It is now morning in the Red Kingdom. Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve, Professor Red and the mane 6 eventually woke up from sleeping in the lab through the night. Professor Red then got some breakfast. The breakfast consisted of just 1 pumpkin pie and some apples.
"Mmm, this pumpkin pie is really good. Thanks Professor Red," Pinkie Pie quickly said. Professor Red nodded. He then looks to Fluttershy.
"Hey, how well did the helmet work?" Professor Red asked Fluttershy.
"It... seemed to work, thank you," Fluttershy replied.
"Do you want me to give it back to you?" Fluttershy asked as she took the helmet off and popped it on the floor infront of Professor Red.
"No no, you can have it," Professor Red replied.
"You sure? It doesn't belong to me, it belongs to you," Fluttershy responded.
"Eh... I can just make another one," Professor Red responded back.
"Why uh... thank you so much," Fluttershy said to Professor Red.
"We should probably set out. We're on a timer here and we need to get his essence and work out how to stop Madness Steve before... you know," Sabre suggested. Everyone and everypony in the room nodded in agreement.
"Okay, well, what do we need to do Professor?" Sabre asked Professor Red.
"We need to make some kind of machine that's a ravine, so we can hide the metal bars. How this machine will work is that there will be metal bars that will attract the essence and goes down into a series of hoppers and into the chest. We must also make sure the chest is filled with bottles, so the essence doesn't dissipate or even worse and possibly blow up. We need to somehow lure Madness Steve to go between each of the bars to extract more of his essence," Professor Red explained.
"I could try and use the chronometer to try trick Madness Steve," Time Steve suggested as he got out the very same chronometer device he used to escape the Time Dimension without Elemental Steve noticing that one time.
"What can a seemingly simple watch do to lure him?" Rainbow Dash questioned Time Steve as she hovered closer to him, looking at the chronometer that is held in Time Steve's right hand.
"It's no ordinary watch Rainbow Dash, this 'simple' watch can mask my presence. If I use this to mask my presence, we can all safely watch everything on the Interdimensional TV from the Time Dimension," Time Steve explained. Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Where are you going with this?" Twilight asked Time Steve.
"I can trick Madness Steve that I'm actually there while we can all safely observe it from the Time Dimension," Time Steve replied.
"Oh, you genius!" Sabre exclaimed.
"I'm not sure if it'll work, but we can't really be by the machine when Madness Steve is here. If he sees us, he could turn around and destroy us," Time Steve pointed out.
"He only seems to be interested in destroying... you know... as far as I know," Sabre whispered to Time Steve.
"Hey guys... and you ponies too," M said as he came down the spiral quartz stairs and into the lab room.
"Hey M," Sabre replied as he walked to M.
"Is there anything I can do to help? It's kinda boring here," M replied in a fed up tone.
"I mean, you've... you've helped enough with setting up the beds," Sabre replied.
"It's okay if you don't want me to, it's just that it's so boring being here not doing anything," M sighed of boredom.
"You can come if you want to M, it's just that I don't want you to be in harms way if it isn't necessary. You're my friend M, and I don't want you to get hurt," Sabre responded.
"I can come!? Okay dokey!" M immediately responded with excitement. For a split second, the mane 6 thought Pinkie Pie was speaking from the way M responded.
"Just make sure the Red Leader is okay with it first as you are his apprentice," Sabre said in a suggestive tone.
"Uh... yeah... I... uh hmm, excuse me, I already have, I just needed to come and ask you," M stuttered at the beginning as he replied. M had lied, he didn't ask the Red Leader. M had not been outside of the Red Kingdom for so long, he got incredibly bored of not doing anything.
"You sure M? You stuttered a bit at the beginning," Applejack pointed out as she walked closer to M, noticing his slow response at the beginning.
"Yeah, I have," M quickly replied, not stuttering a single bit with his response this time.
"I'd like you to be honest with me M, you seem to be very close to your leader and by coming with us without asking him isn't being very honest," Applejack replied.
"Nor is it very loyal," Rainbow Dash added to what Applejack said.
"We get that you want to help us, but you must do what is right for your kingdom and not what you want to do," Twilight now replied.
"Ugh, fine, I haven't," M sighed, looking down to the floor.
"It's just... it's so boring here," M added.
"But Madness Steve is incredibly dangerous. He just destroyed a village, we fled to the old Yellow Kingdom, then he destroyed that kingdom, as well as the village inhabitants, their leaders, Elemental and a little purple dragon that was friends with these ponies," Light Steve pointed out.
"He also has very dangerous and messed up powers. They aren't like Void's, or powers of anyone we've ever faced. His powers... they're... messed up... and strange," Time Steve added to what Light Steve said.
