Our heroes stood around the body of Metal, and all were staring in disbelief at the contents of his head case. Instead of the normal circuits and wires you'd expect to see inside of a robot like him, there was a jar. Inside said jar rested the source of the controversy, a human brain encased in what could be called gelatin. Connected to the brain were wires of all different sorts, sending electrical impulses to and from the brain.

"I don't believe it. He's been living a lie this whole time, thinking he was just some damnable robot when he's been a living being. It's despicable! Who would think of doing something like this?" asked Twilight, who was currently pacing up and down the room, searching for answers.

Twister replied "I don't know. I mean I'm looking right at it and I'm having a hard time believing it myself."

Twilight then asked "How do you even get something like this to happen anyway? A brain can't sustain itself without blood, and I don't think I've ever seen him bleeding, have you guys?" They never took their eyes off of the brain, but they nodded all the same.

Tails was at this time attempting to pry off his chest plate, so that he could see what else was going on inside of the robot that they might need to know about. After a few minutes, the chest was off and they saw his insides. He had wires and circuitry inside of himself, but there was a noise that sounded like the beating of a heart. Tails looked for it, and found a small armored box with armored pipe heading directly for his head.

He then took a screwdriver and screwed off the top of the armored box, and what he found inside was extraordinary. Inside was an entirely artificial heart with a blood supply flowing directly into his brain. Tails whistled and said "Hey Twilight, I think I found his blood." She and the others quickly walked over to see what he was talking about.

She looked and, when she saw it, put her hand near the beating mechanical muscle. Eventually Tails remarked "As evil and morally destitute as Robotonik is, I have to give him credit for making an actual working artificial heart. It could save lives if I could find the schematics to this device."

Twilight took one look at him and asked "Is that all you can think about right now? Metal's about to wake up and find out that he's been living a lie his entire life, and all you can do is ogle at his insides?"

He was shocked and slightly stunned by her question. "W-what? I didn't mean to do anything wrong honest! I was just trying to get a better understanding of what's going on here. Besides, I thought you wanted to see what made him move just as much as I did."

"I did, but that's not the point. We know he's a real person now, doesn't that give you at least a little bit pause when considering opening him up? We're violating him, can't you see that?!" She asked in an almost hysterical voice.

None of the others made a noise after what she said there, the only exception being Sinbad, who walked up to her and pulled her out of the room by the arm while she protested very verbally. "Let me GO! I have to be with him, he's my friend and he needs me!"

Sinbad then took her and slapped her across her face. "Get a hold of yourself Sparkle! I know that you're concerned for him and everything, but you're going way off of the rails by trying to shame us into oblivion. We needed to open him up to understand what was happening. You wouldn't ask a doctor to stop in the middle of a surgery would you?"

She shook her head. "No, but all of this that's going on, everything that's happening, it just, I can't, what is…" She then began breaking down again and sobbing. She sat next to the wall and stayed there, holding her knees to her chest.

Sinbad looked at her and felt something urge him to sit down next to her and pat her on the shoulder. After doing just that, he then said "Hey, Don't you do that. Whatever problem you're having you can tell me, I won't judge, at least I'll try not to."

"I'm *sniff* not *sniff* crying about me." she sobbed.

He got confused. "Wait, then what are you crying about?"

She answered "I'm crying about Metal. *sniff*"

Sinbad then asked "What are you crying about him for?" more out of curiosity than anything else.

Twilight answered "I, I don't know- I don't know what he's going to do when he finds out that he's been alive this whole time. I mean, he's been thinking he's been a robot this whole time, and he convinced himself that he couldn't be anything else. If he knows the truth, I mean, what if he takes it the wrong way? What if he decides to kill himself?"

He retorted "Hey, stop thinking like that. That guy's a lot tougher than you're making him out to be. I'm sure he'll be able to handle the news better than you think."

She sniffed. "You really think so?"

"I know so. Now let's get back to our friends and get this whole mess sorted out, shall we?" he asked.

She nodded and they got off of the floor and walked back into the room. Everyone was looking at them, the only exception being Pinkie Pie, who was staring at something inside Metal's brain jar. She tapped on it a few times as if to see what would happen. Twilight suddenly grabbed her by her shoulders and screamed at her at the top of her lungs "PINKIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

She answered "Oh sorry about that Twilight, I was just looking at the jar when I saw something black and shiny in it. I didn't know what it was, so I started tapping at the glass. Sorry if it made you mad, I didn't mean it."

