Batteries not included

From the atmosphere, iron town looked nothing but a large polluted cloud covering the landscape. In actual fact it was just a large polluted cloud and iron 'town' as like a quarter of the planet. Years of constant technological changes had left the city in various states of history from the tribal diamond dogs in the underworks to the regal unicorns of the upper spires and everything in between. Of course such change could only happen under the leadership of a pony who would stop at nothing to achieve greatness, a pony with no moral boundaries, no desire for love and friendship, no heart. Some called her mad, others called her genius ahead of her time…she called herself centrifuge. An apt name for a pony of her caliber, though she wasn't really all pony any more. Being the leader of modern marvels meant that one had to make sacrifices, she chose her body. An odd collection of wires, steel plates and hydraulics replaced the parts of her fine body that she deemed obsolete. Her cutie mark remain along with the majority of her torso and head although she now only had one living eye, the other a crimson disc that feed information directly into her brain, a mild improvement by her own words.

"Twilight sparkle would you be a dear and come in here for a moment"

She took her metallic hoof off the intercom. Her office was large compared to others and contained more décor, s he stated it was nessercary to her work…no pony really argued with that. It was a long room dotted with marble pillars and various bits of tech, she forgot what some of them were for but they looked nice. The double oak doors open, groaning after years of use, and revealed a purple unicorn. She wore single rim reading glasses and, like centrifuge, had replaced certain aspects of her body but unlike the regal white unicorn, who was infused with plasma, she was powered by steam so whenever she walked anywhere a symphony of hisses and whistles followed her, Along with a small trail of smoke from the two long exhaust pipe protruding out of her shoulders. Twilight had risen through the ranks swiftly earning many a commemoration until she had finally hit the top of the enterprise mountain. Head director of magic and magic al research, known as MMR. Of course there was one position above her but no pony dared make a claim to it and ponies that did often had…accidents. She walked calmly through the hall of pillars towards the gem encrusted desk of her boss. Wires criss-cross along the floor forming highways of information transfer and power grids, some were as big as her leg. Behind the desk the room was taken up by a large window, having a view of the tall skyline against the setting sun.

"Ah miss sparkle good I have something I need you to do but first…tea?"

The purple mare shook her head

"Well then more for me… (takes a sip from her steaming hot cup of tea)…on to business then"

She reached into one of her draws and pulled a black felt bag out. Inside was a small computer of sorts the looked like I was meant to fit around her leg. It was heavily oriented with sea blue sapphires and a shining brass finish, in the center three cool white diamonds sat identifying the bearer. Twilight had a similar, though notable more ordinary, strapped to her lower front leg and had begun typing something on it.

"How's my world doing this day?" centrifuge said while starting up her own machine

"Well my lady…we have increased productivity by at least twenty percent…the ammunition press is out putting more than fifty thousand magazines per cycle…and the new armour you requested is ready for testing…oh yes…there is a disruption in sector…JQ-35…the workers are demanding higher food rations"

"Send in mechanized unit scalper-1…set to stun and crowd dispersant's…if the problem continues switch to live rounds…have a cleanup crew standing by just in case"

"Is that wise?...I mean the number of riots have been increasing lately…maybe we should give in for now to at least calm the situation"

"Hmmmm…do both… I agree we must show we are capable of compassion but we cannot allow such an outcry to go unpunished…find the ring leaders and have them executed…locate their families and have their food rations cut but increase the rest of the sectors"

"Yes my lady"

"Did I ever tell you that you look beautiful when you work"

Both mares twisted around to find where the voice had come from. A brown stallion lounged against the window eating a green apple, a rare thing to find in iron town now a days. He had black blow back hair and tail, his cutie mark was a blue rune of sorts and his eyes were solid gold being broken only by the large black pupils but the most shocking part about him was something the two mares had only read in stories…he was completely whole. No wires, no plates, no steam he was one hundred percent pure pony. At birth all young foals are given an implant that connects from the back of the heads to their inner ears as a sign of their citizenship, most ponies upgrade these when they get older, so finding so any pony without one can come as quite a shock.

