'll get the warmest and bigger welcome imaginable! And they'll make sure that a slice of cake will be put aside just for you. Now I know you don't know much about inviting ponies to such a grand party right now but don't worry. We'll take care of you..."

.....................................................................
Old Ponyville

Lowering his head a little in order to better hear what Snow had to say to him, Torrential's face betrayed... regret. It was not an emotion that he allowed himself to feel often. However, with a small ruffling of feathers as he shifted his wings back into their proper place, the alicorn rose to his hooves before walking over towards the recently blinded mare. Sitting down next to her and wrapping one of his wings around her body, he carefully pulled her against him before leaning down and softly planting a kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry." He whispered softly before he started to nuzzle her gently. It wouldn't help heal her by any means but it would hopefully help make her feel better.

Tears formed in Star's eyes, she leaned closer to his body and returning the embrace as best she could. She couldn't speak and tried suppressing the sobs, but her body still shuddered. There was a long moment of silence before she could speak. She felt the soothing coat of the alicorn, remembering his kind words, and the gentleness he shown. Those brought back some composure.

"Th-thank you, Torrential," she said. "It… it wasn't your fault. You had to do what you needed to do to stop the Laughing Mare. I promised your sister to help you, and if it means saving your life… my e-eyes are worth the cost." She leaned back again to rest, exhausted.

Snow Tail had tears running down her eyes as well, looking at the alicorn and pegasus comfort each other. Crying was something hard for her, not since her troubled youth before she got used to the hardness of the world. But right now, at this moment, the world did not seem so harsh. Under the clear blue sky, by the now peaceful water, a scene of tender love was occurring. There was a beauty that made her soul wish it could last.

Shaking off the tears, Tail knew there was still much to do. By the Bearded wizard, I can't stay here, not when another pony needs help. She bowed to Torrential. "Forgive me Master, I wish not to interrupt. There's still the matter of the missing Stormwing Legionnaire, and we're not in a very secured position. But before attending to either… is there anything I can do to help you or Star?" Her eyes quivered, hoping that the Alicorn would know of something that could help the Scholar.

Scarlet eyed the mechanical constructs around her curiously, and seemingly oblivious to the extreme danger they posed to her, appraising their workings with interest. “Hmm, interesting creations of yours, what powers them?” She looked around some more, “Ah, but I forget, you’re asking the questions right? Let’s see…”

Scarlet continued walking, keeping up her current oblivious air, nonetheless she eyed the large swords held by Tsan and Lambda, and her mind left nothing to the imagination of what the result of a fight between herself and this armored column would be. “I am Scarlet Ink, or Aлый Чернила, and I came here to find adventure, drink vodka, and conduct a rescue operation. Unfortunately, you southern ponies don’t have any good vodka, and my rescue operation appears to have gone awry, so it seems I am left with finding adventure of some sort.”

“You sound Stalliongradian I’ll give you that, so I’ll take your word for it. Otherwise you haven’t really answered my latter questions.” pausing to take in a glance at the unconscious Dr Lens straddled over the back of one his children he frowned, “It does appear that this ‘rescue’ has gone awry in a manner of speaking, If she’s a friend then I am afraid she is in deep trouble, and depending on what I find she might not make it through tonight, given the situation she lead me straight into.” He turned back to the mercenary, the frown still digging deep ridges into his brow, fixing her with a decidedly dangerous glare.

“Now back onto point, who do you work for?”

“In theory,” Scarlet began, “I work for myself. However, as you claimed my ‘blade skills reek of Alicorn magic’ -very astute by the way, well done- I do work for an alicorn so to speak.”

Scalpel stopped in his tracks and raise one hoof with that announcement, and with near complete synchronicity the column halted, turning to face Scarlet with their expressionless gazes. He took a moment for the weight of those words to sink into him before replying, clipped and with a voice as cold as ice, staring directly at her in what might have been a neutral expression if not for the threat that lay behind it.

“Which. One.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “Touchy much…” she grumbled to herself, “Armifera, the Imperatrix. Lady of Battle, the Martial Arts, Swordplay, Passion, whiskey, and a couple other things I can’t remember. Pretty sure all she’s done so far is crush cultists and bisect bandits.”

The tension behind the moment quickly dissipated after that announcement, the column returned to its previous position and began the march again. Scalpel’s face which had been as taut as a drawn bow relaxed slightly. “You would be too if you knew who was currently watching me. That bloody forest goddess seemed to have gotten all riled up over one offhand statement, If it wasn’t that they were Inquisitors I would have guessed that they might have been her lackey’s back there.” He grumbled a moment longer, the frown deepening once again, “Oh well, at least you serve one of the better ones, half of the new gods come across as violent and deranged to me. Regardless, what’s your connection to Dr Lens here?”

She nodded, “They do seem a smite-y lot, don’t they?”

She glanced back around at Lens, “Well, long story short I was traveling near Whitegold territory, when a small army of bandits saw fit to attack me while I was sleeping. Had I been a bit more prepared there wouldn’t have been an issue, but as I was finishing them off one му дак пизда managed to land a hit with her crossbow, and hit a thin section on my armor.” She paused momentarily to gesture at the small hole in the armor on her thigh, “So I nailed her skull to a tree with the knife she had sheathed at her side and teleported, in hindsight it’s a miracle I’m not dead. Anyway, it seems I’ve managed to teleport myself halfway across Equestria by accident, and so I dragged myself into the nearest town I could find, and Lens happened to be there, and fixed my leg.”

She looked back over at Scalpel, “I can assure you she’s no Inquisitor, nor on their side. They can be good actors, but when you’ve been on the run from them for a decade you learn their mannerisms. I found the pony Longsight replaced drugged in a closet, and that’s more or less why I’m out here.”

Now that she was looking at Scalpel, something struck her, “You seem familiar… I think I recognize you from somewhere…” she paused, “I’m going to assume it wasn’t a bar in Stalliongrad.”

Scalpel nodded “Everything you’ve told me matches up with what my contacts informed me briefly of earlier, and I don’t have much need to doubt your word in regards to your purpose, yet.” he suddenly let out a deep sigh, his frustration clear as day regarding the circumstances of the moment, “I am afraid I just can’t take your word for it regarding Lens, even if she wasn’t directly involved, the Inquisition could be seeded well into her organisation, I need direct truthful information on the status of her scholarly unit, which will require extensive investigation.”

“I can promise you that if she doesn’t have anything to hide then she will be fine, however the same does not apply if anything turns up. A message needs to be set across to her organisation, inefficiencies and treachery like this cannot be tolerated, even if she is not guilty directly.”

Turning back to her he looked at her more closely, lips tightly locked in a frown as he scrutinised her, “I’d believe I can say the same about you… you certainly look familiar to me… but perhaps its better that we pretend we don’t know each other. In fact it’d be more likely to be in your interest to forget this entire situation ever popped up.”

Scarlet, being Scarlet, had been talking under her breath to herself and had managed to more or less miss Scalpel’s ‘advice’, “No, no, not a brothel, not an arms dealer, not a… wait,” she looked back up at him, “Weren’t you that colt at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? The one who always lurked in the libraries? Damn,” she looked back at the mechanized undead, “you’ve certainly made a lot more friends in the interim.”

Scalpel gave her a blank look, “I am pretty sure you were the loud angry one which was constantly shouting or punching something, or mixing both together at the same time. Regardless I don’t have anything to keep you here, just keep your mouth shut and some poor innkeeper won’t have to wipe your brain matter of his walls at some point in the foreseeable future.” He gave a signal to his children and one side opened up leaving room for a pony to leave the column “You’re free to go, I’ll be keeping an eye on you though, and if you mention this to a large turquoise alicorn I will murder you, very slowly and very painfully.”

Scarlet gave a longing look at the mechanical parts of the undead, before turning away with a slight stoop, before stopping. “Actually, no.” she turned around, “I owe Lens over there a favor, and I’m going to see it out. Try killing me if you want, but if she’s not going to make it tonight I’d at least like to repay that favor, otherwise it’s going to drive me crazy. Besides, you still haven’t told me what powers those creations of yours.” she stood glaring at Scalpel, before her eyes widened as she let out an enormous belch. Smacking her lips, Scarlet mused out loud, “Hmm, ethanol, 80 proof, apple based. It appears that I am drunk.” she hiccuped slightly, as if on cue to prove the point.

Scalpel gave her a semi-incredulous look, as if he was amazed that someone could be both so utterly stubborn and stupid at the same time, “You’re standing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by creatures you just saw rip an Inquisition team into chunky meat lumps, and trying to stare down a pony you just saw feed peoples souls to a dark creature beyond this dimension… and you’re trying to get me to tell you how parts of my creations work whilst arguing about giving Lens a favour… Wow… just… Wow.” He raised one hoof to his face and rubbed it in pain in response to the audacious stupidity he had just witnessed, “Alright, what’s the favour?” he asked, muttering under his breath, “Are you just that stupid or is it the drink talking?”

“Hmm… about ten shots of 80 proof cider, another five or so of something I don’t even know what, and poor sleep. I’d be inclined to blame the booze.” she chuckled to herself, “Didn’t I just say the favor I owe Lens? Scroll back up and see if you doubt me.”

Scalpel rolled his eyes, “The leg. Right. Well I can’t let you come along, so the other two options are that I turn you into meaty chunks… or...I have my soldiers beat you into unconsciousness.” With that Scalpel’s legions closed ranks, turning inward again and advancing towards the lone mare. The situation did not look good for her.

Suddenly a rustling from the bushes just up ahead redirected all of the Risen and Scalpel’s attention, suddenly it wasn’t just hooves being presented, it was blades.

“Who’s out there!” Scalpel roared, furious at the interruption, “Show yourself!”

Another rustle from the foliage, and then two recognisable figures slowly emerged from the forest, a giant of a stallion covered in far inferior technology to the current Risen, and a small filly with two intricately designed metal back legs and a oil lamp gripped in her mouth.

“Honey…?” Scalpel asked, surprised more than anything, “What are you doing out here, dear?”

Scarlet’s head whipped around to the noise, and her eyebrow shot up as she took in the sight, “Okay, now I’m curious.” she muttered quietly to herself.

Making her way through the crowd of now relaxed machines, she barely gave the corpses a glance as she sidled up to Scalpel and gave him a hug, “I saw lights in the sky, and the orbs told me that something had gone wrong, I was worried.”

Surprisingly Scalpel’s face softened considerably, he almost looked benevolent rather than the paranoid murderous scientist he had been before, “You shouldn’t have worried Honey, I’m alright, although I can’t say the same for those Inquisitors.” He eyed her up a little concerned, “How are the new legs? They responding okay?”

Honey gave a sort of ‘Hmmm’ “They’re better than the wheels uncle, but I must admit they’ll take a while to get used to, plus I think one on the left one needs another oil.”

Scalpel gave a small lighthearted laugh, “fair enough, I am glad you were wise enough to bring Grunge with you, the woods is no place for a filly.”

Honey raise an eyebrow at that, giving him a grumpy glare “I’m not a foal uncle…”

He smiled, running a hoof lovingly through her bronze and gold hair “I’m aware, but you know how I worry.”

Scarlet’s eyebrow now appeared to be trying to achieve liftoff, “What.” she muttered to herself, completely and utterly perplexed.

Nonetheless in the back of her mind, she was already analyzing the legs on the new arrival, trying to piece together their function from what she could see.

As if noticing the attention she was getting, Honey turned towards Scarlet and responded by giving her an equally intense stare, “Who’s this?”. Suddenly noticing something, she lead to the side to look behind Scarlet, “Lambda, you know its not nice to punch guests in the back of the head, please put the hoof back on the ground where it belongs.”

