//------------------------------// // Celestia's verdict // Story: Steamlord // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// A week had passed since the monster hunters and their army were completely devastated by the Crusader Knights. The town had been completely repaired by the nanobots that were replaced in their containers and taken back to the crashed vessel after their work was done. It took awhile, but the denizens of Ponyville finally got used to Steamlord and his bodyguards. They were never scared of Sunrise, as they were already used to Spike. After thinking that she understood Steamlord, Twilight finally sent a letter to Celestia. The letter spoke of this creature and it's intelligence, as well as... the other things that it had. She also spoke of the man's personality and the adoption of Sunrise, seeing first-hoof in what condition the little dragon was in. This letter managed to convince the princess that these four creatures weren't the evil beings she soon thought of them to be. "Looking high above the others in a shadowed environment with no joy and the denizens fleeing in terror as they marched forward" is how the princess saw them. Thinking this over, the princess needed some advice from the council which helped her with some things she couldn't take care of herself. A day afterwards, Twilight was sent a message concerning the audience and looked everywhere for Steamlord to tell him. The elements were also invited to participate at the audience. When the day finally came, Steamlord was waiting in front of the Town hall with a massive smirk on his face. He said nothing, and neither did Sunrise. They had a surprise to show everybody. Two guards flew down with a carriage in tow, this one looking like it underwent some mcpimpin' in royalty standards. One of the guards stood forward and started to talk: "Ms. Sparkle, you and your friends are invited for an audience with princess Celestia." the guard leaned towards the side to see Steamlord sitting on the stairs with his three body guards standing next to him and Sunrise on his lap." I suppose that you are the monster that defeated an entire regiment of the royal guard's finest." Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack stared wildly at Steamlord. "Ya did what?" "How?" "It wasn't me. It was my bodyguards who did everything. They were defending me after all." "That's SOOO awesome! But I still won't forgive you for Cloudsdale." "I'm not asking for it." "So it WAS this thing that did that after all. This changes many things." said the guard."But, I would like to remind you that you have an audience, so I suggest you enter the carriage immediately." As the ponies started to enter it, Sunrise stopped them. "Hold on! My dad and I have a better way of travelling to the castle." "Hmph. And how would you do this?" the guard asked in mockery. "You can follow us into Everfree forest and find out. After all, since I crashed there, the beasts I have seen roaming around haven't bothered coming near the area." said Steamlord. The two guards looked at each other in suspicion, but answered: "Fine. We shall follow you. Don't do anything suspicious, or else." "Or else what? My bodyguards beat down an entire regiment of yours. I don't think two little ponies with their shiny metal will be able to stop them." The guards huffed but followed silently. Everypony had some trouble in the forest as they knew how dangerous it was. Well, everypony except Pinkie Pie had trouble. Finally arriving at the location of the cloaked ship, one could only see the pile of trees and rocks that were pushed up by the ship. "Tada!" said Steamlord. Everypony just stared in silence. "There's nothing here." said Rarity. "Sure there is. Can't you see it? It's shiny and golden! OOOO! Pretty!" yelled Pinkie Pie as she started hopping towards the spot. Steamlord was confused. "Pinkie, this isn't the time to be messing around. There isn't anything here." said Rainbow Dash. "Will you be quiet already? Hold on. It's cloaked." Steamlord fiddled with a few buttons on his MPWG, and, with a bit of fizzing and some electrical sparks, the entirety of the ship came into view. Everypony threw themselves aback in shock. "Woah! Awesome! Hey Rainbow Dash, look at that thing! It's HUUUUUGE." Pinkie Pie said while she widened her arms and fell on her back. "Steam, I didn't know that you had made something this big." Twilight said. "Um...how are we going to get inside." *beep* The door opened up. "Oh. I hope nothing bad happens." "Don't worry. The Knights will get you inside." Doing as said, the Knights grabbed the ponies and jumped into the doorway. After