Tails said "Wait, did you say black shiny thing? And did you say it was in his jar?"

She nodded. "Yep-a-doodle-do Tails, that's what I said. It looks kind of important too, we might want to check it out."

He took a quick look into the jar and found exactly what she was talking about. "Well there it is, but I don't think that I'll be able to get it out as it is because it's at the bottom of the jar, and I don't want to end up scooping his brains or anything."

Pinkie then said "Well then how about I just give it to you?" She then produced said object in her hand and handed it to Tails. He looked at it, then back in the jar. He looked like he was going to say something, but must have decided not to because he shut his mouth and took the device.

He looked at it for a few minutes and then said "I think this was Robotonik's control device, but I don't see how you could have punched it off of his brain Shadow. I mean there's not even any tissue on here, how did you manage that?"

Shadow had been to this point deep in his thoughts. When he heard what Tails said he answered "I'm not sure myself. From what I remember, it sort of just happened in the middle of our last fight. I really can't see how I could punch it out without it tearing off some of the brain though."

Twister slowly held his stomach. "I think I feel a little queasy."

Tails then said "I wonder how this thing works? Maybe I should just take a quick look-see…"

Shadow interrupted him. "No, there'll be time for that later. Right now, you need to reattach his arm and wake him up so we can tell him the news."

The others had a sort of stupid look on their face. Pinkie then said "Um, you sure that's a good idea there chief? I mean, what will he do when we tell him?"

He shook his head. "What he will do is not our concern right now. If he isn't told the truth when he wakes up, he'll find out eventually, and then he'll ask us why we kept it from him. It's better if we tell him now that we just found out rather than later."

Tails sighed. "Alright. I'll fix up his arm and turn him back on, just keep quiet for just a little bit everyone." And so, he began to repair Metal.

When Metal was rebooted, he found himself in front of the entire group he had been travelling with. He was curious at first, but quickly turned his attention to his arm. He made it do some rather simple motions, followed by transforming into his two armament attachments. After successfully finishing this, he turned to the little mechanic and said "I thank you for your assistance Tails. My arm feels as good as new."

Tails looked at him and said "Oh, well, it's great that you think that Metal, but, see, there's something that we have to tell you."

He saw Tails' expression and knew that something was up. "What's wrong? I didn't notice anything with the arm."

Tails looked surprised and said "Wait no! There's nothing wrong with you, uh, by that I, uh, what I meant to say was that…"

Shadow stepped in here. "What he means to say is that when Twilight and he turned you off to fix you up, they found something they didn't expect."

If you were to look at him, you could see the confusion in his optics. "I'm not sure I understand."

Twilight quickly followed by saying "When Tails pushed the button the top of your head opened up, and we got to see your insides. You have a brain."

Metal then looked even more confused. "A brain? Of course I have a brain; I wouldn't be functioning if I didn't."

She responded "No, I mean you had a real physical brain, like the one in my head. I know it sounds outlandish and strange, but it's the truth!"

Metal's eyes went from confusion to full blown shock. Seeds of doubt quickly took root in his mind. Shadow sensed it and added "It's true Metal, we all saw it, you've got a human brain in your head." The others nodded in agreement.

He seemed to stand there for what felt like an hour. Eventually, he started walking right past them into the hall. Twilight called after him, asking "Where are you going?"

His reply was simply "I want to be alone for a moment."

She started after him, but was quickly stopped by Shadow. Don't follow him. He needs to get whatever he's feeling out in his own time, you might just exacerbate the problem. Twilight, though slightly crushed at his suggestion nodded and walked back into the room, just wishing she could help him.

This is how it feels to be Metal Sonic now. Your world has been turned inside out by a single revelation. The fact that, at some point in your life, you were a living being. It doesn't make any sense to you. All of your memories are either of horrible servitude to a morally corrupt and evil master, or of recent adventures with your allies. Nowhere are the memories of any normal life. Whatever happened to you to turn you into a robot must have traumatized your mind so much that you forgot your own past, you realize.

You then think back to everything you've ever done. You feel shame for every life snuffed out because you couldn't free yourself from his control. You feel anger at yourself for lying to yourself about your own physicality, lack of knowledge be damned. You feel sadness at the fact that you do not know what came before, and anger again for what happened to that person before.