Bizarrely, the machine pony almost looked embarrassed, “Apologies miss Honey” it replied in a reverberating voice, kicking at the sod in an awkward manner like a reproved child.

Scarlet glanced behind her and then back at Honey, giving her a small nod of thanks. “Seems I owe you one. I like my morning headaches as small as possible.”

She began again after a small pause, “So what’s Scalpel doing all the way out here? He’s got a lot more em, friends, than last time I saw him in Celestia’s School…”

Honey raised an eyebrow at her, “As if I’d tell you, as for friends…” she glanced about, eyeing up the numbers around her, “there are a lot more of them back home. Speaking of which uncle, is that mare coming with us?”

Scalpel shrugged, “I wasn’t planning on it.”

Scarlet interjected, “Okay, look, sorry if this is rude, but what’s with those legs? They’re orders of magnitude more advanced than those things,” she gestured towards the undead automatons, “... I just said the wrong thing didn’t I?”

Scalpel’s glare could have frozen the limbs off a Windigo, “The legs are custom made, spent a lot of time making them just perfect. Very precise, very complex.” He gestured at the others, “Most of the fellow Risen are augmented with more mass producible models- well asides from Lambda and Tsan over there, but you can’t really see that behind all the armour- otherwise creating them would take much more time.”

“As for why…” Scalpel continued, only to be interrupted by Honey as she gave her own little glare at Scarlet.

“Earthborn night attack, Moon and Star campaign five years ago.” she replied “Uncle got there in time to save my life and just enough of my horn, not quick enough to save my legs.”

Scalpel gave a visibly pained expression at that, and Honey noticed and she gave him a squeezy hug. She couldn’t blame her uncle, he had been on the far side of the camp dealing with the injured when the Earthborn had begun the assault.

Scarlet didn’t react immediately, her head hanging down slightly, though it would’ve been hard to miss the darkening of her coat and the whitening of her mane even in the sparse light. She looked up, exposing two eyes lacking pupils, the irises looked almost to be bleeding. She spoke calmly, evenly, almost completely unlike how she normally spoke, “And, are any of them still alive?”

Both Honey and Scalpel eyed her up in surprise, neither had seen such a display before and it took them off guard for a moment. “Well...I think out of the original ten there are about five who are still alive, six if you count one under a technicality. I dealt with the other four viscerally many years earlier, been slowly tracking down the rest ever since” Scalpel answered, eyeing up the brooding mare and giving her a somewhat nervous glance as he did so. “I didn’t have time to deal with them at the time, Honey’s injuries were too severe.”

Scarlet thought on that for a second, “And, do you have any idea where any of them are now?”

Scalpel nodded after a moments hesitation, “Not all of them, only two really, with rumor of a third. I have no idea where the other two are at all. Last time I heard from my sources Steel Mane was a drunken wastrel in Manehatten and Cotton Tail had risen to a relatively high position in New Ponyville, I think an Overseer-Governor or whatever the ranking system is with the Earthborn. The only other news I have is a rumor of Grape Shot in Rusty Horseshoe.”

“I see…” she mused for a moment, “And, what state would you like them in? Dead? Chopped into bits? Or bring them back here for even worse?”

Scalpel gave her a confused smile “Are you offering your services?... well I don’t see the harm in hiring you, preferably I’d want them alive to impose my own tender mercies upon, but if they won’t come quietly I won’t be too put out if you kill them, just make it visceral.” He shrugged his shoulders in at this, a concentrated frown settling onto his brow again, “What could I offer you in return? I’m open to suggestions.”

“If I bring them back I hope those mercies are especially tender.” she began, “It depends really, much as I… detest… what happened to… Honey, was it?” she looked over at Scalpel, “I do think legs like that might be interesting, if payment is a thing.”

A look of surprise crossed Scalpels face before it settled into a small smile, “Another enthusiast it seems, I must say I don’t entirely understand why given you have perfectly functional legs, and normally I wouldn’t give away my secrets, but given its of a… personal nature, I’ll bite. Given you are going to be doing me a service in this regard, I’ll even sweeten the deal further with the promise of Dr Lens’ survival. Deliver all five, or part of all five in a recognisable state and I’ll see about installing the machinery.”

Scarlet nodded, “Please do go easy on Lens, she’s a good pony. Is there a good spot you know of for me to show up with these Earthborn? It’ll be much faster and more efficient if I teleport them than if I drag them across Equestria.”

Scalpel scratched his chin in thought, “Well I have numerous contacts across Equestria, I could arrange some drop points for you to deliver them to and into the hand of my captains” here he nodded towards Lambda and Tsan. “ Alternately if you give me until tomorrow I might have something which you can use to directly contact me once you have one, my scouts will be spreading out soon, and they can deal with the pick up, it also lessens the possibility of my contacts getting in a tight spot or losing my best Risen.”

“As for Lens, I’ll go as lightly as I will on her, but if she is a traitor she’ll likely not see the light of day for a long time. If not, then the book will be confiscated as a response for her group leaders failure, but she’ll go free. I did actually like her before this… mess turned up my doorstep.”

“Anyway...” Scalpel’s face became businesslike and officious, “Do we have a deal Miss Scarlet?”

“We do.”

Torrential looked up at Snow for a moment, nodded his head in understanding and permission. "Go on. We'll be fine here for now. Do what you need to do."

Once Snow was off looking for the Stormwing ponies, Torrential turned his gaze from her and returned it to the small form that was cuddled up against his own. Leaning down to nuzzle her softly once more he pondered what he was planning on discussing with her. If there was ever a time to bring it up it would be now. Even more so because they were alone; This was the kind of discussion that was best kept behind closed doors as it were.

"Star Dancer, there is something that I wish to discuss with you and I want you to think carefully about it before you say anything one way or the other. I wish to reward your loyalty and faith you've placed in me by naming you my Consort. While I've never been one to establish an organized religious body in my name, I have from time to time taken on a Consort; The role has a number of responsibilities but the easiest way to think of them would be to consider yourself a mixture of a priestess and a lover. You would have my permission to speak on my behalf... along with a couple of other benefits..." As if to cement the point him, Torrential couldn't stop himself from smiling as he playfully teased Star Dancers neck with nibbles. The teasing was short lived through.

"In order for you to become my Consort, you would have to receive my blessing however. That means you would need to abandon your connection with my sister in order to accept mine. If you do not wish to do so I understand completely."

Steel Hammer relaxed once the Doctor and the Bounty Hunter had came to a consensus. He had feared for Scarlet, but this was a better turnout than he expected. At least she'll be able to get out of here , he thought. The Earth pony wanted to speak to her, knowing it was perhaps his last chance. "Sorry my lady, but I fear we will not have that drink. But do be well on your travels." Alas the Noxferus told him not to talk, and clearly was in no mood for disobedience. That, and speaking with Scarlet could only cause trouble for her as well.

So instead he gave a short bow to Scarlet, one of respect and honor. Drink well, for the both of us.

He waited for the Noxferus' next action. He stood and waited, his stance showing he was partly worried about Lens, and partly impatient. I want to know what happened tonight, and why. He looked at the remains of Lightwing, his cloak had been blown over his head. The ground was soaked.

Poor kid… and what of Southy? Dead as well? At least they've been avenged. But the sooner the Noxferus gets to investigating, the sooner I can get Lens out of here. He paused to cough a bit. At the very least, I can save her.

This waiting is driving me nuts.

---

Snow Tail nodded. "Thank you, Master," she opened her wings and began to fly back to the shore where she found Star. So far there seemed to be no more appearances of the Cult's minions. But then again, they had a tendency to show up and give a nasty surprise or two.

"I wish I could do more for Star… but I'm no Doctor. I can't do much for those eyes than those affected by spells or suncannon fire… and pray the effect is temporary." She frowned at her inability to help. "At least there's one other pony I can do something."

Settling down, the pegasus was near the log she thought she left Storm. Looking around, she didn't see any sign of the soldier. Tail was about give shout, but then paused. "Aw drats, I forgot to ask her name," she muttered. "But I don't think we had time for proper introductions." Placing her hooves to "cup" over the mouth, Tail began to cry out: "Hey G. I. Jane, you around here?"

She listened closely, and hoped the soldier was alive.

---

Star stood there, not sure what to make of Torrential's offer. For a moment, she wanted to accept the Alicorn's embrace and return his teasing, letting her passions get the best of them both. The pegasus forgot that was even blind, her mind forming the image of Torrential in his cloak and cap. Emotions came, like a flood breaking through a dam, engulfing her mind. "Abandon my connection with-?" She shuddered and fell onto the shore.

Sweeper… it seemed like forever since Star Dancer gazed upon the maneless alicorn. And just like her brother, the Chambermaid also appeared to her as if her eyes were functioning. Her grey coat shining like sliver, her smile betraying her air-headed but caring nature. It was her who fulfilled the Scholarship. It was her who restored the hope of a shanty town in the middle of nowhere.

And it was Sweeper who saved the life of a foal nopony had cared for, near another refugee camp were there was no love. It was on that day, months ago, that Dancer realized how wonderful the Alicorn of Cleanliness really was. And since then, the Scholar also grew to know the Lady.

Now Dancer was asking to choose the blessing of two she cared for. She loved them both, each in their own different way. Tears began to flow from Star's eyes, her tears dropping onto the shore.

"I… I… don't know, I don't know…" she said. "Thi-is is too much to take in."

After a silence of several moments, the Scholar weakly rose from the ground and placed her head on Torrential's body. " I'm not sure… what I can do now. What to do now. Being with you is amazing… but so is your sister… I don't…" She sniffed, trying to control her sobbing. "Please, could we wait latter. I'm too tired, scarred. For now, can you just be my teacher like you always been? Like it was when we walked days ago? I can't think of the future now, not now."

The rest of the return journey was relatively uneventful, the night was clear after his work and he marvelled at the vast array of stars which lit up the night. Unconsciously he fussed with the bag which held the Black heart of the dead star lay, quiet and pulsing, waiting for him to light it up with the power which would make it sing once again.

Before then in a grassy hummock near the edge of the forest, the first two of the Jaeger’s pulled up a section of the turf and revealed a long dark underground tunnel, just big enough to march three abreast down this specific section of his network. Pausing temporarily, he let out a small spell, and the local magical field reacted, causing crystalline lamps imbedded into the walls to shine out in pale ice blue light.

After about ten minutes march the silence of the place was broken by the sounds of grinding metal, hammering, and gear movements, the sounds of immense industry beneath the earth, almost completely unnoticed from those above. The tunnel widened, and before them became more intricate, branching and ornate, within minutes they were passing more and more Drones processing materials, both dead flesh and inanimate metal on long rail lines before pushing them into the industrial sector to be worked upon.

Scalpel once again paused and looked behind him at the arrayed convoy of his soldiers critically, before his eyes fell upon Steel Hammer and fixed him with an unsmiling gaze. “Take him to a processing cell; I’ll deal with him later. Oh…” he eyed the pack which Steel Hammer still held with him, “Search him first, confiscate anything which might allow him to escape and return my property to the library, these imbeciles have already made a mess of this situation, any reward which is above sparing their lives would be obscenely generous.”

Dismissing a four member section of the Jaeger squad to go with the pony, he continued further into his small industrial fortress, passing by the flaming forges and industries of his children, observing as the crafted his future under a drumbeat of hammers. He couldn’t stay, and neither could his outpost, even if the Inquisition hadn’t been alerted to his presence they would undoubtedly investigate the disappearance of their agents soon enough.

It was time to move.

Signalling to Lambda and Tsan he paused on a section of a bridge going across a smaller industrial section of the massive underground construct. “Send an order through the ranks, begin the disassembly of the entire base, anything which can be taken, the library, the forges, the resources, take it. By tomorrow I expect the main features of this base to be disassembled and prepared for movement, along with the entire work and defence teams. After we have set up base in our new location we can bring the rest of the facilities machinery and materials with us.”