everything was finished, Sunrise and Steamlord entered the ship and closed the door. Rarity was intrigued and disgusted at the same time. The entire place looked so grimmy and dark with its gold, bronze, and yellow hues. Yet, she was also impressed by the clockwork decorations. This was a new style that she had never seen before. "Wait...how are we supposed to spread our wings in here? It's too cramped!" whined Rainbow Dash. "You don't, although I suppose I can help your needs for travel by disengaging the gravity generator. Security System..." "I heard. Disengaging." With the sound of something exhaling, the group started floating into the air. Rarity and Applejack were the ones who flailed the most. They were frightened alot. Rarity knew what it was like to fly, but she also knew how it was to fall, and was afraid of that happening again. "Hehehe! I'm floating. Woosh! Woosh!" mused Pinkie Pie as she pushed herself off the walls to move around. "Yes yes. Twilight." Steamlord said as he grabbed the little pony between his mechanical arm. "I need you to guide me towards the castle." "Guide? Were in your ship?" "Yes. The others can look through the windows to see. OH! I was going to forget. C'mere, Fluttershy." "Eep!" "Someone shy like you needs to see everything from the grand view." Using his pack to boost him forward, Steamlord went to the cockpit with ponies and dragon in hand. The sight of everything here piqued Twilight's curiosity. "What is this part? Do you use it to control the ship?" she asked. "Yes. I might teach you how to pilot it one day Sunrise. So, you best watch carefully what I'm doing." "Okay." Steamlord started to fiddle and press buttons. The shaking and roaring of the ship becoming more and more loud. "And finally, I pull on this...and there we go." "W-w-w-w-what's g-g-going on?!" worried Fluttershy. "Let's see if we finally isolated the cause of the energy distribution issues....YES! It's taking off!" Seen from outside, more creatures started to flee the surrounding area as the trees and the ground started to shake wildly. Even Ponyville was feeling the tremors, and several of the denizens left their homes to see the source of the problem. Looking around, one of the ponies spotted something leaving the woods. The vessel of Steamlord was back in the air. "Wow. I didn't know that Ponyville looked like this from up here." said Fluttershy. "What? Don't you fly?" asked Steamlord. "Yes but...not very high." "Un...huh..." The vessel turned by rotating the lower engines and soon moved slowly towards Ponyville. It was quite slow actually. "Can't this thing go any faster? I thought you had "great" technology." said Twilight. "I don't know where the castle is. I'm not going to turn on the main engines." "Does this ship have a zooming function?" "Aye." "Then zoom at the mountain over there." Steamlord pressed a few buttons, and a small square on the front window showed Canterlot castle sitting calmly on the side of the mountain. "It should take us a few hours to get to there." "A few hours?! Sunrise, hang on to me." The little dragon floated towards her dad and hung onto his head. "That...wasn't the best of things to ask. Turning on the main engines and...TURBO BOOST!! I feel like a kid again!" The three main engines of the vessel expelled green fire in a massive explosion, sending the ship at extreme speeds and causing a huge gust of wind to flow through Ponyville, tossing many objects about as well as pulling flying pegasi towards the center of the air funnel. It had barely been five minutes that the vessel was already in range of the castle. A loud roar announced the arrival of the giant behemoth, of which several royal guards prepared themselves to fight. The ship gently landed in front of the castle, and the door slid open. A little ramp rolled forward than landed on the ground. The guards were nervously waiting whatever was going to come out. To their surprise, ponies came out. Applejack and Rarity were feeling mighty queasy and fell straight to the ground, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were trying to keep each other from falling over. They seemed to have appreciated the burst of speed. Finally, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy came out. Ironically, they had nothing. The two guards still inside the ship came out unscathed and saluted the guard receiving the group. "Soldier, what is this thing? Did you not leave with a carriage?" "Well...about that..." "They left it at Ponyville." said a voice coming from inside. "Who is that? Show yourself!" "Calm down! I'm coming out." Steamlord and Sunrise walked out of the ship, with the little dragon trying to hide behind his legs. Before being able to say anything, the three bodyguards came out of the ship, their armor shining brightly as their "feet" clanked upon the grounds and caused a few of the guards to flee in terror. "So you must be the "monster" that I've heard about." "Oh, monster is quite alot, and I've already gone through this scene. