Author's Notes:

BEHOLD; deleted scenes of the story! Either holding scenes that couldn't be added or original ideas that were cut for various reasons, see how the KotV was made and could of become.

This chapter has Zen having not just Jiule as company, and the Lunar Guard thestrals having some comedic ranting with one another.

(Different encounters before meeting Jiule and after meeting Jiule)

Twilight heard some noise coming from one of the rooms ahead when something came crawling to her. She began to shiver in fear but took a look of interest instead; the strange thing that was crawling to her looked like some sort of spider, but instead of eight legs had six that were thicker and two pincers that had three points. The spider-like creature looked to be made of metal, rubber, and some other material and had six beady eyes that were a dark blue, the creature gazing at Twilight.

It began to crawl up to her, and thinking it was going to harm her she was ready to fire a simple flash spell to blind it when… it extended one claw at her saddlebags. For awhile she stood there dumbfounded and realized what it was doing – it wanted to hold her bags. Gently levitating her bags off, the spider creature clutched the strap with one pincer and gently placed it on its back and waddled off to another room. Unsure what to do next, the voice of Zen could be heard from the room where the noise came from.

“Twilight, I’m glad you could visit me; I’m in my workshop, though be careful I have some things littering the ground, so do be careful,” said Zen, his voice echoing due to the distance.

Following his voice and the source of the noise, Twilight nudged a slightly bulkier door than the others made of metal and once open gazed at something amazing. When Twilight first came here she assumed all the first floor rooms were the same size with the Archive room and Living room being different… but the size of the Workshop was thrice the size of the living room and twice as taller than it too.

To best describe the Workshop it looked like somepony shoved every known piece of tech in existence for Equestria, and added tech that hasn’t been invented or even thought of yet… only, four times more. There were coolers to keep certain things refrigerated, laser drills to cut precise items, and a generator that was bigger than the normal generators that power small towns. Though the most interesting and impressive device was some sort of circular device that glowed various colors and had cylinders stuffed into as if it were some sort of big battery of some kind. The floor was littered with pieces of metal and other stuff, and there were different tools hanged on one side of the wall while the other had different blueprints, books about engineering and scientific theory, while the ceiling was made of glass and made of some sort of glass that could change from a switch in the back of room, blocking the sun or letting enough sunlight through to effect the room’s lighting.

Zen wore no protective gear – most likely because of his strange armor – with one welder in one hand while the other held a piece of metal. He was working on some or of metallic creature similar to the spider, only different in design and look. This one looked like a giant lizard with two fins on its back and a tail with spines pointed back, there being two eyes each side and a forked tongue made of a form of wires.

The creature didn’t seem active like the spider but had a glow about that showed it was active in some way or another. After done welding, Zen stepped back and flipped a switch that made the lizard turn on, looking around as the forked tongue slithered out like any reptile until it skittered past below Twilight’s hooves and out the room. Zen didn’t seem bothered by the creature leaving as he cleaned himself up and approached the now amazed and awe-struck Twilight.

Her eyes sparkled and twinkled with amazement, as she gazed up at Zen with eyes of pure unadulterated curiosity. “How… did you make all of this stuff?” asked Twilight.

Zen crouched down until his helmet was only a few centimeters above Twilight, thinking of a something then answering. “My armor comes with various blueprints to build different things, and while I can make anything I want the only ones I made of my own design were those bots you seen… they’re like my assistants, though I give them those bodies as their real forms can scare others – not on purpose though,” said Zen.

What does he mean by “them”?

The question would be unanswered as Zen led Twilight to leave the room and locked behind himself, looking back at her with a look as if he was about to say something important. “Now, there are some rules you must follow when here; you must never leave this floor without my permission, and can’t enter the listed rooms of this floor – the Workshop, Fabrication room, Storage, or the balcony – the washroom is in the cleaning room, the door on the left. The kitchen has food for you to eat but tell me if you want anything made, and the archive you can use but I’ll give you level 2 access-”

“I CAN USE THAT STRANGE DEVICE TO CHECK THE BOOKS!” shouted Twilight, excited.

“Yes,” said Zen, continuing off as if he wasn’t interrupted. “But I’ll show you how to use it, and if you still have trouble Jiule will help you.”

“Jiule? Who’s Jiule?”

“Hello young miss Twilight.”

“GAAAAH!” Twilight whirled around to face whatever spoke and met face to face with a floating orb with one single glowing orb, making the construct look like a hovering eyeball. The construct had a feminine voice to it but more electronic than it was suppose to be.

“I sorry for frightening you young miss, I’m sorry for doing so; as for introductions, my designated name is, JIULE – Jiule – andI am a Void Artificial Intelligence, a VAI. I am Zen’s assistant and oldest companion since he first arrived to Equestria, four-hundred-and-eighty-nine years, three-hundred and-fifty-one days, nine hours, seventeen minutes, and thirty-one point five seconds ago… Now it has been thirty-two seconds. It is a pleasure meeting you young miss,” said Jiule, her introduction hiding her ecstatic nature.

Twilight was confused and stupefied that not even she was that accurate about something like that. “...Artificial… Intelligence?”

“Think of it as a self-made conscience or creating life in a way,” said Zen, explaining what Jiule was.

“You mean like golems or humonculi!? But-but-but… That’s illegal!”

“Yes – well the humonculi part is – but Jiule is a different story and artificial intelligences are slight different than making real life as most often their the copy of someone’s personality. For Jiule, she was made to be original and is her own being, that and the creation of humonculi requires a soul while Jiule’s doesn’t meaning no need for sacrificing another life.”

Twilight sighed in relief but was wary of Jiule, but found her… intriguing. After introductions, Zen led Twilight into the bedroom, and saw the metal spider from earlier there as it laid on the ground resting in a dormant state. The bed in the room didn’t seem used and looked to be there for aesthetic design with opposite of it there being a pod of some kind with pipes and wires connected to it, that was embedded in the wall. A table for writing was below a window which the curtains were slightly closed on, while a bin for waste and a bookcase to the side the held some books but mostly empty. Another device similar to the one in the Archive but smaller was on the desk and was currently on.

(After Shining Armor burst through the Lunar Guards guarding the Western Wing doors)

The two Lunar Guards stare dumbly at the stallion that pushed them aside and bashed his way into the Western Wing. The mare gaze dumbly until shaking the stupor from her face and quickly facing her fellow guard. “We need to alarm the princess!”

“Right! ...Um… but should I do this or you?”

The female thestral gave an “are you serious” look before facehoofing herself. “I’m just saying; we never had this sort of situation happen to us before!”

Deciding not to argue with her fellow guard, she stood up and got ready to soar to the princesses. “Never mine, I’ll get them, just make sure nopony tries to enter too!” With that, she soared off down the halls as fast and safe she could in this long but tight turns of the castle’s halls.

As she left the male thestral stood by the now battered doors, before slowly pulling something out of a space in his armor. Pulling out a mango with a sticky note saying, “Do not touch; Fang Tip’s mango” – his partner’s mango, having grabbed it before the came to guard at the recreation room’s mini-fridge – removing the sticky note, looking all directions of the hall. After making sure the area is clear, he took a satisfied bite, and sighed happily.

“Worth it,” said the soon-to-be-dead guard, in the future.

The next day he wasn’t seen ever since then… until the day after and was found with his nuts stomped on and covered in rotten mango peels.