Steamlord: The Ink Mechanic

by The Psychopath

Bug versus boot

"What are you?" the queen hesitated to ask.

"That isn't important. Now get down from there. They can still strike you no matter where you go." Steamlord replied.

The changeling began to slide down her murky thrown and onto the ground. She jumped back when the three Crusader Knights stood in front of the path to the throne, then slammed their claymores into the ground. Cadence walked around them and greeted her "friend". She looked at Chrysalis with disgust, which was mutually shared.

"Hello, Chrysalis."

"Cadence..."

A clicking noise was heard, and Centurion was shown to have pointed a gun at point black range at Chrysalis' head from the side. The queen's eyes widened as she slowly rotated her eyes towards the weapon. She didn't know what it was, but it clearly wasn't for toying. Centurion let out bouts of steam as a warning.

"I...I didn't do anything. What's wrong with this monster?" Chrysalis' voice cracked.

"He obviously doesn't like that little stump you were growing on your right side there." Sunrise answered.

"Wh-wh-what stump?"

Sunrise passed the knights and walked towards the frozen changeling then poked the lump on her side.

"Right here."

The lump retracted into Chrysalis' body almost instinctively.

"Fine. I was going to try and kill her. I hate her so much. She ruined my invasion plans, as did that brat Twilight."

"Twilight Sparkle is not a brat! She--"

"ENOUGH! We did not come here to here your petty squabbles. You aren't children. We came here to free Luna."

"She is nearby. Why didn't you just let the changelings take you to me instead of bringing that monstrous army of toxic belchers?"

"Because that would be a terrible plan. No escape. Changeling numbers too great. Steamlord cannot be replaced as his knowledge is irrelevant to this world. Any plans would still be lost. Changelings can assume shapes and forms but cannot assume knowledge."

"Ink?" Cadence asked.

"Yes."

The little blue changeling gave a giggle as it still stayed in the creature's arms.

"Eugh. What IS that THING?!" Chrysalis asked with disgust.

"That is--" Steamlord was cut off.

"I am Ink Mechanic. I have learned that I was once a changeling. An unneeded mutation. I was to be disposed of like the failed hatchlings. I have saved this one from that fate. However, I have also learned that I was raised by a malfunction machine that penetrated the hive and made off with me. Do you know of what it was and how it was capable of such feats?"

"..."

"Dragoness. You and Cadance go get Celestia's sister from the prisons below. You need just head out of that passage to the left, then go left again. The changelings will show you the way. I must speak with these two."

Sunrise looked at her father who nodded in agreement.

"Wait, how do we know you won't betray us?" Sunrise asked after taking her first step.

"I won't. My situation is a bit precarious at the moment don't you think?" Chrysalis nervously laughed.

The dragon tightened her eyes, then took the pink pony with her to the catacombs below.

"That robot was actually brought into our hive by the third queen; My grandmother. It was discovered in the Elk forests far to the north. What they discovered was a powerful piece of technology that could have finally made our hive the dominant one amongst the others, and maybe even made changelings the dominant race. We would have emotional energies in such an abundance...But we could never figure out how it worked. The technology was unknown to us. Eventually, after coming across the very first emplacement and origin of this hive in the Corrupt lands near the end Dry-Devil Desert south of Equestria."

"What were you doing so far back if they're dead lands?"Steamlord asked.

"Not dead lands, Corrupt Lands. There's something there that mutated everything into hideous beasts of unrecongizable shapes and forms. We hoped that it would have healed by now so we could find another place to feast on, but it was still the same. Yet, the scounts found that the vegetation and ground became black and dead, which left some bizarre findings. We found strange metallic structures carved into the mountains and that there was no way to open them. This robot seemed to have been part of the conundrum."

"And you're telling us this why?"

"Because if that mutant was taught by them, we might have a chance to recover whatever is inside that construct. Imagine the power my hive could obtain. Old technology still superior to our own!"

Steamlord and Ink's eyebrows lifted up in skepticism...if Ink had any.

"And why would I help one who rejects mutations?"

"You could be reintegrated into our hive. You could have family!"

"Irrelevant. My constructs are my family, as is this litlle blue changeling. Explaining past events and hoping for positive results is inconclusive and does not pertain to good outcomes in experiments."

"But--"

"We have Princess Luna." Sunrise shouted.

The princess was knocked out cold. She was covered in mud and other swampy substances, and although she seemed n poor shape, she was alive and well.

"Let's go back to the ship." Steamlord calmly added.

The group began to walk away, retracing their steps in the process.

"You can't! We need to know what is inside that structure! It's imperative for our hive and species as a whole! You cannot leave, Ink!"

The whole group ignored her ramblings, and when a few changelings tried to block their paths, The knights sliced them to pieces.

"I should upgrade your rotary parts and speed. I'll think about that in the future." Steamlord told his knights.

After climbing out of the hole, everyone could see that the battle was still going on outside, although it seemed that, despite the time that had passed, there was still no progress for either side.

"Ink, once we leave, could you--" Steamlord asked.

"Yes. They will return home, as will I."

"You're not coming?" Sunrise asked.

"No. Must return home. Find way of raising fellow mutant. No love to give, but changelings feed on other thing. I only require transmitter."

"Then wait here, we'll get it for you."

Waiting as the war raged on in the swamp, Ink looked down at the baby changeling and saw that it had fallen fast asleep despite everything going on. This did not 'compute' with the mechanic's mind or logic. Cadance had actually waited next to the creature and had been looking at the sleeping baby with a smiling face. She couldn't contain herself.

"Awwww. It's so cute!" her voice break near the end. "So you were a changeling this whole time."

"Correct."

"Well...I guess that...maybe...I should visit you from time to time to learn more about your kind through a non-biased perspective."

"Then you were incorrect about us."

"But you must still acknowledge that it's a majority that are like that."

"...Yes. Survival requires these tactics."

"Here." Steamlord said as he passed the transmitter to Ink."We're leaving now. Come on, princess."

"Goodbye, Ink." Cadence said.

The mechanic just stared at her. Her face became nervous and she whispered to Steamlord as they made their way back to the vessel:

"He doesn't seem to understand the waving."

"He lived in the mountains. You honestly expected him to understand our cultue? It's already strange enough that he understands english. Anyways, I need to make my report to Celestia once we get back. I have a feeling Ink will become the connection between ponies and griffons and, quite possible, changelings, if ever they stop being aggressive."

"Why do you think that?"

"I have a hunch is all."

With a violent explosion beneath and a huge belching of mud waters, the cooked dirt broke off the bottom of the man's ship, allowing it to elevate and quickly fly off towards Canterlot. All that was left were the departing machines and Ink with his new friend.

---

In some deep, dark abyss, sounds of gurgling and roaring could be heard, but muffled by whatever was blocking it from above. The place was extremely dusty and certainly hadn't seen any maintenance in a long time, but it was too dark to know. In this dark abyss, a bright blue rectangle lit up, showing many things flashing across the screen. A voice resonated with varied volumes through what seemed to be an enormous area:

Iron Army Reactivating.

Comments

[midashguy]

Epic!

[TheHoleyCheese]

Iron army huh? Well, shit's gonna go down.

[Dubious]

Neat, I wonder if the iron army will be so dangerous as to require the arrival of a human from a universe where humanity ascended to astronomical levels of technological prowess and lives on ringworlds spread throughout the entire universe.

[Fawkes]

... Is this gonna be like iron man's iron army?