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get to the princess immediately. There are certain matters towards my presence that must be tackled immediately." "A worker...I like that. Come. You shall meet princess Celestia and Luna at once." "Good. Lead the way." The inside of the castle was surprisingly spacious and decorated. Some fine tapestry here, some beautifully organized plants there, it was quite impressive. Steamlord exhaled in nostalgia as he remembered the labs he worked in which were as big and white as this one. "So...when will we see the old ladies?" Steamlord whispered to Twilight. "Old?! They aren't old!" "Pfff. Over a thousand years old and they don't look old? I highly doubt that." "Yeah? Well that's how it is. We're here now. Stay behind the door and I'll call you when you can come in." "Fine." The door they had stopped in front of was relatively high, but it wasn't too big. The food decorations on it, such as the golden grape vines ornating the rims of the door and other fruits flowing in the middle were quite the work of art. Yet, the man and his "daughter" had to wait behind a door. The creator leaned forward to try and make out the mumbling, but he couldn't come any closer. The guards at the door were staring at him, expecting something to happen, then suddenly, someone yelled. Her voice was much different than Twilight's. Steamlord, Sunrise, and the Knights started walking towards the door, but when one of the guards yelled "Hey!" at Sunrise and reached for her with a menacing look, Teutonic kicked the guardspony, who literally flew through the thick brick walls. The creator sighed in annoyance. The room he was in was actually the dining room. A long wooden table sat within it, and it was covered with foods that Pinkie Pie was eager to dig into. As he went towards a spot next to Twilight Sparkle, Steamlord pulled out a chair for Sunrise, than he sat in his own and looked at everypony with a smile. "So...where are the princesses?" "We're over here." said one of them. Steamlord turned around, only to feel himself sink at looking at the sun princess, Celestia. Her radiance made his heart melt. He mentally punched himself to get back to normal. "You can't be the princesses. People who are over a thousand years cannot look like that...mmm...shall we say...beautiful?" he said, joking. Sunrise pouted in jealousy as the Knights seemed to roll their eyes while standing behind her. "Oh? But we are. We also thank you for the compliment. Tell us, creature, what are you?" "Can we eat already? PLEAAAASE?! I'm star-har-harving!" whined Pinkie Pie. "Yes. You can." answered Celestia with a smile that made Steamlord feel uncomfortably warm. "So, I'm a human. A supposed evolution of the primate." "Interesting. And what is your TRUE name, Steamlord?" asked Celestia. "That is something that will be forever stuck within my past. I will tell you about why I came here and what the Ash Fall is, exactly, but you must promise to not consider me any different than you see me now." "That ain't exactly the most reassurin' of things darlin'" spouted AJ. "My past is part of the history of my world. I must say how things transpired truthfully." "Then eat before we speak of it. I must know more of you from your lips directly than from a letter." proposed Celestia. "And we will know where you can go and what you can do." followed Luna. Steamlord was quite happy to actually be able to eat solid food rather than synthetic ones. All the solid food he had, he would give to Sunrise. She was a growing dragon, so she needed the vitamins. Even though there was no meat, the taste buds of Steamlord screamed in pleasure and delight as the vegetables and fruits touched them. Pinkie Pie was the only other who was eating the same quantity of food as he was. The man was quite big compared to the average pony, so this came to quite a surprise, although everypony else seemed used to her ravenous appetite. After this delicious meal was taken care of, Steamlord sighed and rubbed his face. "I suppose it's time I tell you all what the 'Ash Fall' is exactly." "Yeah. Was your nightmare about that?" asked Sunrise. "Yes. Now, please excuse me while I take my shirt and shoes off. This is to show you how far I went to try and stop that incident