You then come across a mirror and stare into your lifeless reflection, and you see what many have seen for years before. A cold metallic finish on a heartless killer, with two soulless and dead eyes harrowingly staring back at you, a mockery of a hero far greater than you could ever be. You feel an uncontrollable rage settle upon you, powerful as a storm that threatens to unleash its deadly might. What are you angry at? Is it your evil creator? Is it the monster that lies upon your skin? Is it the fact that you cannot be as alive as those around you? Whatever the reason, all of these are staring back at you, and you need to feel some form of release.

The lightning strikes as you punch the mirror and break it into many smaller pieces. The monster still stares back at you, but its reflections are much smaller and fractured than before. You see on your HUD that there is a problem with you, some form of malfunction in your CPU. It suggests going back to him for maintenance. Suddenly, you realize just what to focus on. It was his fault that you are this way, his fault that you became a monster, and his fault that you lost your humanity.

Moving forward, you remember your vow to take down the tyrant responsible, to make him suffer and pay for what he did to you and the people he made you kill. Your resolve becomes stronger as you walk forward, getting stronger with each angry thought. But then you remember something. You might as well be a literal monster to the world, for that is how they all see you, that is how they look at you.

In the end, nothing can save you from yourself, and that fact leads you into a depressive state. You ask yourself 'If I take Robotonik down, what then? What will the world need you for when your vendetta is fulfilled? What will you do when that happens?' This is when the reality of the situation sets in, for the total truth is this: You don't know.

Lady Nimue watched as he felt all of these feelings, and she sighed. She knew that he'd find out the truth eventually, and she knew that he needed to talk somebody. She knew that he would be mad at her, but it was better that she just speak to him now and get that out of the way. So, she used her spell to teleport and converse with Metal, the living robot.

She materialized behind him in the hallway. He never turned to face her, but he still knew she was there. "How long have you known?" He asked quietly.

Nimue answers "Ever since you were turned into a robot."

He asked "Why?" He turned to face her. "Why didn't you tell me the truth Nimue?"

She answered "Tell me something my friend, would you have believed me if I told you after we first met? Truth must be discovered in its own time, or else you will not understand it properly."

Metal said "Perhaps not, but what about who I was? Can you tell me that, or must I 'discover it on my own', as you so put it?"

Nimue sighed. "If I believed I could, I would have told you already my friend. However, I will not leave you without some form of help. Come, follow me." she then started walking down the hall.

"Why should I follow you?" he asked suspisciously.

She answered "You should trust me by now, I have not given you any real reason to not trust me, have I? And don't start worrying about me being in control of your life, I'm not going to use you like a pawn. You are free to choose as you wish, you could even leave right now if you wanted to, and I would not judge you."

He shook his head. "I've come this far already under your guidance, I will stay a while longer and I will trust you, but not blindly. If I think that you are doing anything to us that we do not intend, this relationship is over, do you understand lady of the lake?"

"And I was beginning to think you wouldn't see it my way. Come, there is someone that you need to talk to before you return to your friends." Answered Nimue, and she continued to lead him down her path, which lead up a tower.

When they neared the top of the tower, Metal heard two voices speaking, both female. One voice said "Well yes, your words have been true as of yet. Still, are you so sure that I am best suited to giving anyone advice?"

A voice that sounded like Nimues' answered "I'm positive. You two will get along swimmingly when you start talking, I just know it."

He ran up the stairs to the top and found something interesting. Nimue was talking directly to Princess Luna. He looked back and saw that the Nimue that had been leading him was still behind him, walking up the stairs. "Are there two of you?" he asked suddenly.

She giggled slightly and answered "No, what you were following was a magically constructed version of me. After I finished my talk with you I went to see Princess Luna, she was who I wished you to speak to, and I needed you to follow me. So I gave you something to follow." At this point, Metal heard a splash. When he turned to look around, the other Nimue had apparently dissolved into water.

Nimue stood up and said "Would you please sit down and talk with the princess? I promise that it will be enlightening if you do."

Metal quickly walked past her. "An interesting trick sorceress, but tell me, why haven't you done that before now?" He then sat down next to the princess as per her instructions.

