Duty

'''With the defeat of the Clan, The Factory had left to live by himself and with his residents. But when the Remnant comes back, can he truly leave Equestria to its fate?'''

Background
Written by SDM, Duty takes place before the final part of the Shadow Factory trilogy of "episodes" in Season 3. Duty is also mainly from SDM's perspective.

Synopsis
The solo begins with a conversation between SDM and two other people, Princesses Celestia and Luna. The two princesses explain how everything from the past few months comes down to one battle, and is requesting SDM's aid one last time. SDM responds that he doesn't know if he can or even should help them, and the princesses respond by asking if SDM had learned anything from Executor, and if the original Equestrian-Gensokyoan Treaty meant anything.

The solo fast-forwards to the present day at the time the solo was written, with SDM briefly questioning his decision, but soon reaffirming his desire for non-involvement. After all, the safety of his residents comes first. Even though he had grown a desire for revenge when the Clan came to Gensokyo and Flandre was lost, his actions in forming a military and the treaty were purely for revenge, and with the Clan defeated SDM felt his revenge was sated. Furthermore, SDM had long since been treated as nothing more than an object even by his residents (even if some of those times were purely unintentional), and had no desire to potentially repeat the process. He also felt that his initial removal had led to a far stronger, more global military organization in ERAC in comparison to how his own military acted almost purely in the interests of Equestria.

Despite all these reasons (not to mention a couple other factors such as the reveal to SDM that the Remnant had completely copied his Factory design for their own use right down to the scrapped-in-this-Equestria Pegasus Device, and the knowledge that once they were done with Equestria and the world they'd go after him and his residents), SDM remains firm in staying apart as he watches the world from the frozen northern tundra.

The mention of the Pegasus Device reminds SDM of his own hand in its very limited usage, plus the fact that its blueprints were apparently left behind for someone to easily steal for their own. This creates a new piece of tension between SDM's desire to stay apart and his need to clean up his own mess. This struggle makes him ignore the arrival of Patchouli in his broodings. Patchouli reminds SDM that the Device is something he is partially at fault for creating, as well as the fact that ERAC is only asking him to join for one critical fight instead of re-enlisting. In the end, she succeeds in convincing him to join up.

It is at this point that Vocus-6 directs a global psychic message to everyone. Although the message is one designed to force a dichotomy from Equestria and ERAC, the message reminds SDM that Vocus-6 was the one who had led the attack on Gensokyo and killed Flandre in the process, giving SDM even more of a reason to join than he already had. His mission now was purely to deliver one hell of an ass-kicking to Vocus-6.

With the safety of his residents secured by the princesses, SDM prepares for one last fight as the PWM Mk. II.

Tracklist

 * 1) Masque of the Red Death - Nox Arcana
 * 2) Tales of Symphonia - Last Battle (Decision)

Trivia

 * SDM's participation in the battle against the Shadow Factory is the second-to-last canonical fight and appearance by SDM in Equestria, his final appearance being for ERAC's assault on the Remnant's Lunar base.