"From the knowledge I do have of him, he isn't something to be tampered with," Professor Red replied. M then looked down to the floor, feeling like he isn't needed.
"Look, if you really want to help, try light up anywhere that gets really dark at night in the Red Kingdom. Madness seems to have an ability that allows him to see anything in dark areas, no matter where he is, which means whenever it's night, he can watch us. Lighting up these dark areas will make it harder for him to find us and this kingdom," Sabre pointed out. M immediately looked back up.
"Okay, I can do that," M replied. M hastily walks out of the lab and back up the stairs, out of the building and began placing torches anywhere that usually gets really dark in the Red Kingdom. Meanwhile, Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve, Professor Red and the mane 6 all bunched up together. Professor Red then teleported all of them to a ravine in a desert biome, it was roughly 40 blocks deep and 70 blocks long, filled with mostly stone with some iron and coal ore dotted here and there with some granite and andesite, there was also a mineshaft and some flowing water, coming out of the ravine walls, at the bottom, it was mostly stone. Nearby, there were several hills of sand, there was also a desert temple, roughly 50 blocks away from where they all were. There was also a mesa biome nearby, a further 150 blocks away, with huge mountains and hills with massive valleys between them, towering over them all.
"Why to a desert Professor? It's boiling here," Light Steve moaned.
"Well, he might be more tempted to bother as this is a desert and he would think Time is alone while it's only his chronometer masking his presence," Professor Red replied.
"Please tell me you've brought materials with you Professor, I really don't want to mine in this heat," Sabre groaned.
"I have, all we just need to do is build this machine before it gets dark," Professor Red responded.
"We need to build from the very bottom to run redstone to power each of these metal bars underneath the bottom, so Madness Steve doesn't suspect anything. Beneath the bottom, we need to run some hoppers that lead into a chest, which must be filled with glass bottles, because I really don't know what will happen if we don't," Professor Red briefly explained what he already explained earlier.
"Well, how do you expect us to get to the bottom?" Sabre asked Professor Red. Twilight then teleported everyone and everypony to the bottom of the ravine.
"Like that Sabre," Twilight replied to Sabre.
"Well... anyway, basically just work from the bottom and slowly build up until we reach the top," Professor Red instructed. Professor Red then tossed some redstone materials to Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve and the mane 6. Professor Red tossed all the metal bars to Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they can fly without any issues or not limited to special circumstances. The alicorn and 2 pegasuses also had an iron pickaxe to mine the stone blocks to place the iron bars if stone was in the way.
An hour later, Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity finished building the bottom part of the machine.
"Building in this world is so simple. I wished it was like that back in our world. It would sure be handy in some situations back at Sweet Apple Acres," Said Applejack.
"Yeah, especially that you can build two blocks out and break a block, leaving a block floating in midair. That's so awesome!" Pinkie Pie quickly exclaimed in response.
"Care to explain what this is for? This machine is unlike any other I've ever seen," Sabre asked Professor Red.
"Underneath these stone blocks are the hoppers. What they do is that Madness Steve's essence will come down the iron bars into the hoppers," Professor Red explained. Professor Red then broke some stone, which led to a room inside beneath all the hoppers, the interior is 5 by 5 by 5, made entirely of iron blocks, with torches keeping the room bright.
"Down here is where the chest where all the essence will go into. We've also got glass bottles in the chest. The metal bars that Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are placing right now will help attract more essence into these hoppers and the essence will go into the chest from the hoppers," Professor Red explained.
"How do you know this much about machines?" Rarity asked Professor Red.
"Well, he is a professor and has been working with redstone for quite a long time, so... yeah," Sabre responded to Rarity.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are placing the iron bars on the ravine walls. They were near the surface.
"Hey, look at this," Said Rainbow Dash. Twilight and Fluttershy hovers to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash then places cobblestone next to an iron bar. The iron bar reached out to the cobblestone block. Rainbow Dash then mines that piece of cobblestone and the iron bar returned back to normal. She did this 10 more times.
"This is oddly satisfying," Said Rainbow Dash.
"I think it's just how physics work in this world Rainbow," Twilight replied.
"I think this is how high these bars Professor Red wants them," Said Fluttershy.
"I also wonder how these bars haven't lost balance yet," Said Rainbow Dash.
"Again, probably the physics of this world," Twilight replied. The 3 then flew back down and regrouped with Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve, Professor Red and the rest of the mane 6.
"We finished placing the iron bars in place," Said Twilight. Time Steve then puts down his chronometer onto the floor.
"We need to get to the Time Dimension now!" Time Steve exclaimed as he teleported himself as well as everyone to the Time Dimension.