from happening." The man lift his pants up to reveal the mechanical portions of his legs. He took off his shirt to reveal his mechanical arm. He even lift his goggles up to show his "golden" eye. Rarity put her hoof to her mouth as this scene seemed to shock everypony in the room except for Twilight and Sunrise. "By Equestria...what have you gone through?" Luna said in pure horror. "Quite a lot actually. Now then, for my story, you must know that, near the end, there is much to speak of." "Are you all ready?" asked Celestia. "Pff. I was BORN ready! C'mon! I'm sure your past isn't THAT scary." "The mouse brave enough to fight the lion was often eaten. Don't say I didn't warn you." he said with an evil smile. Steamlord spoke of everything. Of how he was intrigued by the technology of his time, of how he went to robotics and computer sciences just to create his own robots. He even explained about how he discovered Loptimum and how it affected the lives of everyone. Then, he went to the unveiling of his new creations, and how an army general named "Prolovksi Mattenvich" tried to buy the blueprints off Steamlord for a heavy price, and how he refused. Several others came, but Steamlord refused every time. He was sure he couldn't trust his friends and co-workers, so he would always take the final blueprints into his ship. Unfortunately, the prototypes had always stayed at the labs. The generators he had built were made from the dangerous prototype, and they were sold world-wide. Then the incident came. The armies would have to control each generator to have their own portion of Earth have massive amounts of energy, and they would use it for many good things, and more bad. Wars broke out all across the planet for control of these energy sources. Steamlord also spoke of how he went against the two armies who attacked his city, and even detailed how each part was lost. Everypony in the room looked appalled at the events that were told. Even the guards outside were gasping for air at the imaging of these events. When he went to the time where he taken back to his ship by Templar and Hospitaller, he spoke of how the Ash blotted out the sun and some fell upon the Earth, killing many things. It had been his fault for not looking over the generators when they were built. It had been his fault for not watching the moves of every army. It had been his fault that trillions of lives were lost, and his punishment was living within that gray landscape while coping with a possible eternal life with nothing to eat but synthesized vitamin bars of horrid taste. Sure, he had stocked away some normal food, but it didn't last long. He had created the portal to reach a new Earth where he was never born. One where he could live peacefully, but his dimensional traveling was far from perfect, and he ended up in Equestria. The energies of Equestria had also disrupted the ship's energy distribution system, which is why his ship plowed through everything upon arriving in Equestria. Silence rang throughout the room as Steamlord put the clothes he took off, back on. "That...I..." stuttered Celestia. "I have also decided that I would like to live here in Equestria. Your people do not seem so fond of destroying everything, although your army can prove otherwise." "Please understand the our sister sent the monster hunters after you because of rumors, not facts." said Luna with a protective tone. "I know." "We have also dismissed the monster hunters." "They weren't punished I hope?" "We believe you did that in our stead." Luna started to think." That "Icey Storm" was sent to the psychiatric hospital because of one of your creations." Everypony stared at Teutonic, who seemed to be watching over Sunrise, staying wary of the princesses. "That was her fault for trying to attack my daughter." Steamlord said after rubbing the little dragon's head. "Well. We must decided of a position for you to undertake in this world then." Celestia announced with a cautious face. "Twilight Sparkle has told me of your kindness towards an orphaned baby dragon." Fluttershy "awwed" at this. "She has also told me that you will not be sharing your knowledge in technology." "No. I won't have the "Ash Fall" happen again and destroy yet another world." "Fair enough. However, you could help us in scientific studies and technological advancement?" "Yes." "Then you will work here in the Scientific Institution of Canterlot. You will be well payed, and I hope that your bodyguards can help us if there are any issues." Steamlord gave a smile shadowed by the clouds flowing over the sun rays outside. "I accept the position, and I hope I can be of great use."