She told him "I couldn't do it before because my energy was focused elsewhere. Now that I can focus on just this world however, I can be a bit more flexible in my power usage. Now I will leave you two alone so that you can talk amongst yourselves. I have business to attend to." And with that, she dissipated into a cloud of steam and floated away, leaving an awkward situation behind her.

Metal asked "How much do you know about my situation your highness?"

She lowered her head and answered "I was told that you were under the control of a madman as far back as you can remember, and that you have the brain of a living man within your body. I'm sorry young one; I cannot imagine what you have gone through before we met, and I wish I could say something to make you feel better."

He held up his hand. "Don't. I won't accept your pity or your apologies. I am not this, good man you or the others think of me as. I'm a killer, a murderer. There can be no forgiveness for me your highness. This… monster you see before you is all that I am, and that will never change."

Luna looked at him and said "You truly believe yourself to be a monster? Monsters don't feel remorse, nor do they apologize. You have done both. Can you truly be a monster when you are so sorrowful?"

Metal got up and started walking around and said "Sorrowful? Just because I feel sorrow doesn't make me sympathetic. You cannot give me your sympathies because you do not know how it feels to revile yourself and see the monster inside of yourself."

Luna shot out of her seat. "You truly believe that? You think that I don't know what it feels like? Did you know that I once attempted to kill my own sister in a mad attempt to grab power? I still can't fathom why I did any of that, but that price has already been paid, and I lost my only family for 1000 years! That is a long time to think, and for 1000 years I always called myself a monster! Who are you to say that I do not know how it feels to be a monster?"

He replied "You may have thought it of yourself, but how many people have you killed? How many lives did you end on the nights that you lost control? I had no control, I've killed hundreds in a five year long killing spree, and for what? Some madman's insane pipe dream? The fact that I have a living brain only makes it worse! Face it Princess, you're lucky. You still remember who you were before you became a monster. Me on the other hand, I have nothing, no identity except for what is on the outside, and on the outside, I am a monster through and through."

She gave him a look. "You cannot be serious. If your insides really are empty, and all that matters are your deeds, then perhaps I should paint you the picture I see before my eyes, for it is not some monster. You are a figure with a tragic past and present, and you have been under a mad man's control for years, but you have not let this destroy you. Your iron will allowed you to persevere where others would have faltered, and what was the first thing you did after you were out of his control?"

The robot turned to face her. "I wanted nothing more than to end Robotonik's life once and for all, to stop that maniac from destroying anything else. I wanted his blood princess, what does that say about me?"

Luna continued. "You were angered, and it was justified. But after your failed attempt, when you came to Equestria, the first thing you did there was save Twilight Sparkle, without consideration for your own safety. And you have continued to show your true self by your actions."

"And what is this 'true self' you speak of?" he asked, curious as to her answer.

"You claim to be a monster, but monsters don't throw themselves into battles or situations where they could die for total strangers. You have the heart of a warrior, fierce yet soft, but always wary of danger. You are by all rights a hero, and what you did in your past cannot truly compare to the deeds you have accomplished now, nor the ones you will accomplish. You are Metal, and you are truly a hero, both in my eyes, and the eyes of others." The Princess sat back down, having finished her speech.

Metal stared into space, obviously contemplating what she had said. A few moments later, he had only this to say. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head, confused. "Sorry for what?" she asked.

He put a claw to the back of his head and started scratching, like he was embarrassed. "I've been complaining this whole time and honestly, I think I went on a bit of a tirade, so sorry about that. And besides that, you probably want to talk things out more than I do. After all, you've got a lot more things to worry about than I do. Why don't you talk to me about it?"

Luna's eyebrow rose. "Are you trying to change the subject?"

Metal waved his hand in front of his face. "Maybe, but I have other people I can talk to if I want to. You'll have to be running a country and well, right now we're in the middle of an at least partially calm moment that is perfect for talking out your problems with someone."

She pondered his statement for a moment. It certainly was a logical thought, and it would be good to speak to someone who could talk back. And so, she started with the basics. "Did you know that I was banished to the moon for a thousand years after trying to overthrow my sister?"

He nodded. "Yes, I am familiar with the story, your sister's student told me about it. Speaking of which…" he reached inside of his chest cavity "… I believe this belongs to you Princess." He had pulled out her personal diary.

Her eyes widened and she shot from her seat. "Where did you get that?" she asked in shock as she pried it from his hands.

