An idea for an enemy for this potential story, the ‘Clockwork Queen’, former ‘Overmare’ of ‘Stable-XYZ’, an off-the-books/darksite Stable that was devoted to pushing the limits of science and magic for warfare… that steadily grew (as time went on) out of control.

They tried to make an alternative to putting soldiers on the frontline, which lead to the creation of these mobile automatons, ‘Mekas’. But as time went on, the machines that they were creating replaced the steadily dying workers (accidents, old age, and overwork), soon the machines were pretty much running the place.

-The ‘Clockwork Queen’, the original overseer/overmare (Stella Highstep) ended up hooked to a form of life support (possibly by the Meka themselves) as soon as her health began to decline due to old age. Sadly, the doctors who could’ve helped her, or at least eased her suffering, were long dead. Leaving only the machines, the Meka, to care for her. All they did (or could understand to do) was add more and more tech and machinery onto her body to keep her alive.
-Has been alive far longer than she should have.
-As such, her mind has deteriorated due to her age.

If I use this character, she might be one of the big causes of Hardtack’s little adventure in the Equestrian Wasteland, possibly being the reason Furian Rage’s crew ran into the Interceptors… as her Meka are being sent out to find more and more ponies to either work or be used as… parts. So Hardtack’s ‘Cidar Tango’ squad is sent to investigate these disappearances.

Not 100% happy with how this one turned out, but felt it was the closest thing to what I had in mind for what the ‘Clockwork Queen’ looked like. Also threw in (via photoshop) one of her Meka workers.

hope it at least sounds interesting.