The two machine ponies nodded, but looked slightly perturbed, “Where shall we go Lord Father? Do you have a location in mind?”

Scalpel nodded, “I do, but I’ll have to give it further consideration in my study, I think it will be suitable to our situation however. Prepare a mass transport circle with the unicorn horn grindings in Sector B2’s Warehouse, We’ll need to leave here fast…” His eyes flickered side to side suspiciously “I also believe our old friend is watching us, further activities here may endanger both the project and my life. As tempting as Amaretto’s offer is, with this betrayal I am not willing to risk further dealings with unknown sources, cut him loose.”

The two ponies nodded in affirmation, before Tsan asked, “what about the other Scholar father?”

Scalpels brow furrowed slightly, “I gave my word on Dr Lens’ safety, not his. Have him processed into a containment sphere. That will serve as an adequate message for the Scholars on the price of failure.”

“As you will father.” Both ponies saluted and bowed, before turning for different sections of the facility to oversee their various duties.

“As for all of you” Scalpel addressed the Jaeger unit, “You performed excellently, I am proud of your efficiency in the field. Follow me to the Inner Sanctum and deposit the bodies in my personal Lab space, I’ll need them in the work that I’ll be doing tonight. After which return to your posts and assist with the disassembly of the facility, I expect you to be in the Sector B2 Warehouse tomorrow.”

***

Several looted corpses later, he appeared to be somewhat closer to the truth of the situation than he had been an hour ago. As far as he could tell, the main goals of this group of Inquisitors mainly settled on providing backup to one of their agents, and for the capture of Dr Lens solely with all others to be completely expendable.

The main essence of their orders seemed to be in code, but Scalpel’s brother had been in the Inquisition, and he himself had been privy to many of their secrets, so it proved unchallenging to decode. Most of it was the usual spy work, updates on location, observations, times and dates of meetings ect, but through it he had been able to conclude a few certain details.

The Inquisition had infiltrated the Scholar organisation in order to coerce Prof. Prancer into assisting them with the capture of a certain Silver Sweeper, one of the Alicorns which had descended along with Thea onto the earth. Most likely their goal had been similar to his, to use Alicorn material in order to power an Ascension by their leader Twilight Sparkle. He almost chuckled at that, bemused at the thought of her enraged expression at the mission’s utter catastrophic failure.

“I don’t think so Miss Sparkle…”

As he raked through the document, an immense buzzing and whirring was taking place behind him by the actions of certain advanced Drone Models. Suddenly immense clumping steel feet marched towards his position at a nearby desk and halted.

“Lord Father” metallic voice called, and Scalpel turned to give the Medical Drone a look of interest. The design was far in advance to the primitive models he had made for the assembly line, instead these creations had been specifically built for advanced medical duties, including the processing of new lieutenants. Much like their primitive cousins, half of the front of their faces had been carved in and replaced with numerous lens and machine eyes made of crystal and steel, leaving one banal looking eye which glowed with purple fire, however their bodies had been the most radically redesigned.

A huge metallic pack covered most of their middle and back, covered in claw handed arms, scalpels, and various tools of their duties. Other aspects included four flexible pseudo arms which could be used to inject fluids or move and carve up flesh with some claw like grasping tools. Other tools had less specific purposes, including saws, knives and cleavers for more brutal duties, but the majority tended towards more technical purposes. Their hooves, much like the armoured lieutenants, had grasping digits, and the back hooves, stabilisers in order to assist them in a two hooves gait.

Overall however, they looked like titanic mechanical mosquitoes, coated with viscera and only covered by heavy leather aprons for their operations. They were like something out of a nightmare.

He signalled for the creature to speak after a moments silence, whilst they were not as single minded as the average Worker Drone, they sometimes lacked imitative, and were below the intellectual grounds of his lieutenants. Where they did do well however, was in building his more complex designs, once taught, they never forgot.

“We have analysed the liquid you discovered on the person of the leading agent, as well as blood samples from the subject. All results indicate she has been injected with a highly potent form of the Inquisitors “Truth Serum”, which can render subjects pliable to the whims of the Inquisition, and force out truth where extensive torture might once have been necessary. This however can be countered by mindblocking the information, a self taught practice utilised both by yourself and undoubtedly the Scholars. This type however, seems to dissolve such defences and leave the mind completely vulnerable to Inquisitorial action.”

Scalpel nodded, rubbing his chin with an idle hoof, his usual frown settled across his face, “Interesting… use the sample to discover the exact components of the drug, then begin synthesis of it, we may have need of it in future. As for the moment…” He rose from his chair, and walked towards the prone Dr Lens, stopping before her prostrate position on one the dissection tables, not far from where dozens of other corpses were being processed on their own tables by Scalpels hoofpicked squad of Medical Drones.

He took a good look at her, he admired her fine features, delicate and alluring, her dark blue hair had become undone and now cascaded across her face in waves. He could see how so many might fall for her purely for beauties sake. But he saw through the thin line of beauty and saw the true perfection, her mind, her bright and wonderful mind which had so much to offer to this world, and the tightly protected innocence which it held in his eyes.

For a moment he almost considered casting aside his worries and fear and welcoming her back unharmed…

for a moment he considered that they might be more than this, that he might not need to do this…

For a moment he looked down at those lips and wished he could taste them on his own.

He could not deny he had become enamoured with this mare… but she had failed him…

And now he needed to know the full extent of the rot within her organisation.

His face, so often hard and unforgiving collapsed under its own rigid weight, turning sorrowful and confused. For a moment he was no longer the Doctor, the callous monster which history would name him as, but a lost, solitary and lonely creature, consumed by shadow and desperate for any small compassion out of a world of so much hatred and cruelty.

He raised a hoof and slowly stroked a rogue lock of hair of out her vision, and his horn lit up with a spell.

“Forgive me Lens…” a small droplet of water fell upon her cheek, and then another.

“Forgive me…”

“I must know.”

The following contains a scene which I feel I should prewarn you about before reading, depicting household violence which may be a trigger to some, viewer discretion is advised

One never knows how a dream begins - they always find themselves smack in the middle of somewhere. Here for anypony visiting Len’s subconscious, they found themselves in a endless vast library - shelves of tomes spanning into the distance until they blurred out of sight. On the left side, one can see a wall of solid stone and metal. It rose into eternity.

But a few meters away, one could see a door opened, chains and locks laying useless on the floor.

Scalpel looked about this library of the mind with interest, even in drugged slumber it seemed that Lens’ intellect towered, he thought bemusedly. He felt rather strange, not wholly corporeal, but almost as if he was made of silk floating above the floor on a breeze. It was clear to him however, that the door which was open before him was the means towards his information on her organisation, his first choice would naturally be to observe her most recent memories, perhaps flickering through a month or two unless he found something interesting.

He had never truly done this sort of magic very often however, so he was nervous, and he didn’t want to impose undue stress upon the already drugged and he guessed, kind of ‘kidnapped mare’, but at the same time he was curious to learn more about her and these ‘Scholars’.

With nothing holding him back Scalpel entered through the unchained door.

The endless wall was gone, but the door seemed to remain. Beyond the threshold was an office, looking rather spartan, save for a couch, a desk, and a bookcase. Though the walls were unpainted, the material was high quality marble, polished to a mirror surface. It was the stuff only the rich could afford.

Two, three shadowy figures began to emerge. Or where they always there, and now only shown up? One sat at the desk, the others facing the pony. One can make out the face of an aged unicorn, wearing some sort of bifocals with one lens green and the other pink. His hair was a natural grey, time had taken out the color. But the look only enhanced the authority this unicorn had.

The others in the office all wore the similar cloaks - blue with stars and other scholarly markings. The older unicorn spoke: “I don’t trust these alicorns.”

Scalpel paused, this memory seemed important, perhaps he had better listen in what was going on, especially when it involved the venerable Professor Prancer. He hovered to the side, staying out of the line of the recorded memory as it played out before him, observing and memorising it.

The other ponies in the room began to look more solid. “You’re always a bit too paranoid,” said Steel Hammer. “And at your age it’s not good for you.” Standing next to him was the pegasus Lightwing, and a blue shadow. It vaguely resembled the form of Dr. Lens. Both were quiet, though Lightwing had rolled his eyes at Steel’s comment.

Observing that interaction, one felt “warmed” by the conversation. To any watchers, they would have felt a sense of friendship or family that came from watching Steel and Prancer. The memories were not merely visual - they also transmitted the emotions of Lens.

“In any case, Master Hammer, the alicorns could prove to only hasten Equestria’s demise,” Prancer said.

“But this Sliver Sweeper doesn’t seem to be a problem,” Lightwing said.

“Well, I certainly agree with you there, Professor Prancer” Scalpel mused out loud, from what he had seen so far, it appeared as if they had similar ideas on the danger of Alicorn kind. He went silent again as the memory continued, listening into the conversations turn to Silver Sweeper, she out of all of them had been the most elusive to follow up on, so knowing more about her could prove useful.

“No, from my report as well as the other Directors, she doesn’t appear to be a major problem. Key word being ”appear”. Sweeper looks like the silliest alicorn having no mane, focusing on cleaning up messes, and having Scroll ride her back only adds to the hilarity. But underlying that…” Prancer frowned. “... Considering she is more powerful than any of our order, that is something to be worried about. Especially in the hooves of a alicorn who loves to be random! Unpredictability is the last thing we need.”
Hammer nodded. “Well, at least she isn’t some Discord, creating chaos for the sake of chaos. Or that’s what I get from Scroll’s reports.”

A voice came from the blue shadow - clearer than the previous voices or sound. “Yes, Sweeper has a logical goal, despite her illogical means,” said Lens.

“But it seems that Scroll and Sweeper still get into plenty of trouble,” muttered Prancer. He leaned back into his chair and sighed. “In any case, I want you to continue avoiding any contact with Sweeper or the alicorns.”

“What, worried Sweeper is going to give us bad haircuts?,” Steel said in jest. Though Prancer didn’t show it, the feelings of Lens communicated that the older Earth pony and the unicorn were acquaintances of some sort.

“A precaution… I don’t know what the alicorns will do if they find out about MRI’s practices-”

Instantly, briefly there was an image of a lab with animals being vivisected.

“- or who is working there. If they do become a threat, we’ll need some sort of countermeasure...” Another flash, one of diagrams and text - The Marvels of Science.

“And here it comes…” Scalpel smiled, a rare thing, but he was getting somewhere and becoming rather invested in this conversation, even though he knew it was just a memory. He barely blinked at the images of vivisected animals, he’d done worse when he was in university, and committed even more foul activities when he left it. The information on Sweeper was top notch, and if these people were right in their understanding of her, he might not have anything to fear in terms of her retribution. Vaguely his mind twitched in the back to an image of Thea, surrounded by burning carnage, kneeling in a picturesque pose just outside of it.

He most certainly did not need another of Her.

There was a gasp from Len’s Outline, but it sounded very very distant, like an echo through a canyon. Her eyes were now visible and solid, and staring straight at Scalpel. But then shortly the eyes dulled and faced back to Prancer.

Something changed, the memory began to distort and shift. Metal walls, clean and sterile. Ponies in lab coats, going over machinery. Prancer stood over table covered in equations and notes. Len’s Outline waited nearby. It was a much more recent memory, perhaps a few weeks ago.

“Sweetie, could you get me another coffee?” Prancer asked. Joy and laughter came to mind, like a child seeing a parent.

“You know Director, it’s not very professional to call your peers by their nickname,” Lens said, a bit of humor behind those words.

