Well, it would seem that the fillies and Sunrise were quite energetic for the sword training, but they...were a bit hurt in the process. A big 'ol bruise here, a black eye there...The CMC found sword fighting cool, but they wouldn't try it ever again. Thus, the three fillies left for home in "Ow"s and other sounds indicating extreme pain. Templar wasn't exactly happy of the results and seemed quite angry, despite the lack of "facial expressions". Sunrise decided that she wanted to go home after saying goodbye to her friends. She was also in pain.
Grabbing her and speeding towards the location of the ship, the Knights accidentally passed through Fluttershy's yard, causing the yellow pony to scream in fear and scurry into her house as the Knights smashed through two bears the yellow pegasi was taking care of. Sunrise tried to apologize loudly, but she was already too far. Arriving inside the ship with her backpack, Sunrise couldn't help but look for Steamlord. She tried going into his room, but he wasn't there. She went to what was supposedly a kitchen, but he wasn't there either. Even in his development room, where she saw him writing the new plans for the Knights, he wasn't there. Perplexed, she called out to Security System:
"Security System, where's dad?"
"In the generator room. You are forbidden entry in that area."
"What? Why?"
"Because you could perish if you enter it without proper protection. Steamlord can enter it thanks to the development of an immunity, but you will not be so lucky, despite your initial mutation towards a disease detected in the atmosphere."
"Well, would you be able to teach me how to write?"
"...Affirmative."
"Great! Where can we go so I can get better at it?"
"In your room. Paper and pencils are already prepared now. Estimated learning time for subject is approximately ten hours."
"That fast?"
"Affirmative."
"Well, I hope it goes fast. I'm starving."
"Steamlord has prepared a meal for you as well. I have just placed it within the bedroom"
Sunrise was intrigued. Could her father cook, or was he just as bad as most males were..at least, that's as much as she heard. Entering the room, she couldn't help but embrace that great waft of vegetables and jewels. On a desk sat a plate full of vegetables and jewels, all piled neatly into a little decorative mountain. There were also some weird bars on the side of the plate. Sunrise picked one up and looked at it in curiosity. She took a bite out of it, but immediately spat it back out in disgust.
"What is this?"
"It is a protein bar. As you do not consume meat, your best option for a rich protein diet is the alternative you hold within your claws."
"But it's nasty."
"Unless you want to become a frail and weak creature, it would be wise to consume those bars. The best chance of consuming protein bars without rejection is to combine with the substances currently present within the plate."
"Ugh. Fine."
Besides the vomit inducing bars, the food was pretty good. SS said that it was really Steamlord who cooked that. It seems that, despite several years eating bars, he couldn't help but want to cook something again. It was apparently one of his few hobbies before the Ash Fall. Sunrise was actually managing to force SS to reveal her more human traits that the ai prefers to hide. Either way, Sunrise was surprisingly intelligent, and she was already capable of writing at a basic level in under four hours. SS found the little dragon to be surprising, and gave her an hour of respite before attacking simplistic mathematical equations. She was good in this too. Night time was already nigh, and Sunrise would have to go to bed early for tomorrow. She was worried about Steamlord. He was there for her, but he seemed so absent. The morning would certainly bring up good council.
"Time to wake up Sunrise."
"Wha-" the little dragon rubbed her eyes."Dad?"
"Yes. This time, I'M the one who is taking you to school."
"Great!"
"Woahwoahwoah! You know the routine."
"Ugh. Okay."
Sunrise had to do the "bath routines" of the morning that Steamlord had set up for her. Of course, she would brush her teeth, but after eating. It was already time to leave though, and everyone jumped out of the ship and slammed hard onto the ground. Besides the boring and quick morning, it was unusually cold in the forest, and a strong mist was obscuring the view.
"We'll have to move slowly out of here. Luckily, these goggles and the Knights are equipped with several spectrums, so seeing through the mist shouldn't be hard."
A slow walking through the forest showed signs of some strange red-eyed creatures moving about the forest. They were obviously frightened by the unknown creatures waltzing throughout what could be their domain. This sudden rising of mist was unusual for Summer. Apparently, arriving at the town, the ponies were also confused at this sudden happening. The group stopped to look around at the town which was practically unseeable through the thick fog.
"This is strange." said Steamlord as he scratched his head." What's going on here? Excuse me."
A yellow pegasi was walking around trying to make out certain objects.
"Y-yes?"
"Is this sort of weather normal?"
"No. Not at all. There wasn't anything even announced."
"Shit. Thanks anyways."
"No problem."
Steamlord turned back to Sunrise.
"Well, we're gonna have to be extra careful when we walk."
"Ok. I don't know why it's so cold though."
"Mist tends to form with the cold. It goes away when it starts to become hot...normally....So...did you learn anything about Equestria's history yesterday?"