"I didn't. The credit of finding this goes to Twilight Sparkle. She found your secret room and took this book from there, from what I understand. And before you ask, no she didn't read it, aside from the little note on the first page."

She gave him a steely look, asking "Then how pray tell did you get your hands on it?"

Metal answered "Twilight gave it to me so I could keep it safe for you until we found you. Since you're safe now, I can give it back to you without any fear of losing it."

Luna looked in the book, stopping at the first page. Her hand went to the page, almost as if she were fondling it. Her eyes started watering and she whispered something. It was barely understandable, but it sounded something like "Mom."

She held the book close to her chest for a few moments, hugging it like it was an old relative. She then turned to Metal, a small and grateful smile on her face, and said "I should thank you and Twilight for returning this book; it's the last thing that I ever got from my own mother, and the only thing I have left." Suddenly, a slightly shocked expression appeared on her face. She quickly turned to a certain page in the book, and, after staring at it for a few moments, proceeded to rip pages from it one by one.

Metal, confused by her actions, asked "What are you doing?"

"It's here, everything's all here!" she said frantically, probably to herself.

"What's all here?" He asked.

At that, she turned back to him and said "Everything that I've regretted for the last 1000 years is right here on these pages. Every book I read, the information I found useful, every single emotion that I blew out of proportions, they all lead me to become Equestria's very own Nightmare. I have to destroy these pages now!" She cried, preparing some sort of spell to eradicate the pages in her hand.

He grabbed onto her hand, stopping her for a moment. "Wait, why are you destroying these pages? There must be something else we can do with them than destroy them!"

She turned to him with an anger expression on her face. "You presume to know what I know better than I do? I have seen first hand what this knowledge can do, I know the dangers of these materials, and no good can come from any of them!"

Metal let go of her hand, but continued. "What does merely destroying those pages do? What about what you read to obtain this information? Is there anything that has survived from those thousand years that someone could still find and use to bring about similar results?"

Luna stared at him for a moment as if she hadn't in fact thought of it. "You're right. But I cannot destroy the information itself that easily. Most of what I read was in books filled with many helpful spells and magic states that proved useful for my sister and me, assuming they survived of course. The other books were sealed away years ago, and none have access to those tomes aside from my sister and I. This is the one thing that connects them together, and I must destroy it to keep the people safe."

He nodded. "Alright then, go on and destroy the papers, I won't stop you this time."

She held her hand up again and charged up a spell, but when she finished charging it, she seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. After that however, she threw one hand into the other, effectively obliterating the papers and any information they might have held.

For a while after this, she simply stared away into the day, obviously thinking on something important. She then walked back to the seat and picked up the diary where she had set it down. She opened it back up to the first page and put her hand at the bottom of it.

Metal walked towards her as quietly as he could and sat down next to her. "What was your mother's name?" he asked gently.

"Faust, Lumen Faust was her name." she replied.

He remarked "Fortunate Light, a poetic name. What can you tell me about her?"

She looked at him and answered "Not much, she and my father both left home when I was but a young filly, no older than eleven. From what I remember however, she had to have been one of the kindest souls you could have ever wanted as a mother. I remember one time in particular when I got into our cookie jar. At the time I was using my magic as a small and crafty young unicorn would, and I managed to find the cookie stash. Naturally since I was a child I grabbed all of the cookies I wanted and stuffed them into my mouth. Father was not very pleased with me, as the cookies were his. Mother however giggled and called me a little scamp." A small smile had crept onto her face during this little anecdote.

Metal asked "They sound wonderful, but why did they leave you two when you were eleven?"

Luna shook her head. "I never knew. They were here one night, and the next they were gone. Neither my sister nor I knew what became of them because they left without saying a word. The only thing that mother left was the diary that you retrieved. She left no other traces of were her and father went, nor of if they intended to return. I just wish I could know what happened to them at least. It would ease my mind a great deal."

He nodded and thought for a minute. "Perhaps they left another message in the book to tell you what happened, some kind of secret message."

She answered "That's impossible, I've done every test imaginable on this book from magical to scientific, and it has yielded no fruit at all. There is no message dear hero, no matter what you may believe."

The robot responded "Even so, I would like to take a quick look at the book if you would have no problems with that." She looked at him, and then back to the book. She seemed hesitant for a few moments, but eventually gave the book to him. And so, he prepared his analysis mode for use.