“You’re my granddaughter first, and... or was it great-grandaughter? This job is making me lose my sanity,” he muttered.

“So is it true like the rumors said? That the Moon and Star’s vaults were sacked?”

“Yes my dear, we received a report from one of my operatives. An alicorn had raided entire collections of not just books, but art and artifacts. Of who I do not know. Scroll’s looking into it.” He looked down at the work. “And how was the investigation going in regards to our Mysterious Doctor?”

“Nothing recently, it seems we lost the trail again.”

Prancer slammed his hoof on the table. “And only a matter of time until the Scholarship may be targeted by the book-stealing alicorn. The tome could be the key, the key to an ultimate defense.” Those words were referencing the Marvels of Science. “Tell me Sol… how would you protect against a foe who can enter from any direction, where walls are meaningless?”

Hit with the sudden blast of familial love, Scalpel had to bite back his own bitterness on his own relationships with his family. A scene came to his mind, his brutish looking father, built like a brick wall, militaristic looking, with cropped hair and a heavy mustache, but also red faced and inebriated from too much wine, roaring at him on a racist tirade about unicorn supremacy.

The young Scalpel used to hide in the corner of the room when this happened, hoping he would not attract his fathers ire, attempting to play statue as the stallion frothed and raged. Even now he could still feel the cold terror and dread that young colt had felt upon the appearance of his father, as well as the deep, deep hatred that had spread like black poison through him for the stallion.

He shook his head, banishing the scene, this explained why they were searching him out. He knew the Marvels discussed dimensional shifting of certain physical things, perhaps they were trying to seal away their vaults from the prying hooves of the Arcon? He had better watch and find out, still he could not help but feel some level of envy for the mare who had such a good relationship with her grandparent.

“Now… I wonder when the Inquisitors managed to meld themselves into this organisation…”

Another change, the world blurred, and they found themselves on the deck of an airship. Lightwing was there. “So why are we going to the ass-end of Equestria?” The Scholars sat at a booth, probably the ship’s bar. Not a military craft, a passenger one.

The Lens outline did not reply right away. Again her eyes were solid and seemed to follow Scalpel a bit. But soon they went back to the pegasus. “Remember Trottingham?”

“Yeah, where we picked up and lost track of Mr. Mysterious pony. And just like the last lead we followed, we found a lot of bodies and very small parts. It’s like the guy is doing this deliberately to mess with us.’ He sighed. “You know, he’d probably clean up his tracks better if he didn’t leave so much of his handiwork. Dead ponies do tell tales, or so that creepy forensics pony tells me.” An image of a wild haired and pale pony, with an off-kilter smile and an aura of nightmares.

“That Sweeper Cultist that’s now resting may be able to lead us to the Marvels-”

And then back to the lab with Prancer. “-of Science, dear. I said it would take a decade to create a portal to another universe even with the book. But we could bend space and time to create a bubble as it were to protect our vaults...”

Then another change, outside the sun was shining on the outskirts of Woodwatch. It was three days ago. In front of the Scholars were several ponies, all bald accept one. The unicorn had short purple hair, bright yellow fur. Longsight played her role well.

“Ah, it is good to see the representatives of High Priest Scroll! Welcome, welcome!” Lily greeted them with great joy.

“Yes, thank you for sending Mr. Flowerpot to contact the Scholarship,” the Lens outline said. “We should get down to business-”

Back to Prancer’s office: “Then what’s the point of following Sweeper’s cultists around if we’re trying to keep our distance?”, Lightwing asked.

“Being allied with an alicorn does have some advantages,” replied Prancer. “Namely we could use their followers to help us. Such missionaries can keep their eyes and ears open and they travel wide and far. And they report that to us. After all, any news we can gather is important for the Calculations-” The word seemed to have a great importance, as if he spoke of them like prophesy. “- and the acolytes can help find other potential scholars who are in hiding.”

The Scholarship does more than just preserve the past - we look out for our peers . It was Len’s voice.

Despite his undercurrent of ever growing tension due to his treacherous thoughts, Scalpel was beginning to relax a little in relief, all of these memories simply proved that Lens may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He knew that if it hadn’t been for Scarlet or more decisive higher thought he might have ended her there in a fit of paranoid rage, he was glad he did not.

Almost immediately after remembering it, and with the proof being near undeniable, Scalpel lit up in an almost glowing level of shame and self hatred for even considering it.

I’ve been going too far…

He picked up on the conversation on Trottingham as he brooded, his ears perking up at the impertinence shown towards him. Well its not as if I had time to cover up my studies before the bloody city exploded into rioting you dratted featherbrain[i] again, a momentary flicker, staring back at his old hospital as it exploded, blasting flaming debris and roasted ponies everywhere as he fled with Honey and Grunge.

He twitched again at the picture of the wild looking forensics pony, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever met him, but that one smelt like cultist material, either that or the mortuaries had been hiring necrophiliacs after severely dropping their standards.

He watched the rest half interestedly, but came to in shock at the sudden overhead monologue from Lens.

[i]Is she... talking to me?

If the voice was directed at Scalpel, it did not reply again. Instead it went to a strange scene, a cell, a pony in a straitjacket, and a rather cool eyed Scholar - a pegasus, but it was not Lightwing. He stood by with medical tools that were modified to inflict pain rather than to heal. Yet despite this, the memory was not totally filled with disgust, though Lens feelings made clear she did not care for torment. It was the pegasus rather, another fraternal feeling.

On closer inspection, the victim was wearing motley, and the wide eyes indicated that the victim was a Laughing Cultist.

“Well uncle, did you find out anything?” Lens asked, with no emotion in her voice.

The pegasus turned to her and nodded. Dr. Maple was from her grandmother’s side of the family, and a peer of Prancer. Once a nice dentist, something had changed him, something that Lens thought was very dark and unthinkable. “Nothing new, or at least to the whereabouts of the Doctor,” Maple said. “The Stromwing troopers already did a number to my patient - I dare not go any further.”

Lens approached the “patient”, “We could set you free to join the Party now, just tells us we need to know about the Doctor.” It was a lie, as Lens knew the Stormwing troops were going to execute the cultist after the interrogation.

The Cultist babbled, and among the rant was heard “the legless girl-”

Back to Woodwatch, under a tent that was the shelter for Sweeper’s mission. Lens was looking at a picture of Honey, though she knew not her name or relation. We got this from a private investigator sent to follow up on a lead. He was photographing the residence, not knowing that the Doctor and his companion was just outside and blending into the crowd. It was only after the film was developed that he noticed that. Lens’ voice. Was she narrating or was her memories intertwining with her thoughts? The Investigator disappeared after sending us the photos.

“And this is the pony you saw?” Lens asked Lily, pointing to Honey. Lily nodded, “Witnessed her twice coming back from the general store. I recognized the face and followed, so I can direct you to her house.”

“And what would a crippled pony be of interest to the Lady Sweeper ?” The question came from Longsight. Her voice was more of a questioning tone, sounding as innocent and curious as possible. If there had been any malice, it was well hidden.

“The Lady cares about all ponies,” Len said. It was the truth, for Sweeper did care to heal the scars of the wounded. She could not replace missing limbs or horns, but she could at least care for those broken hearts. “And it is important we contact the foal, in regards to another pony we seek.”

“For what purpose?” In retrospect, it was now clear that Lightwing was gathering intel.

“To further the goals of the Lady Sweeper, for she has many projects and a need for many specialists to provide aid.” Lens said it to avoid any more questions.

Scalpel watched impassively as they had set to the cultist, indeed he was partially reminded of his younger brother, face like a fish and with a mouth which gaped and gabbered to match. Whoever had thought him Inquisitor material had been sorely mistaken, but then Father had paid well enough for his position. When the memories suddenly turned to Honey he could not resist the defensive emotions that surged up in response, and he grew especially irate as that filthy Inquisitor named her a “cripple”.

That foal is more intelligent than you, dead filly, now you’re just a slab of meat on a table he responded angrily. Another image, this time of Honey, this time exerting extraordinary power as he tested her carefully with numerous means and ability tests, she had been scoring almost twice her age at eight, five years ago, and he was sure one day she’d become even more powerful.

He held in his annoyance however, and returned to the viewing, that last line Lens had spoken seemed rather interesting but he was wondering whether he wanted to pry further. He already had his proof, would it be better not to invade all of her secrets? Still… he had been sorely tempted by it.

Another thing had been nagging him too, her enthusiasm, her joy, the feelings that she’d been stirring within him when he had dealt with her, was it all just a show, a ploy for to buy his cooperation for her grandfather? Or did he dare hope that his feelings might be reciprocated?

No… no… I can’t do that… can I?

He began to chew his lip in concern, how could he think of that when he was invading her memories, when he had essentially nearly killed her? No, this would be a dead withered flower which died before blooming… but still, a small, tiny part of him hoped...

The Scene was gone, and before Scalpel was another door much like the one he entered to access her memories. Past the threshold, there was darkness save for the strong glow of a spotlight. A operating table, and on it was Dr. Lens wearing a patient’s gown, sleeping, with her dark blue mane neatly combed. A tray of tools lay near the bed. Any medical doctor would recognize them for brain surgery.

Scalpel was trembling, physically trembling as he entered the darkness and advanced towards the spotlight. After what seemed like an eternity of marching futilely through the dark he suddenly found himself at the table, standing over Lens, shaking in a cold sweat.

She looked so peaceful before him, and her beauty seemed twice as resplendent as he had seen her before. He paused to look at the tools, his face a waxy mask and lifted one into the air, examining it closely, like one might a vile insect squirming on a prong of a fork. The urge called to him, the urge for knowledge, for certainty, for power, the urge began guiding his hoof, the sharp piece of metal edging closer and closer towards her.

No.

It came quietly at first, almost silently. Scalpel paused, wide eyed, pale and unblinking.

No…

This time it was louder, more noticeable, he pulled back the tool slowly, examining it again.

NO!

This time it was deafening, a raging torrent at what he had almost done, a flood of incessant grief and self loathing clouding out all of his senses.

“NO!” and this time he said it, all the suppressed rage, fear and utter fury boiling up from below where it had remained for decades festering, With a roar of magic he crushed the tool in his grasp and threw the entire surgery set into the darkness where he hoped it was burn and fade with all his other failings.

Around him the room swirled, his rage overtaking the boundaries of his consciousness and leaking into Lens’ mind like thick black tar. With a scream of utter hatred he threw himself away from the table and plunged into his own hatred, fleeing into shadow and bitterness once more.

Darkness consumed him, and for a moment he thought he might have peace, the peace of the dead and the wasted, necrotic and comforting.

But it wasn’t to be so.

Like ink being squirted into the sea, it parted before him and he saw a scene he had never wanted to see again. It had clouded his dreams for over two decades and now it was here, now it was replaying before him like a twisted mockery of a play.

Before him lay the family chapel, a place he hadn’t visited since this point. A small number of benches surrounded a statue at the far end of the place.

A statue of Celestia.

And before it a small foal knelt in prayer.

If not for that tiny figures voice the entire situation would have been silent, but below the false calm of the imagery a dark brooding terror erupted, sharp and horrible, like breathing in razor blades. The voice was almost inaudible, but anypony could have picked up on the mantra the little creature was desperately whispering.

“PleasemakehimgoawayPleasemakehimgoawayPleasemakehimgoawayPleasemakehimgoawayPleasemaakehimgoawayPleasemakehimgoaway…” It was spoken breathelessly, the emotions of true desperate faith beneath them, and beneath that, hope, hope that the sisters would hear his plea.

“SCALPEL!” a voice boomed, the very sound of it increasing the dread tenfold in the situation, a voice which spelled out clearly anger and violence, “Get out of the chapel and come and face me you foal!”