"Who are you and how did you get in?"

"Both are not important to you"

"You have three seconds to answer before I call the guards"

"Ahem…Twilight this is…well like he said his name isn't important…I think our meeting can wait"

"But my lady…"

"Now Twilight"

The purple unicorn bowed and left the room. She was a bit angry but if the stallion could gain that much attention from centrifuge he must be important so she did not question him.

"Grimlock…why are you here? If I remember our dept was settle years ago so what reason do you have for being here"

"Can't a friend pay a social call once and a while?"

"….."

"Fine…I need you for something"

"Whatever it is the answers no…I had enough of you and you 'schemes' when I finally repaid you and I'm still mad at you for what you did to opal"

"How was I supposed to know she wouldn't land on her feet"

"The window was two miles from the ground…right above the smelting factory"

"So what she has eight lives now?"

"gggrrrrrrr"

"Fine but at least hear me out"

"….two minutes"

"you have grown bored of this world…I can see that so don't try to hide it…so I'm here to offer you something…an opportunity to start over…to start with something new"

"I don't think you see anything but you have my attention…what's the catch?"

"I can't tell you yet…I still have other ponies to collect for the operation so I'll brief you all then"

"…you know I don't do 'teams'…and is my skill not enough"

"Well compared to what we will be facing you skill is amateur a best so othe-"

PHZZZZZZZZZZ

A bolt of pure green energy impacted against the window, being absorbed by the shield matrix, were the stallion once stood. Centrifuge had smooth rounded pistol floating in her magic. The barrel smoked slightly at the high energy discharge.

"AMATEUR?"

"Perhaps a poor choice of wor-"

PHZZZZZZZZZZ

The pillar where the brown pony's head had reappeared shattered into shards of polished marble. The stallion finally had enough and disintegrated the weapon in to a melting puddle of super heated metal.

"don't do that again...now…what I'm offering is not only a chance to start anew but also a change of ways…I'll be in your dept for a change"

"really?"

"really… if join me that is"

"how do I know I can trust you to come through?"

"on my honor"

"we both know that means nothing"

"then you will just have to trust me"

"hmmmm…having thee Grimlock under my belt…"

"how could I pass such an offer up" The white unicorn held her hoof out "deal"

"deal" Grimlock met it with his own.

"now if you excuse me I have to be off" The brown stallion walk down the hall "I'll be watching"

And with that he went 'through' the floor, his smile lingering for a second, leaving no trace that he had ever been there. The doors swung open.

"my lady are you alright…we heard shots" Twilight ran up to the desk, surveying the damage around her as she did, followed closely by two muscular earth pony guards.

"no no..everything is fine I just had a…disagreement with my guest" she picked up her tea and took a sip" I feel like celebrating…TEA! Tea for every pony…and we need fireworks, entertainment…has the mechanized unit moved in yet?"

"um…no I haven't given the order yet"

"good…bring up field batteries one through ten…charge incendiary rounds…target sector JQ-35 and display on all monitors throughout the building…set all notices to stand by and bring up enough cakes for each floor…oh and put pinkie pie in charge of party planning for now and future events, I hear she has a knack for that sort of thing"

"Y-yes my lady"

A/N:

And there we are. Hope you all enjoyed it. coming up: Applejacks alt, the bounty hunter APPLE BANE, Soarins alt, the only surviving shadow bolt SLIPSTREAM, from the lands of equestria comes two of some of the sweetest ponies that deserve better, PRINCESS LUNA AND DERPY HOOVES(not ditzy doo), from the black depths of Grimhold prison comes one of the most feared criminals to ever grace the lands of equestria (spawned from the mind of Drakua), WREAK LOOSE, from the damp mines of blazing stone comes the exiled diamond dog (from a friend), SHATTER CLAW. Yes I know I uploaded two chapters within a few hours but don't expect it to happen again…just when I feel like writing a lot. Both my offers to upload your evil creature or good creature is still available but keep in mind me are getting close to the MEETING so hurry before it is too late. See you all next time

-vintage dragon