Analysis mode activated: Analyzing tome for suspected secrets or anomalies. Inks and writing techniques are similar to each other, no traces of tampering or other ink types. Attention, power readings emanating from book, highest readings come from page 357. Further information is unattainable at this juncture. Analysis end.

He handed the book back to Luna and said "You may want to try some spells on page 357, it has a magical presence upon it."

She looked at him stupidly for a minute and then asked "How in Tartarus did you sense that? There aren't many beings that can sense magical output in this world."

Metal answered "Simple. Your magic's energy signatures are highly similar to the chaos energy that most of Robotonik's robots run on, so all I have to do is search for that energy and I'll be able to 'see' both types of energy."

"Remarkable" she replied.

He answered "Not really. It's just a feature that got built into me…" He paused and stared away, thinking about his robotification and his lingering hatred of it.

Luna recognized this and decided to change the topic. "Would you like to talk about something else? Something more cheerful perhaps?" she asked.

He nodded, and she spoke to him on a better subject. Little did they realize that this was the beginning of a new friendship between the two of them.

Meanwhile in another room of the castle, our heroes had begun talking to each other. There were several conversations going on at once, each with their own subjects.

Pinkie Pie was asking Rainbow Dash "Are you sure letting Gilda back here's a good idea? I mean, she was a total thief and bully, and she also went berserk on Fluttershy, not to mention she decided to whig out on us when she hit all of those pranks you set. No offense meant of course."

She answered "Listen, I know that Gilda's really offstandish, and she isn't exactly the most honest of people, but she's really not a bad girl. Just, I don't know, give her some time on her own to warm up to you and you'll get to see her good side, I promise."

Pinkie nodded and answered "If you say so Dashie. But are you sure she'll warm up to us?"

"Trust me girl, Gilda doesn't have many friends, but when she makes them, they're friends for life. So just, keep it cool around her okay?" said Rainbow Dash.

Before a response could be made, Twister Tail walked back into the room. After Metal had gone on his walk, Twister had done something similar after about a minute. None of the others knew where he had gone, but he soon told them "I've been reassigned back to Canterlot for the time being. Looks like I don't get to be a diplomat with you guys."

After that, Rainbow Dash went to speak with him. "So who did you go talk to find that out Twister?"

He answered "Prince Armor. I told him the latest information we got on Metal, and he told me that I was no longer needed to guard him. So I guess this means I won't be seeing you or any of the other guys till after this whole diplomatic mission you're going on. Then again, that was how it was going to go down anyway for the most part."

Rainbow nodded. She then asked "So, what do we do about that then?"

Twister replied "Well that depends on you really. I actually had a plan on taking you out to dinner or something, you know, for a date. Would you like to go on one with me?"

She felt a squee in her heart, but kept her face as cool and calm as she could. She thought to herself 'Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh he actually asked me out! I'm so excited I could… wait a minute, keep calm girl. Remember, you can keep him on his hooves if you just stay cool.'

While her face showed a hint of excitement, she cleared her throat and said "Name the time and place bigshot."

He smiled with a big grin and answered "7:00pm at Qin's Dynasty, nice fancy place without dress regulations. No need to worry about dressing up there, just come as is with your money and your appetite. Oh wait, scratch that, come with my money and your appetite." He added jokingly. She chuckled in response.

Rarity was talking to Francis about her problems, and Francis was trying his best to listen to her and give her an outlet for them. The only problem with this was that she had many things to talk and talk about, and soon he found himself swimming in a sea of complaints. It was fortunate thing that she wasn't whining, or else he would probably have tried knocking himself out on the nearest pillar.

"…And then the beasts attempted to get rid of me with their horrid little swords. I was afraid for my life needless to say, and I very nearly lost it. Fortunately that didn't happen thanks to that powerful shield I managed to throw up. I wonder how that happened, certainly I wasn't able to do that before, could I? Its' interesting though, isn't it?" she asked

Francis was rubbing his head and he remarked "It is, but I heard all of that quite some time ago. Can I go and get something for my head, like an ice pack or some aspirin? Or maybe some chloroform so I can pass out for a while."

She huffed "Well I never! If you didn't want to listen to me then you should have said something in the first place! Well go on, leave me to myself just like you want."