The foals prayers became harder and faster, the hope giving way to despair.

A hoof suddenly smashed on the door, “I’m giving you three seconds to get out her and face your punishment for failing me, now obey me and get out here!”

“ONE.”

The prayers became louder, more insistent, they had to come, they had to…

“TWO.”

The foal was all but whimpering unintelligibly now, coherency bleeding into sobs.

“THREE!”

The door exploded open.

The foal turned to face the figure looming in the doorway, a titanic figure made even bigger by the perspective of a foal. As he stomped towards him, the foal began to take one step back, then another.

The thing didn’t have an appearance, it was just black malice and revulsion, boiling off it in tides and crowding out the room with its presence.

By this point the foal had risen up just before the statue, dread carved into his face like a gargoyle.

“You disobeyed me.” the figure hissed, hatred spilling off like rancid blood “twice…”

“Please, no father, please!”

“Silence!” the thing roared, flailing out a taloned hoof as it tried to grasp him, but the foal had just barely ducked out of reach.

That move however, proved to be fatal.

With the sudden jolting nudge of his body, the statue wobbled and toppled to the side, falling in slow motion before hitting the floor with with a deafening crack.

With a crunch of stone, the head of the statue broke off and clattered to the floor.

There was silence for a moment, a dead awful silence.

“You…” the voice was accusatory, the voice was ridden with shock, but soon it turned to utter cold rage, “You!...”

“I-I-I-I” replied the foal before a vicious backhoof sent him stumbling, onto the ground.

“You are filth” seethed the other, rising high before him “You’re not my son, you’ll never be my son, but this…”

Another backhoof, the vision was darkening considerably, soon there would be only sound.

“Please, father, I-” this time there was no reply in words, only in a dull meaty sound as a hoof met flesh.

And another.

And another.

Soon all the sound that remained was the dull splatter of flesh and the crunch of bone, and the gurgling of a screaming foal as he tried to escape.

The last thing in sight was the head of the statue, Celestia looking on peacefully, as blood flew and splattered her face crimson…. the blood of a child.

---

Scalpel wrenched himself out of her mind, and collapsed onto the ground of his Inner Sanctum, shivering and wide eyed.

“Him…”

The great mansion of Scalpel lay far more silent than it had been in many days. It’s halls and underground passages no longer sounded with the beating of metal and the stamp of iron hooves, but now were quiet and dark. One small portion of the house still contained life however, a guest bedroom which was occupied by two souls.

A huge mahogany bed lay in the center of it, covered in a rich tapestry of covers, depicting ancient scenes and fables of pony kinds folklore. To the side of it lay a small table with a guttered lantern on it, but the room was not dark but filled with light from a huge window from which light cast itself in, bringing with it the morning day. It was slightly open letting in a warm breeze of air, ushering in the scents of summer into a house of dust and machinery. The rest of the room was furnished to the requirements of a great noble, with an intricately carved writing desk just to the side of the window, and a huge wardrobe to the left of the door which stood ajar and empty of clothing.

But what was most noticeable was the silhouette standing before the window, framed by the light,the silent patient sentinel of Silver Scalpel. A comfortable armchair lay just before the window, and held the Black Sun Prophecies opened at one unintelligible page. The only sound was the quiet breathing of Scalpel, and the rooms other occupant.

One moment Lens was under the night sky, standing before the Noxferus. The mission was accomplished, and the others could go home. And she would stay and see what wonders…

...then she awoke in a comfortable bed, in a room more suited to the nobles of Whitegold. She stared at the room for several moments, trying to get her bearings. The sun was now out, seemingly morning. Wasn't it night before? Wasn't I in the middle of ancient ruins before?

She faintly remembered a sharp pain, and then… dreams. Or where they dreams? They were too real, felt alive and painful, the last sight being so nightmarish tears began to flow from her eyes. No, not a dream, but a memory of the past. She turned to face Scalpel in his standing by the window. Despite her bewilderment, Lens looked at him in sadness. For she knew who that poor child was, feeling his pain, his fears, and his desires. She so wanted to do something, anything to comfort him.

But she stayed silent and waited.

“You’re awake I see,” came a sudden announcement from Scalpel. he hadn’t turned to look, but he had noticed the sharp change in breathing which signaled wakefulness, “I’m glad. I was worried the drug would keep you asleep for considerably longer.”

He turned around and walked over to her, his face a pale mask showing not a glimmer of emotion. he had retreated behind his professionalism, but anyone could tell that he was holding on to a fragile eggshell of protection. His eyes betrayed him too convincingly for him to pretend to be fine, behind them was guilt... and fear.

He placed a hoof on her head, feeling for a temperature, and took a look at her eyes, “Your pupils are still somewhat dilated, but you’re not running a temperature and you seem to have clarity of vision. Some food and drink in you and you’ll be right as rain.” With this he pulled a pull-cord, and somewhere far below an order was sent to the remaining staff.

“How are you feeling Lens?” he asked, and this time there was some emotion in his voice, fear, but more of her response than of any physical hurt she might bring to him, “how much do you remember of last night?”

Lens tried without success to stop crying, for the memory still remained. For a moment she was silent as to not sob, closing her eyes and listened to the sounds of the morning. Only yesterday she woke up to something similar. But then she was alone at a marginally well kept inn. She went back to that and began to regain enough of her composure to speak.

“I..I remember our initial meeting, and the trade of the two books. Then I was speaking to you, when I felt a sharp pain in my back. Then came blackness, save for strange visions, and that’s all I can recall,” she said. “Speaking of pain, my back feels sore as well as my head, like I was still recovering from a hangover again.”

Scalpel couldn’t bare to see the beautiful mare shed tears, it almost broke him, but not quite. Smiling thinly but not without compassion, He pulled out a handkerchief and began to wipe away her tears in a methodical manner as she continued to speak. “This fits with what occurred until the point where you were taken out. I shall… attempt to fill in the blanks.”

using a levitational pull he dragged the chair over to the bedside, and moving the book to the small table, sat down on it heavily with a sigh. With a somewhat ill look, he took a deep breath and began to speak.

“Your group had been compromised by Inquisitors when you met me that night, somehow they’d managed to place an operative in your group and followed you to the location we had set up. That sharp feeling in your back? That was the agent injecting a specific type of drug into your system, a type of truth serum which made you completely open to interrogation. After that an entire group of them teleported in as support to the main operative, if I hadn’t laid out plans to counter such a thing, I doubt many of us would either be alive, or if we were we would have been in custody of the Inquisition.”

“The Inquisition? But why would they expend so much effort? They wouldn’t know about you, and the Scholarship, well we’re on their blacklist to be sure, but they have far bigger game to hunt.” Lens shook her head, as to clear her mind, but she still felt groggy. She didn’t even attempt to lift up from the bed.

Scalpel leaned back in his chair, frowning slightly as he did so. “From what I gathered from the coded letters and documents their main agent had, They were looking to capture you and use you as blackmail material against your grandfather, Professor Prancer. From that point onwards it follows on that they would use his connection to the Scholarship to bring a certain ‘Silver Sweeper’ into a trap and capture her.” he looked pointedly at Lens, “That would be your Alicorn I take it? in any case its all rather typical of Twilight and her minions, she was probably hoping to harvest her so she could speed forward her ascension.”

Lens eyes widened when the Noxferus revealed what he knew: Of her relationship to Prancer and of Silver Sweeper. How did he know? She nodded, knowing that there would be no point in keeping that data. “Yes, Professor Prancer is my grandfather, and the Scholarship is working for Sliver Sweeper, Chambermaid of the alicorns. However neither I nor anypony else of Prancer’s faction, save for the Director himself, has ever meet with Sweeper.”

The vision of an angry green alicorn came back to Lens, and she gasped a bit. “I didn’t tell you sooner because I didn’t want to cause you any alarm. The Director is merely using his connections with Sweeper as a resource to aid his goals.” She began to blush at the thought, feeling like a foal confessing to stealing from a cookie jar. “It fits that the Inquisition would try to abduct me, once they knew of the Scholars alliance. But I wonder how they found out.”

Scalpel shrugged, his brow furrowed slightly in deep thought, “I am not certain, although its likely they have agents in your organisation, keeping an eye on dissidents is rather standard procedure with the Inquisition. As far as I could tell your group did not become overtaken by their operatives until relatively recently, but I have no idea how many of them still lie undiscovered in the ranks of the Scholarship.”

Lens wondered for a moment. “If there is, it would be like a daughter betraying their mother. Most of the order’s membership consists of students and faculty of Canterlot University. When Twilight came to power, she did so much harm to them that they would never align themselves with her. And many members of the order are family to the original founders to some extent.” She paused. “My mother was the result of a union with the Director and a researcher back before the Sack.

“As for security… I don’t know about the rest of the Scholarship, but I can tell you my grandfather makes sure anyone working for him is loyal. He takes great efforts to make sure we stay that way. Not to mention the effort done to make sure spies don’t infiltrate our order - Manehatten intrigue and all that.”

Scalpel Hmm’d in interest, already playing a couple of scenarios through his head as to how the Scholarship might have been infiltrated. “It could be that they have replaced some of the previous members with their own, the operative that was with you had managed to take the visage of one of your companions, a bit like changeling magic I assume. It could be that they got in through that way, either that, or someone within your organisation has been keeping tabs on you since the beginning. Although that does not seem likely given your family based structure…”

“If the Inquisition did find a way to change their form, it would be a breakthrough. But as far as I know, the only spell most of their agents know is Glamour. And that last only for hours at most… Which pony did the agent look like?”

“I had my agents investigate the locality, on the matter of your replaced scholar, Southwatcher was the one the Inquisitor was impersonating, I also received clarification beforehand from a friend of your’s called Scarlet. I didn’t know if more of your group had been operatives, so I brought the remaining one here. The other, Lightwing? was killed in the battle, they crushed his skull in, there was nothing I could do for him.”

Tears began to form in Lens eyes again, but she managed to avoid crying. “Poor Light... his mother…” She went silent for a moment, and she remembered the snarky pegasus. He had accompanied Lens through so many missions, sharing in their defeats and successes. Now he was dead. Anger filled her mind. “The infiltrator… what did he look like? And is he dead?” Her voice was edged with wrath.

Scalpel gave her a sympathetic glance as he continued to detail last nights events, placing a hoof on one of her shoulders as an expression of care. “I can’t quite recall what she looked like, but last time I looked she was dead, slit throat and a sliced off horn. None of the Inquisitor task force survived by ambush, they were in various states of dismemberment afterwards. Scarlet I believe dealt with her, I think her name was Longsight or something along those lines, she along with the others is currently being… processed.”

Usually Lens would have been neutral towards the use of such corpses. After all, the research from the dead could do more for the living. But this time she felt good when she heard the Inquisitor's fate.

Then she collapsed back in bed upon remembering where she heard the name Longsight. She stopped breathing for several moments. The name came with a face, and she remembered the unicorn that was with Lilly yesterday.

“Longsight… She was the spy. I remember now, the Baldies, the missionaries of Sweeper. Longsight wasn’t trying to infiltrate the Scholarship, but the alicorn’s cult. Lilly had personal contact with Sweeper and got her blessing, I remember now. The Inquisition was probably hoping Lilly would lead them to the Lady.” She shook. “We didn’t care much for the Sweeper Cult save as a source of information, tools… and it blinded me.”

Scalpel nodded in response, “It does seem that this god of your’s is very… offhoof, with her followers, it would make such an organisation easy to infiltrate, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. It may be advisable to keep an eye on them in future, and once you’ve recovered I’ll hand you the documents and my decoded translations in order to assist your group. I have no love for the Inquisition… nor their dear Archmage.”