"Oh yeah! A lot, like the founding of Equestria, the incident with Nightmare Moon, and-" *clink**clink**clinkclinkclinkclinkclinkclinkclink*
Teutonic had unsheathed it's claymore and was blocking weird projectile coming from nowhere. As these projectiles flopped onto the ground, Steamlord recognized them immediately and shouted out into the open:
"Hey Icey, why don't you stop hiding. You can't defeat the Crusader Knights."
"Ah? You recognize my projectiles already? This will serve you none!"
"How do you two even heal that fast? That's not even possible."
"Hmhmhm."
"I'm guessing that you're the one who created this icy fog?"
"No. Someponies helped. I AM much better fighting in the cold than anywhere else."
"An assassin."
"I prefer the term 'Paid killer'."
"That's the same thing. Is that why you decided to hunt for monsters?"
"They pay more handsomely for taking a beast like you down."
"Stay back Sunrise." Steamlord whispered
"Awww, isn't that adorable! You adopted a baby dragon? You're certainly going to turn into a monster to destroy everything. I'll have to get her first!"
"No! Icey, thou shan't harm an infant!" yelled another voice.
"Too late!"
(let's imagine this song while being in Icey's hooves)
Another knife flew towards Sunrise's back like a soaring needle, but Teutonic caught it, stared at it, and crushed it with a shaking fist. The sound of something screaming within its body could be heard. It sounded like a spinning saw blade. It screeched loudly and obviously hurt Sunrise and Steamlord's ears. Templar and Hospitaller let go of the hilts of their own claymores, just to see Teutonic observing the environnement. Finally, he caught sight of something, and jumped towards it. Screams of pain could be heard, as well as the destruction of whatever was near them. Icey was tossed from the mist to the feet of the creator, battered and bruised. Teutonic jumped off its perch and landed with a slam! Icey's head was right between the robot's feet. She shook in fear as she looked at the two shining pieces of metal right next to her, and scampered away and hid behind the man's legs.
"D-d-d-d-don't let him n-n-near meeeeee!"
Teutonic started to stomp slowly towards her, it's hands seemingly crushing stone with no effort whatsoever as it continued its march.
"AAAHH!"
"Hmph. Pathetic."
"Alright Stallions, that is enough. Disperse the mist."
The fog almost immediately disappeared, revealing an entire army of Royal guards, with Flameblade at the front. The inhabitants of Ponyville had to shield themselves from the wave of mist, but, ultimately, they all decided to run away from the sight of such a large force.
"Monster, you are now placed under Royal arrest. You have been charged of several counts of evil and destruction." yelled Flame. He took out a parchment and let it float in front of his face: " You have destroyed half of Cloudsdale with your flying contraption. You have avoided arrest. You have terrorized the town of Ponyville. You have even been seen with a baby dragon of whom you are not allowed to have."
"Hey! He's my dad! You can't say those things about him! He didn't do them!"
"Be quiet Sunrise. This is a far more serious matter than you think. I suggest you flee to Twilight and that yellow pegasi behind us."
"But-"
"No buts. Do as I say."
"Alright. Don't get arrested."
"Pfff. I've seen FAR worse."
A confident nod, and Sunrise ran towards Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. In normal circumstances, Twilight would have intervened, but these matters were far too much. To have so many royal guards out at once meant that this was business that even she couldn't stop.
"What say you?"
"You know, if the princess wants to meet me, she just needs to send an invitation."
"But that will never happen. Either you come with us without a fight, or we will be forced to kill you and your three friends."
"Then I guess that I will be resisting arrest."
"So be it."
"Crusader Knights. Initiate Battle Mode. Non-lethal force."
The sounds of clinking and the clockwork mechanisms starting to rotate kept the soldiers in place as they stared confusingly at the shining giants. Suddenly, the sounds stopped, and the robots were already smashing through the guards ranks.
"Wh-wha- GUARDS! Pull yourselves together! Start hitting them with aerial maneuver five!" yelled Flame.
Surprisingly, one would expect creatures without wings to be stuck to the ground, but Hospitaller and Teutonic flung into the air and grabbed two of the guards to throw them powerfully to the ground, smashing through a whole portion of the guards below. The others were just smacked away by the blunt-side of the claymores. The two Knights fell back to the ground and swiped the floor with their feet, tossing some guards lightly into the air. Templar then came through with a piece of armor taken from a struck down guard and threw it at one of the flying stallions. The strength by which it was tossed hit the first stallion with full strength, and caused the other five behind him to be caught in the strike and get thrown across the area and into a far away house. Even worse was when the guards started to unleash bolts of magic as well as magical nets and balls of energy. However, the three knights started to move erratically amongst each other, swaying randomly, but always having one of them in front when the other two disappeared behind.
Using the claymore, Teutonic struck the blade diagonally towards the feet of the middle unicorn, chipping off a piece of the hoof armor, but tossing him into the air. Templar and Hospitaller simply deflected the spells back to the attackers, but Teutonic preferred his method. Grabbing the other two unicorns, the Knight smashed the three together and let go, allowing the limp bodies of the guardsmen to flop on the floor.