He sighed "No, I said I'd listen to you, so I will. Say, I thought of something, how do you think you summoned that shield of yours? Do you think it has something to do with those element thingies you girls wear all the time?"

"The Elements of Harmony?" She thought to herself for a moment. "That is quite an interesting theory, though, I don't know if it's possible or not. Twilight is the resident expert on all things magic, so we might have to ask her on her thoughts on the subject."

"Maybe we should wait to ask her. I mean, this whole deal with Metal is getting to her something fierce." said Francis, who was staring at Twilight.

She was pacing up and down the room, constantly rubbing her hands together and wiping the sweat from her brow as she did so. If ever there was a more nervous person than Twilight Sparkle, no one would be able to tell you at this point. "Do you think he's okay? Do you think telling him the truth was the right call? Oh, I knew I shouldn't have let him go off on his own." she said.

Sinbad was sitting behind her pacing form. "Would you relax for a minute? I'm sure he's just fine on his own miss worrywart. He'll probably find us back here as soon as he's done with his walk."

Twilight turned back to him "Why should he? What's to stop him from running away to Celestia knows where and leaving us to our task alone?"

"In case you've forgotten, he's the only one of us who can wield that sword of his, well, aside from Sonic that is. Besides, I don't think he's the type of person to shirk his responsibilities and throw people under the carriage for his own needs." He retorted.

She sounded irritated and asked "And just how do you know that Sinbad?"

He pondered it for a moment before answering "Honestly, it's mostly a feeling I'm getting from my gut. Still, my gut's rarely wrong in these sorts of situations, especially when it comes to people."

Twilight sputtered and said "Your gut. Your gut is telling you what to think. Do you know how idiotic that sounds? No one should just trust people based only on their basic instincts. Where's the proof? Where's the scientific evidence behind this claim of yours?"

Sinbad replied "I don't have any evidence, but why is that? He seems to like you the best out of all of us, so if anyone in here has this 'evidence' you want, it'd be you."

The unicorn stopped in her thinking and considered his words carefully. She realized that he was right of course. Out of all of them, she had the most contact with Metal and probably knew best of all of them what he would do. After that, she began thinking, what was he going to do? The answer was, of course, mostly obvious. "I guess you're right Sinbad. Still, I'm not going to be any more pacified until he comes back here."

He answered "Lady, I never had doubts about that. Just wanted you to realize it for yourself"

Suddenly, a metallic clanging was heard outside of the room they occupied. For a few moments, the entire room was silent as a grave, until Metal finally walked into the room, followed quickly by Princess Luna. Everyone quickly tried to gather around the pair, but was held back by a magic barrier put up by Luna.

She then said "Twilight Sparkle, may I speak with you for a moment?" Twilight nodded her head and walked toward her. When she did get up to her, her mind went in two different directions. First was 'Metal was with Princess Luna? What were they doing I wonder?' Second was 'What does she want to talk about? Did I do something wrong?'

Luna then put her hand on Twilight's shoulder and said "I'd like to thank you for returning my diary Ms. Sparkle. Once again you have shown me your kindness by having my diary returned, and you have shown me your resolve by refusing to look into its contents. In truth, I doubt that I'd be able to ever repay you for your deeds even if I tried to do so for the rest of my days. Thank you for respecting my privacy twilight."

Twilight half chuckled, shrugged, and replied "Well, I mean, what are friends for anyway?"

Luna nodded silently nodded. In her head though, a single thought occurred to her. 'Was my sister right? Could she truly be the one who will be our successor?'

The others had begun talking through the barrier towards Metal, asking him assorted questions like "Are you alright?" He replied "You don't need to worry about me, I have dealt with my problem and that is that." This statement was not entirely accurate, but it was accurate enough in this instance.

The Lunar princess turned to them and said "I am certain that you have much to ask of your comrade, but we must start diplomatic negotiations with the other nations as soon as possible. As such, if you be so kind as to follow me, I will give you the station of diplomat in the throne room." She turned off her shield, turned around and walked away. The others followed her closely, with the exception of Metal and Twilight.

She rubbed the back of her head and looked a bit sad. "Metal, I don't know what you've been going through, and I know that whatever you are feeling about, well, yourself, isn't an easy thing to do. I just want you to know that I'll be there for you if you need me."