“Thank you, for rescuing me and your help. And yes, Sweeper is rather… for the lack of a better term random. I’m not sure if she’s lucky or by her plans that she landed by one of our bases. In any case, some Scholar named Scroll meet her first and that’s how we got her support. After that came a long and even stranger adventures that could fill an entire volume.” She grimaced. “I think you should check out my back, make sure that syringe wasn’t infected or something.”

Gently lifting her up with his front hooves he pulled aside part of her wrinkled clothes in search of the injection point. “If you could turn over on to your hooves and sit still I’ll have a look at it, although I doubt its infected, that would probably defeat the purpose of the injection if you went into a fever.” With that done he had a good look at the point in the light of the morning, humming as he did so, “It looks like its just some bruising Lens,” he said, blushing slightly at being so close to the mare, but still managing to stay on track “She did stab it into you particularly viciously, like an adrenaline shot really, so I believe this is just your bodies shock to a sudden intrusion, hang on a tick.”

Giving it one last glance for any signs of infection, and finding none, he lit his horn up and cast a minor medical spell, “There, that should ease the pain there, eventually it’ll go down on its own, but I figure it will be stiff for a good number of days afterwards,” pausing momentarily he brought out a small clear bottle and dampened a cotton lump with it, daubing the darkened skin around the injection. he gave her a small smile, humming an old tune whilst he worked “Its just antiseptic, just in case you were right. But I don’t think you’re in any danger. I checked her tools myself, they seemed as clean as mine.”

Lens face was turning violet, blushing as Scalpel did his work. Usually she wouldn’t have been embarrassed by a medical procedure. But she could not help but think of those hooves and telekinesis of the master doctor. A thousand butterflies floated through her stomach, and a small smile had formed on Len’s lips. “That’s good to hear,” she said. “I must compliment on your abilities Doctor.”

Then another thought came to her, the visions during her sleep. “Noxferus, the syringe, you said it had a truth serum in it.” Her smile disappeared. “If I was in your horseshoes, I would have made sure we weren’t working for the Inquisition. Did you do anything to me when I was under it’s influence?”

Scalpel went very quiet at that, his face changing from relative good cheer to an almost deathly parlor. When he finally responded it was a in a low and slightly sensitive voice, “I will not pretend that my actions were done with the best intentions, nor will I excuse myself for doing them. I know it was a gross violation of your privacy, but… I had to be certain.” he tried to redirect his eyes, to look away from the mare whose mind he had invaded, a slightly wet touch lingering at the edges of them. “I admit that I did look, not far, but far enough to exonerate you from all association with the Inquisition, as well as to learn part of what I have told you. I… I was tempted to look deeper, I wanted to know if... I almost took the step. But I forced myself back, I had no right to delve that deeply. I wanted to know if you shared my feelings, but that was one step too far, and in my anger at myself I allowed part of my memory to boil over the edges into your’s.”

His eye were shining, frightened and terrified at her response, confusion and worry flickering incessantly across his features, “What you saw was part of memories, from a long, long time ago… I didn’t want to show you, and such a reveal has made me feel fragile…” he laughed slightly but there was no mirth in it, “But that was me… and you got a clear view before I managed to pull myself away.”

He pulled his hooves away, slightly disgusted with himself at getting so close to the mare he’d mentally defiled, passion and self hatred erupting from his eyes like sparks, his gaze becoming a whirlpool of emotions. In a low uncertain response he continued, shaking slightly “I understand if you… do take offense at that, truthfully I might too given your innocence, but I hope… I hope… you will find it within you to forgive my trespass. I should not have looked, but these times, they have made me so wary and distrustful.”

Lens was silent for a few moments, eyes widened and jaw opened at the memories of Scalpel. Every fear, every feeling he remembered she experienced as well. The most terrifying thing was the possibility that it was not the full memory. Lens could not imagine how it could be even more nightmarish than she could recall.

She looked directly into Scalpel’s eyes. “You do have the right of self-defense, and you knew little about me to have your trust. You did what was needed to survive. And after what happened to you as a child, I can’t blame you if you want just to survive.

She was quiet for a few more moments. “ As for your interrogation, I have no recollection what you did. Except your memories, I didn’t feel anything. I could have told you everything I knew if you just but asked… a troubling thought if the Inquisition has developed such a powerful serum.” She shook her head to get back on the topic. “I do feel irked that you did enter my mind, like reading a diary. But no harm was done, and I am glad you told me. You have my forgiveness.” Lens leaned forward and gave Scalpel a hug. It was an alien feeling to her, for she had not hugged anypony in years.

Scalpel stiffened momentarily when she hugged him, but with a shuddering exhalation relaxed into it. He was having trouble holding himself together as it was, but despite her forgiveness being a great relief he could not entirely remove the guilt he felt. Slowly he wrapped his hooves around her and returned the huge tenderly. “Thank you,” he breathed, “I… did not look far. A month or two, and mostly relating to how you found me. I couldn’t hold it from you, however. It would have driven me mad.”

Gently pulling out from the hug he fixed her with a smile, a truly compassionate smile, a rare sight on his face. Beneath it the spark of that passion grew a little more intense, a little more bright. Maybe there is hope after all... he thought, and held on to that small spark as dearly as his life depended upon it.

“I promise I shall never look again, unless you wish it, although I doubt that will ever occur. You have my full trust from here on out.”

“Thank you Master Noxferus,” Lens said. Tears flowed again. “Goodness, I haven’t cried since I was a foal.” She chuckled slightly and wiped the tears. “But what what do we do next? And what of Steel Hammer? Was he injured or … is he mortally wounded?” She had wondered why Scalpel had not mentioned the small metalsmith more.

Scalpel suddenly recalled that the mare hadn’t been alone when she had entered, he’d almost completely forgotten about the other one, Steel Hammer was it? well… how would he put this diplomatically … “Steel Hammer is alive and fine… in a manner of speaking. I’ll take you to see him soon enough, although he may look a bit… ah, different. There were some complications... with… his internal organs!” before she asked further he raised a hoof, hiding his nerves cautiously behind his clinical mask, “He is perfectly fine, generally speaking, but his new appearance may come as somewhat a surprise.”

Looking left and right he decided it was a good time to redirect the conversation, “As for what happens next… well, I am afraid I can’t stay here, my position has been compromised by the Inquisitors and thanks to me causing their task force to disappear there will be an investigation. I will need to change locations, luckily I have something in mind as of this moment. Normally I would cut ties with your organisation after this. But prompting further investigation on your part I will keep up communication with the scholars from a hidden location. I believe most actions will take place between my intermediaries. Regarding actual meetings and deals with me personally… well, I would like you to be the permanent envoy between me and your Scholarship. I trust you, so I’d prefer to deal with someone familiar and… close, rather than a random group. Just… keep a good eye on your team next time.”

He frowned slightly, a slightly guilty look overtaking his face, “Also due to the failure of the deal and our near death at the hands of Inquisitors I believe that your Grandfather needs have my security concerns taken care of before I decided to hand over my portion of the arrangement. with the ‘Prophecies’ held as collateral for the meanwhile, I am not a person he should take lightly, and this gross failure is concerning to say the least. I will give it over soon enough I believe, so long as I see some progress in that front, I do not want a repeat of this time.”

Finally he turned to look at her and gave her another smile, “Finally, I would like to talk to you more… and maybe find out more about you the right way. I… feel a connection to you, you’re intelligent, beautiful and alluring and in general, wonderful. I want to find out who the real Lens is, and maybe grow closer to her…”

Lens face became a dark purple, her heart beating faster and faster. To hear those words she felt the love overwhelming. That they could become colleagues, and more, was all that she wanted most. “Yes, I feel…” But she knew this was not the time for love. Not when the Noxferus was in danger. She needed to be the Professional Lens, the cold and logical, if they were to survive. “...I feel that we must deal with Security as well. I was too lax, thinking it was a just a simple trade. And for my lack of preparedness, my peers paid the price. And put you and your companions at risk. The Inquisition now knows the Scholars connection with the alicorns, and we must take action.

“As soon as we deal with this mess here, I’ll have my grandfather do what needs to be done. The Marvels may be safer in your hooves in any case - no doubt the roads are not safe for me to travel now as they were before.” She went silent, and let the emotions enter her mind again. “And yes, I too think you’re brilliant, the most brilliant mind I’ve meet. And handsome to boot. When this is over, we could-” There was a large growl emanating from her stomach. She looked down, feeling more embarrassed now than when she showed up drunk.

Scalpel gave a barking laugh at the sudden rumble of his guest stomach, “It seems that your stomach is demanding priority Lens, and I believe I hear footsteps on the stairs.” He gave her a grin, “Handsome chap am I? well I haven’t heard that one before, nice to know though! As for travel I will have some of my creations keep an eye out for you in case of trouble, but hopefully you will get back home just fine.” His eyes twinkled with good cheer, being in exceptionally high spirits at the news, “I am… also glad we share interest, I promise I will keep up communication with you, I have a gift which might assist in that in fact! But that is for later, I look forward to setting up proper diplomatic dealings with the Scholarship. You will see me sooner than you think, if all goes well.” He leaned forward, and although blushing slightly at the impropriety, nuzzled her affectionately.

At that moment the door opened and Scalpel turned to look at the new arrival, Honey with her golden bronze hair and cream coat levitated a appetizing looking breakfast through the air, her tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration. Scalpel gave her a beaming smile, “looks like foods here. that’s my niece by the way, but I can introduce you properly after you’ve had some food, you must be famished.”

After breakfast, Lens followed the Noxferus and his niece down into his complex. But unlike before, the halls seemed to lack any furniture, tools, or materials. Lens pondered on this, and tried to remember if it was always like this. Her head was a bit groggy, but she seemed to recall at least being something there, like a table, painting, or other furniture.

Lens herself was in a much better mood, despite the events of last night. A part of her still mourned for Lightwing, as the two had been on many adventures. But another was glad, as Honey seemed very intelligent and respectful. Granted she seemed a bit cold, but for Lens she was used to that, or at least tended to be the impersonal one herself.

And a large part of her was very happy that the Noxferus was not in a deep relationship, say for wanting to nurture their friendship. Very few ponies could get me to do that. Before coming to Woodwatch, I think only my Grandfather was the only pony that I opened my heart to.

After traveling a considerable distance, they stopped by a door.

Scalpel turned to his companion, and gave her an anxious look, “Now if you would, please brace yourself, this may be a bit of a shock.” with a twist of magic on one of the lower facilities doors her opened it up to reveal a darkened room, lit only by a couple of oil lamps here and there. In the far corner, two Worker Drones looked up from disassembling one of the few mechanisms still within this portion of the facility and bowed. Scalpel waved them off with one hoof and they returned to their work immediately, as if like clockwork automatons.

Travelling further in, and grabbing one of the oil lamps, he ventured in, beckoning Lens to follow. Before them was assembled a dissection table with a white cloth over the top of it, a bloodstained outline showing that there was a figure beneath. Next to it however lay a conical like machine, with a open centrepiece which revealed a immense number of cables and wires linked to a small, cylindrical device with a rectangularly arranged bottom, with various dials and meters attached, as well as various more esoteric parts.

Pausing before it, Scalpel lit up his magic once more and began to twist and turn numerous levers and buttons on the surrounding machine, causing a startling cacophony of noise to erupt from the eldritch device. The dials and meters on the cylinder began to change, slowly at first, before becoming as an almost natural rhythm. With a few twists of certain dials on the cylinder, Scalpel suddenly stopped.

A high hum of electricity echoed throughout the chamber, before moderating into a low, bearable buzz of static.

“Hello Steel.” Scalpel said experimentally, “How are you this morning?”