"Wha-what are they?" stuttered Flameblade.
"They are my bodyguards. They are my best creations in robotics. They are the Crusader Knights, and I'm their creator,
Steamlord." he said as he kept his arms crossed and adorned a face of sternness.
"I believe they are too preoccupied with my soldiers to pay any attention to you." Flameblade said as he took out his own sword.
"You're right." Steamlord said as he slightly tilted his head forward and pointed lazily forward.
It would seem that the royal guardsmen were the ones destroying everything around them with their attempts at subduing the monsters. Templar even went to grab the "tower" roof of a damaged building, picking it up, and throwing it at several flying pegasi in the air, only, it went downwards. The outcome of the effect was quite obvious, even as Templar front-flipped and landed on the broken debris.
"Fine, then we shall duel. I don't think you know how to fight if you are back here."
"No. But I think my "scars" of the past will be enough to deal with you."
"Hyah!"
Yelled Flameblade as he took a strike at Steamlord, who dodged. Steamlord thought that this buffoon, and the now utterly terrorized Icey, who was hiding behind a crate, were idiots with no talent, but this unicorn knew what he was doing. Steamlord was being beaten. Another dodged swipe, but followed by one to the floor had the man fall onto the ground. Flameblade raised his sword and threw it at the creator, who didn't seem fazed in the slightest.
"NOOOO!" yelled Sunrise. Twilight shielded the little dragon's eyes as she herself averted the sight. However the sound of metal hitting metal confused everypony. Looking back up, Sunrise could see that the sword had stopped on the right arm of her dad.
"What is this? That's impossible. This sword has been enchanted to pass through any creature's skin."
"Haha! So that's why it doesn't work." Steamlord said as he stood up. He bent towards Flameblade who was ready to intercept any attack. "My right arm isn't exactly made of 'flesh and bone' anymore ."
The man stretched his hand forward and quickly grabbed the blade. He easily bent it with his right hand, causing Flameblade to jump back in horror as this creature easily bent his favorite sword's steel. Still looking baffled at his loss, the monster hunter found himself being strongly smacked to the side of the face.
"You buffoon. Look what you have done. You threaten my daughter, you destroy this town, and THEN you accuse ME of these wrong doings? Like I said, tell the princess to give me a "call" and then I will gladly stop by. I am not here to hurt anyone or anything. Also, my bodyguards could have easily killed your soldiers, even with that building piece thrown at them. I told them non-lethal mode. Please don't force me to let the go lethal."
Flameblade's eyes widened, but he regained himself, cleared his voice.
"SOLDIERS! We are returning to the castle. We have been defeated. Take the defeat in as a lesson that must be learned for future encounters such as these. Citizens of Ponyville, we shall hunt this creature no longer. We will also pay for the damages. A building crew shall come to Ponyville and re-"
"That won't be necessary."
"Hm? Why not? I am kindly proposing-"
"I accept the kindness, but I believe I have a quicker solution to this problem. When you leave, I shall deploy it. Don't give
me that look. I told you, I am not here to harm anyone or anything."
"Fine. I will trust you, for now. I will also discuss this matter of your encounter with Princess Celestia. She knows not of what you are, nor of who you could be, so a proper encounter would be wise."
"There we go. Oh, and keep your pal on a leash. I think she will be too shocked and scared to move for awhile though."
"Icey-"
"AAAAH!" yelled the blue mare.
She looked absolutely terrified and was shaking so hard that, just by holding onto Flameblade's leg, the mare was causing stallion's armor to fall off. It would seem that Templar and Hospitaller were already back, standing proudly next to their creator, while Teutonic had appeared behind Icey. He literally punched through the corner of the wall in his way just to walk unheeded towards her.
"Teutonic, that's enough! Look over there, she is fine."
The bodyguard twisted it's head violently towards Sunrise and the two other ponies with her. That ear-splitting noise coming from it slowly quieted down before coming to a full stop. The robot walked back towards Steamlord and turned around to look at the two ponies, as well as the battlefield they created. They had finally managed to defeat an army by themselves. The same incident that happened before would not happen again. With a final nod from Flameblade, he left with a flash, certainly using the same contraption from before. Some guards had to pull themselves out of walls or craters in the dirt just to use their "teleporters".
Steamlord and his Knights gazed upon the ruins of the city and remembered the carnage that happened in the past. Only the creator and Teutonic were the most affected by the scenario. It was just like before. The only difference being that everything was still alive, and that there was Sunrise to "brighten" up the four survivors' day. She ran crying towards her dad and whining about what could've happened. Steamlord started to ponder about his existence in this world and if he should truly stay within it. Either way, he had to meet up with Twilight and that yellow pegasus. Class was certainly cancelled after that incident. Oh well!