Metal nodded in response. He began speaking to her, but his voice sounded unsure about what he was saying "Thank you for your concern Ms. Sparkle, it is… very touching to hear you say that. Still I… I don't think I'll be asking for it, at least, not for the moment."

She nodded back, but asked "Umm, so what were you and Princess Luna talking about anyway?"

He replied "We were discussing our, similarities and differences to each other, along with some of our respective histories. A trade of information, as it was."

Twilight then asked "Okay, but what about the diary? I mean, why didn't you wait to give it to her with me?"

"Does that really matter? She got it back, and she thanked you for not looking into its' contents. I know I said I'd wait but the opportunity arose and I took it. I'm sorry that I couldn't contact you and ask you your permission, but it's already been done." He stated with a hint of regret.

She shook her head. "I guess it doesn't really matter. I was just a bit surprised about that happening, but my problems don't really matter right now. What about you? You've probably had your whole life turned upside down by all of this. Are you sure you don't need to talk about any of this? Are you sure I can't help you right now?"

He turned away from her to look out of a window for a moment. "It's kind of funny when you think about it." he stated.

Twilight was confused by this remark. "What's kind of funny?'"

Metal replied "Back when I thought I was just a robot, an artificial intelligence, you kept telling me that I was more than that, that it was impossible for me to behave like I was with mere artificial intelligence. I shrugged your thoughts off because at the time I thought you just didn't understand the technology, but your mind seems to have given you the truth before any of us. It's, it's just bizarre that something like that could happen, correct?"

She realized he wasn't going to talk to him about any of his problems to her. She then said "I think we should head towards the throne room now. We'll need to be ready to negotiate with the other nations in the coming days." She then walked out of the room and left him there alone.

He followed after her but soon found himself in front of Shadow, who had stopped in the middle of one of the hallways to the throne room. He quickly followed next to Metal and started speaking to him "I'd like to apologize for all the things I've said and done to you during our time on this mission. I've been basically calling you a heartless machine ever since we've met, and we know that that's not true…"

Metal spoke. "Stop right there. You didn't know any better then, and honestly I'm not going to hold your words against you because of that fact. All I ask is that we share trust with each other, especially since we will be working together."

Shadow nodded. "I can understand that. Very well, I will accept, as long as I'm not expected to immediately trust you entirely right from this new start. There are still some things that are a bit, iffy about you."

"You are wise Shadow, and I agree with you completely. I will look forward to the day when we can actually fight together without having to fight each other because of trust." He responded.

Before long, they were all in the throne room where Luna was sitting on the main throne. "Alright, now that you're all here, I'd like to call the diplomats forward." Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack all stepped forward.

They all knelt and bowed to the princess. She then asked "Do you three wish to take on the responsibilities of Diplomats in this matter? Will you uphold Equestria's standing in your actions and words, and will you act in the interest of all others?"

Rainbow said "You betcha."

Applejack replied "I'll do the best I can."

Twilight stated "I will."

Luna then concluded the ceremony. "Then I hereby declare you to be Equestrian diplomats. Arise, Faces of Equestria, for the responsibility of representing our great nation is yours."

When they had arisen, all people looked to Luna. She then said "If you wish to learn anything about the other countries, I suggest you do it tonight. You will have to be ready, for your journey will have to start first thing in the morning." They nodded, and the diplomatic teams all split into their groups to ready themselves with whatever they could find out about each other and their nations.

Tommorow would start a brand new day, and a brand new challenge awaited them on the horizon.

A/N: Greetings faithful readers, and sorry for the wait on this chapter. I've been having what I can only describe as character writing block. What I mean by that is that while I do know where the story is going, I can't figure out how to put the characters into it or can't write them in general. Couple that with a new job and a wandering mind and new story ideas, and you get into my mess of things.

As a result of all of this, updates to this story may come further and farther between. That being said, I WILL be continuing this story as best as I can. To that end, you will be seeing both a new one shot and a new side story. The one shot will be titled: How to Date Your Rainbow Dash, and will be for the more romantic minded among you.

The side story on the other hand will be titled: The Interrogation of Private Whitewash. What's so special about that one character I only introduced last chapter you ask? Well when it's published, you'll know for certain. It has a more mystery/drama centered edge to it, at least in the first couple of chapters.

Thank you for your continued reading and support, I will carry on the story as best I can and hopefully you won't be disappointed when I finally get it. T.T.F.N., ta ta for now.