The last memory Steel had was the pain in his chest, and the blood he was now coughing up. He knew his ribs were broken and he needed immediate medical treatment. But the Earth pony stood up during the battle and hid his trouble. If the Noxferus doesn’t get to me soon, I don’t think I’ll make it he thought.

The Drones led him into a darkened room, and something… medical looking was waiting. “So I guess this is it,” said Steel, no pony in particular. “If you could, just tell your boss please don’t hurt Lens.” An injection soon followed, and then darkness.

What he didn’t expect was to hear a voice. Steel was awake, or at least he thought. He didn’t feel anything, not even the aches he generally had. He was almost as old as Prancer, though the metalsmith was in much better shape.

From the device came Steel’s voice, sounding far more mechanical and roughly. “What, where, um… hey where am I? And who are you?” Steel wondered how he was speaking, since he didn’t even feel a jaw move or his vocal chords vibrate.

Scalpel remained patient with the disorientated stallion as he mumbled in confusion, interested to see his reaction and how well he returned to normal after the operation. After all he mused, this was experimental technology.

Grabbing a chart and notes over from the where the Medical Drones had placed it after the operation, he scanned its contents, replying in a measured manner to the stallions questions whilst he multitasked with the details laid before them.

“You Steel, are in a section of my laboratory, I am the Noxferus and you have met me before, I believe you may have some limited postoperative temporary amnesia currently effecting you. Your memories should return steadily. In the meantime I have brought someone you know to talk to you, you do remember Dr Lens correct?” Scalpel looked up from his charts and devices, waiting for a response, occasionally flickering to the side to take in Lens’ reaction.

Lens looked horrified, if her face was in any indication. Her mouth was open and her eyes seemed to look at the machine. She seemed to slump down a bit, as if in a shock. She didn’t say anything right away.

Steel responded back to Scalpel. “That’s you? Sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice there a second Doc Noxferus. I sort of expected something more dramatic. I remember Lens… she’s alright, right?” There was now a tone of concern in what was previously a nonchalant voice.

Scalpel gave the device a thin smile, even though he knew Steel wouldn’t be able to see it, “Lens is perfectly fine Steel, we managed to exonerate her and you from connections with the Inquisition and I am maintaining contacts with your organisation, you however are in a bit of a different situation…”

As Scalpel has spoken he gave a look at the various statistics and details regarding Steel’s bodies autopsy. Even though the clear death had been the extraction of the skull from its body along with a fair portion of the spine, the damage from Steels broken ribs had been particularly serious. Significant portions had been pushed into his vitals, and a shard had been making its way towards his heart as the operation had been underway. Scalpel knew that their was a fair degree of chance that he might have managed to save the Stallion with his capabilities, but he’d been distracted and angry at that time, and he was dealing with Lens.

“What I am about to tell you may come as a bit of a shock, Lens here is already in shock due to seeing you as you are now. Anyway, I will attempt to fill you in on the details as gently as possible. Your current condition when you were brought here was- to put it simply- bad. Significant portions of your ribs had been forced into your internals and a portion was making its way towards your heart, if it had continued you would have died. In order to salvage what we could without you dying on us, we were force to use experimental technology to extract your brain as a last ditch effort, along with its skull casing and a portion of your spine. You have been placed in a nutrient and oxygen rich medium which will keep you alive and healthy for the meanwhile until more options became available for your possible return to a bodily capacity. You are currently speaking to us through one of my machines... I … apologise for the loss of your body, but there was little we could do. I am making technical progressions, so this may only be a temporary situation for you, but again, I apologise. It was the only way we could save your life.”

There was a moment of silence. Then Steel spoke: “You put my brain in a jar? Wow, Prancy is going to be so jealous. His team has been trying to do that for years now, with little success,” replied Steel.

Lens finally spoke, tears running down her eyes. “This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” she said smiling. It turned out, Lens was more amazed than horrified.

“Thanks Doc for saving my life,” continued Steel. “Funny, I thought you were just going to destroy me without questioning me. Heh heh.” There was mirth behind that chuckle. For whatever reason Steel wasn’t too concerned about his current predicament.

Scalpel gave both of them a look of incredulity, his mouth moving side to side as if he couldn’t get the words out, finally he blurted out something at least intelligible, “Where in hell have you lot of like minded individuals been all my life? I swear I go through hundreds of towns and always get the same horrified response, next thing I know you lot turn up and its like I’m at a convention of clones!” He barely heard the last of Steels dialogue through his sheer confusion, but at the last he did muse slightly on it before returning to the strangeness of the situation.

Well… I certainly considered it

“Maybe when I was younger, I probably be screaming,” Steel said. “But after all these years, I just got used to the insanity. And Lens grew up around experiments. Not sure it’s the healthiest of way to raise a child, but I think she turned up alright.” He said this with some pride, as he was like an honorary Uncle to Lens.

“I have so many questions…”, Lens said starry eyed. She was trying to figure out how the contraption worked, and speculated on every piece of it.

“I think that makes seven,” Steel said.

“Well,” Scalpel grumbled slightly, “its nice to know at some point you’d have found the situation mildly horrifying. Otherwise I’d have been particularly put out about a stallion who was happy to have his brain, as you explained it, ‘put in a jar’.” He turned to look at Honey and she wandered up on her metallic back legs and gave him a nuzzle of comfort, a small smile playing at her lips. He took solace in that.

“And well, my niece here seems to be doing well enough with her uncle here. Top range magic for her age, understanding of vast scientific fields etcetera, etcetera, So I assume its not too damaging to linger amongst the adventurous intellectual elite.” Almost as if realising something his mouth took on an ‘Oh’ shape and he wandered up to the device again.

“Now that you seem to have adjusted to the basic situation I believe we can move one step further, both auditory and sound technology seem to be functional… lets test out vision.” with a few twists, flicks of switches and a press of a button, the top of the Cylinder opened at circular points along the side and a number of levitating crystalline shards attached to small orbs began to hover out around the entire device, looking distinctly like mechanical eyes.

“You may experience momentary discomfort Steel,” Scalpel murmured as he activated the visual array, “It may be somewhat blinding to begin with, but you should settle into it soon enough, I doubt it’ll be any more annoying than awaking in the morning to sunlight through the window…”

With one final twist Scalpel counted slowly out loud as the systems integrated with the intelligence inside.

“Three… two… one!”

A woosh of magical energy crackled into the life and then silenced itself as the technology connected with Steel mind. The ‘eyes’ began to show a level of control, and Scalpel waited breathlessly as Steel grew used to the new component to his state.

“Gahhhakkkk!” The noise sounded stranger because from a mechanical device, like a cross between gagging and a crunch of metal. “Errr, sorry about that Doc. I just… wow did it get dizzy. One moment I’m in this darkness, then I’m seeing a rainbow of colors, everything a big blur, sort of like having one too many drinks.

“Alright, I think I can see… you, Lens, and your niece. The colors are a bit off and some of the proportions to to flux. Some colors I can’t tell if they’re supposed to be black or the light isn’t strong enough to show their hue. A bit fuzzy on the edges, like a blizzard almost at times.”

Lens in the meanwhile paid apt attention to the discussion. “Interesting. Noxferus, it’s an interesting device - a visual gathering instrument. I’ve read of researchers trying to do the same, like a camera without film. But it’s only hypothetical at this point.”

Scalpel nodded, only half listening to Lens as he frowned over the device, “It seems my calculations may have been a bit off with the visual parameters, if you will let me Steel, I’ll see if I can sharpen the detail on them by changing current conditions, that might make things a bit clearer.”

In a half answer to Lens he continued “Yes its an unusual form of technology, I’ve been utilising it with my Risen, Spheres and Drones, although it seems they work on a different frequency from living creatures. These levels should have been suitable… interesting…”

He wandered up and stared down at one of the many mechanical eyes, “Do I have your permission?”

“Sure, why not. At this point, I should be lucky you’re not applying some instrument of pain to me,” said Steel.

Scalpel chuckled at that a little darkly, “If I had that in mind Steel you’d still be in your body, no i’m just going to move some dials…” making miniature twists here and there, he paid rapt attention to his host, “How is that?”

“Much better. The snows is gone, and I think I can make out all the colors. Depth perception is working. Uh… is there anything else?”

Making one tiny last adjustment Scalpel stepped back and scratched his head one hoof. “Not really, you have complete control over the levitating ‘eyes’ and you can move them in nearly all directions about two meters from the containment device. Currently we’re in the prototype stage so I’m afraid you won’t be able to move about like say, my spheres -you’d have to be dead for that- but the device itself is not heavy and someone can probably carry you… I may be able to fix up a mobility device at some point, but right now I’m a bit preoccupied in moving my facility elsewhere…”

“Cripes, yeah the Inquisition,” muttered Steel. “Just our bad luck, just when everything seemed to going well for once. But what’s the plan? “

Lens nodded. “Yes, we have to do something soon. We don’t know when an investigation would begin, but they’re sure to come. Not to mention finding Southwatcher and Sweeper’s missionaries.”

“The basic plan would be that you, Lens and your remaining compatriots would make your way back to safer territories, I’ve already filled in Lens with the rest of the details, but I’ll be leaving for an undisclosed location of my own choosing. I will continue to contact the Scholarship through intermediaries, and when my presence is necessary Lens will be the official envoy on my own terms. She can doubtless fill you in on the rest.”

Scalpel gave a look behind him, looking for the two Worker Drones as he did so, but they were no longer there and the room had been emptied of that specific example of machinery. “It seems my servants have finished removing the last of my technology, I will be leaving soon.”

“Alright makes sense. But I do wonder, um, what about me?” asked Steel.

Lens nodded. “Yes, I’m not sure if I can take Steel with me and get out fast. Or at least without raising many questions. Worse, this technology could be dangerous in the wrong hooves - it would be too risky.”

Scalpel frowned in thought, “Well I originally planned on you taking him with you, but if that does not fit I can I guess take him with me, although I’d have to put him to sleep for a couple of days whilst I set things up in my new facility. The next meeting I believe I could hoof him over to your capable hands, he’d provide a good example why future security measures are necessary. Alternately I could have him delivered by a couple of my Risen to your facility, they’ve grown apt at disguise - at least the advanced ones have- so that may be possible.”

“I suppose shipping me back via air mail isn’t possible,” said Steel. “In any case, I don’t mind sleeping for a while.”

“Well, I could, but there is a probability you’d have a rude awakening from some grumpy postman throwing you about like a cabbage, or damaging the technology, so only if you’re happy with that…”

“Good point. At least if your … Risen is it?, they probably would better making sure I get back home safety. Besides, if something goes wrong, you’re probably the only pony that knows how any of this works.”

“Yes, even with my intellect and even my Grandfathers minds, we won’t know the details. We could make guesses, but nothing more,” Lens said sadly. She didn’t want to leave Steel behind, not after he had protected her so often. But there not much choice.

“You would be correct in that assumption, plus my technology has anti-tampering measurements so… its best not to fiddle with it unless I’m guiding you through it. On the bright side I doubt this will take more than a few weeks to get you back home, and hopefully I’ll have set up some improvements in the meanwhile for greater mobility and interaction.” Scalpel gave the two of them a bright smile, “I’ll keep you up to date on events Steel, but if I do put you to sleep it will be a momentary period of time before you’re home. Unless you want to interact on the way there… but then again, my Risen have never been great at communicating with people, they tend to get a bit introspective and quiet.”

“Just keep off until you’re ready, Doc. The least I know about where we're going, the better it be for me both. In fact, you probably want to keep off when you send me home until I’m a far enough distance,” Steel said.

“I probably shouldn’t go to Manehatten so soon,” Lens said. “The Inquisition could have agents waiting for me before I can get to the Institute. But I know of a safehouse in Golden Pines to stay for a bit - Professor Sweet’s Music. I’ll stay there for a week.Does that sound good?”

Scalpel nodded in acknowledgement, “That sounds perfect, you’ll have to give me the directions however, otherwise my Risen getting there could be in some bother, that is if its hidden or not.” Scalpel suddenly rummaged in one pocket, looking for something, finding it, he pulled it out and held it before himself and threw it across to Lens. It was a small gilded metal box with a small crystal centerpiece on one side, with lines of runes connecting up with it on every side, “Here, take this.”

Lens looked at the item, raising a single eyebrow. “What is this?”

“A device for long range communication, harmonise your magic with the crystal and we’ll be able to communicate with each other through astral projections. Allows us for private contact without the chance of the Inquisition interceding with my communications with the Scholarship,” he gave her a playful wink, “... among other things.”

Lens began to blush again, but she smiled. “Amazing, thank you.”

Steel chuckled, seeing Lens was hitting it off with the Noxferus. Then he stopped. “Anyone know what happened to Southwatcher? Scarlet said something about another pony telling where the meeting was, and Southy was the only other pony that knew.”

“Don’t know, I haven’t been to the Inn yet. And I don’t know if Southwatcher is alive or not,” Lens said. “But I’ll find out before leaving. We must have some time before any other pony starts causing trouble.” She looked at Scalpel. “And there’s one more thing, the reason why we needed the book. Noxferus, whatever you do, do not make contact with the alicorn named Ark or Arkon or his followers.” She gave a brief description of what they knew about Canterlot and what Sweeper said of his powers.

Scalpel raised an eyebrow, “The Book Thief? Yes I know of him, and no I shall not be communicating with that vagabond, too risky and you know well my feelings on alicorns Lens.” He walked forward again and began to detach Steel from the conical machine he had been attached to, continuing to talk to the both of them as he did so, “I have connections within most of the major houses, so news travelled fast about his… acquisitions, shall we say? I won’t be dealing with him. As for you other companion, as far as I know she is alive, my eyes notified me that she had been drugged by the Inquisitors and left in the Inn, doubtless they wanted to interrogate her later. As to her current state I do not know, she will hopefully be fine however.”

With a hiss of cold nitrogen the last of the cables and cords were disconnected from the containment device and Scalpel levitated Steel carefully through the air after him, stopping before Lens with a mirthsome look “Shall you deligne us with your presence as we depart Lens?”

Lens knew time was of the essence, and if Southwatcher was drugged she may have to drag her out. And there was the Missionaries. But she wanted to be with the Noxferus as long as she could. “I would be delighted. And there’s one more thing - it’s about Sweeper. There doesn’t seem to be very many things to get her attention. But if you could avoid two things. One is not to make a huge mess, as in not polluting the environment, set up an ugly looking building, or destroying beautiful objects.”

Scalpel raised an eyebrow at, for the second time in so many minutes. “... I do have some aesthetic qualities you know, besides, If your think I am going to turn my new abode into a desolate wasteland of death and ash you’d be mistaken. My ideal is turning Equestria into a paradise, not a death pit… Asides from that I don’t plan on having any communications with Sweeper, my investigations wouldn’t exactly go down well with her I believe.”

“Yes, but Sweeper has the unfortunate habit of showing up in random places. Scroll swears she has an uncanny knack for breaking the odds of being in the strangest places. A mere precaution. And the second thing, don’t hurt her followers, at least those who were blessed by her. She may treat her servants like adoring pets, but she’s very sentimental. A group of Earthborn soldiers learned that the hard way. I’ll deal with the missionaries here in my own way.”

Scalpel nodded half listening as he saw to Honey, wrapping a red coat around her, and seeing she was properly buttoned up, as she sighed and gave him an exasperated look. “I swear I will try not an attract her attention, my abode should be well hidden regardless… very well hidden. As for her followers, I have no interest in hurting them, it raises too much attention for me to be comfortable, and most of my Risen are simply made out of a bandits and the like for that exact reason. I’ll leave her cultists to your discretion.”

Placing the containment device in his saddlebags, he saw to it that Steel was relatively comfortable before stopping before Lens, a look of interest on his face “Is there anything else I should know?”

Lens looked at him, eyes quivering. “Well… nothing too important. You have my card and we have a way to communicate. But… I just wanted to say…” she was blushing again. “I… I… have great… oh I love you.” She said, looking down and frowning in embarrassment, wishing she was a turtle so she could pop back into her shell.

Scalpel was a bit startled by the sudden pronouncement, but afterward he felt a great relief sweep through him, and a spark of passion erupt into a blazing fire. reaching forward he tilted her head up into she was looking directly into his eyes, a great peaceful smile spread across his face filled with compassion and adoration. “Mi amor” he whispered, and drew her into a passionate kiss, all the fire and love exploding in one mad moment, all caution thrown to the wind.

Lens returned the passion, hugging him with all the love she had. Time could have kept on going, but for her that moment could last forever. The logic side stepped out of the way, since thinking about the technical details would just get in the way. She was giddy with delight and was happier than ever before.

When Scalpel finally was finished, Lens didn’t say anything for while. She just stared at his eyes, bright and shinny. “That… that was my first kiss,” she said.

Lens looked she’d turned completely violet upon the kiss, and he was overwhelmed by the feelings he felt for the mare as she had returned his passion equally. He grinned as they broke contact, a little bashful as he looked at her, his eyes shining with happiness. “Well…” he replied a little huskily, “I hope I did not disappoint.” Behind both of them, the small figure of Honey was making low retching noises, but the couple seemed to barely paid it any mind.

Reaching a sudden realisation, his grin grew even brighter, “I believe its time we paid someone a visit as well before we go our separate ways… at least for the time being, she’ll be very excited to see you again.”

Lens nodded, though she was half-listening. “You didn’t disappoint,” she said.

He gave her a wink, “Come along then Lens, lets go meet everyone.” shepherding her through the door as she wandered as if in a daze he whispered in her ear, “The next time I see you there will be more than just one”. as the troupe trundled out the door, they left what remained of Scalpels work behind in darkness, as the house became a silent monument to success, to love and to wonder.

“Goodbye old friend” whispered Scalpel as he passed, running one hoof across a old and trusted wall, “I hope to walk your halls again, until then… be well.”

---

They passed through the great halls of his mansion, silent and quiet where once there had been industry. They passed through the corridors now where once hundreds had run back and forth in preparation, working, sending messages, repairing and building. Leading the way, with Lens close by his side, Scalpel lifted a lantern and eyed the great doors before him.

“Here we are.”

Pushing through the door they were suddenly met with a blaze of light, the great doors led to a massive underground warehouse and in it were the hundreds of Scalpels Risen which had manned the place as their master had forged, thought, discovered and created. Each for them stood in rank and file immovable asides from two figures up front who bowed towards Scalpel as he entered.

Suddenly there was a batlike squeak from the rafters and as swift as a dark lightning bolt of purplish blue and white came the blazing form of Nocturne. “Lens!” she cried out happily, practically wrapping herself around the mare, “Nice to zee you again, Herr Doktor had me worried, but you’re alright!”. The mare affectionately nuzzled Lens, completely oblivious to personal space as she did so, overcome with glee at the sight of her friend.

Lens returned the embrace and nuzzle, a smile on her face. “Nocturne, good to see you again. I’m so glad to have meet you. The Noxferus is lucky to have you as an assistant - one couldn’t ask for a better one.

“I guess this is good bye for now, though. I’m unable to accompany you, and there still much to take care of here.”

Nocturne chuckled heartily, “Ja, you iz damn right he’s lucky, dat stallion vould constantly be misplacing his spanners and knifes oderwise” she gave Scalpel a playful punch on the shoulder and to her surprise he returned it with a grin and a laugh of his own. Vas sorcery is this! Herr Doktor is grim, not cheerful… unless She looked between the two of them, mock suspicion on her face and then broke out into a big toothy smile oooooooooooh… I see.

Noticing that Lens looked slightly down at the prospect of separation, Nocturne gave her another hug, “I don’t vant to go either, but alas! Inquizitors, vhat you gunna do.” Breaking away she flapped herself into the air, preparing to go back the mass of Risen in preparation, “Ve will see each oder soon again I think, Maybe a couple uf veeks? und then ve will have lots to talk about!”

Lens smiled returned. “Yes, and I’ll be sure to bring some ale along,” she said. “Take care and be safe, Nocturne.” She turned to Scalpel, “Take care of yourself, and Nocturne, your niece, and Steel. Though, Steel can be quite the chatterbox at times, but most older ponies do. If he does that, just interrupt him, he won’t mind.”

Scalpel nodded a mischievous grin crossing his features “I’ll take care of all of them, and if Steel does go on a ramble, well… I can always send him to sleep.” he let out a barking laugh at that, a small muffled sound from his saddlebags indicating mock indignation, He levitated the older pony out and held him before the two of them, “Want to say goodbye before you go for a nap, Steel?”

“Thanks,” replied the brain. “Lens, take care of yourself and Southy. And… I know telling Lightwing’s mother is going to be hard but…”

Lens nodded. “I’ll do the best I can. Take care of yourself, Master Metalsmith.”

“When I can get moving by myself I will, hahaha. In any case, tell your grandpa I’ll be back to debate with him when I can. I’m sure he’ll miss my arguments. Alright Doc, send me to the dreamlands.”

“Alrighty Steel” replied Scalpel good humoredly and cast the spell he had in mind, in conjunction with a few movement of some dials the voice of Steel became steadily sleepier, until it when silent completely as he dozed in a deep, deep slumber. Waving the others away he waited with Lens as they got into position of the circle, with the other machine ponies, and the carts behind them which transported Scalpels materials.

He gave Lens a smile, speaking to her in a low loving voice, “I would find myself a terrible gentleman if I did not enlighten you of my name before I left…” he leaned forward and in a low whisper spoke it, withdrawing he continued in a low voice “please, keep it a secret. I doubt I can hide from the Inquisition and my enemies forever, but every little bit helps. Just refer to me as the Noxferus with the other scholars… this is secret is ours, and our’s alone.”

Leaning forward he kissed her forehead, wrapping her into a long hug as he did so. When he withdrew he looked a little sad, but the joy and the love still emanated from his as strong as ever. A flicker of magic illuminated the darkness behind him, a magical line leading off in a specific route through the labyrinthine tunnels, “that should lead you back into Woodswatch, take care of your friend… and take care of yourself, you wonderful, fantastic, beautiful mare.”

“I will keep our secret forever, this I swear,” Lens said, voice trembling. “Thank you.” She held back the tears, too emotional to say much. “Be safe.”

“I shall” he replied, almost heartbroken to leave her like this, but strengthened by the notion that he would see her again, and speak with her soon. Walking into the circle, he aligned himself at the front in a circle inside a pentagram with numerous strange signs, taking some of the power, he scattered a few more signs onto the floor and began a deep and sonorous chant.

The room was lit with magic as the entire circle responded to the power of the masterful mage and scientist, humming with power, wild magical energies wrapped around Scalpel like strange golden bandages, and the rest of the group was hidden by the pure light with was erupting from the complex magical sigil.

With a low, powerful voice which echoed with pure energy, Scalpel spoke the words.

“पुरानी दुनिया की आत्माओं, ड्रैगन बिंदु की खानों के लिए मुझे देने”

With a final roar of power, the magical circle lit up, and Scalpel and the rest were hidden by the raw energy that had been cast. Before then however, Scalpel had been given enough time to mouth some words through the storm of pure magical energy at Lens, and give her a reassuring
smile.

the message was very simple...

“I love you.”

Then suddenly Lens was alone. It took her might not to step into the light and follow. And after that she let the tears flow.