Steamlord: The Ink Mechanic

by The Psychopath

Planning and resting

Steamlord find himself in a type of bamboo hut with a long wooden table and wide assortment of chairs and plants decorating the edges of the open hut. The blue sky outside could be seen as easily as the nearby houses and clouds. The chairs were understandably enlarged to accept the griffin size and stature, but it seemed to fit Steamlord's posterior just fine. He simply didn't have anything to push his back against, making him somewhat uncomfortable as he tried to adjust to the creaky wooden bars. Red Pepper and a few other griffins had come to the table. Each greeted the human as they sat down.

"Okay. I understand that formalities must be important for you, but this is no time for small talk and story sharing. We need to talk about this...this 'ink mechanic'."

"Ah yes. Ya'z tinkin' about dat goy dat's been makin' dem machines.." Red Pepper said pensively.

"Aboot that. They's been only comin' ter our village recentleh. It's noot like we haven't troyed ta reason wit them." a female added.

"They come randomly, I've noticed. They don't have that much intelligence and, as you've noticed, they're poorly built." a fatter, straighter griffin added.

"Wait...they attack randomly?" Steamlord asked.

The griffins nodded. The man began to think to himself, putting his right hand to his chin and remaining pensive for a moment. Why attack randomly? No territory was ever taken besides the mines...wait...

"Say, Red Pepper."

"Ya?"

"Ya said...Ahem...You said that your village only lost the mines, correct?"

"Ya."

"What were you taking from there?"

"Mostly metals."

"What kinds?"

"Iron 'n steel. Some copper too if we'ze 'n lucky."

"Hmmm."

Steamlord thought to himself then pushed on his goggles and spoke:

"Security System."

"Yes?"

"Two things. First, how is project SPQR going?"

"It is progressing at a steady rate. It is currently already at eighty-seven point give-one-three percent completion. Neural circuitry and platings have been completed. Additional sub-routines and decorum have yet to be installed."

"Really? I estimated it to be at around sixty percent by now."

"Steamlord. Who are ya talkin'--" Red Pepper was interrupted by the man lifting a finger to silence him.

"Has Sunrise given you a sample of the metallic alloy?"

"No. I, however, instructed her to do so before showing the horned equidae material for scribing."

"You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

"I was not programmed with those routines."

"But I never limited your abilities to evolve."

"...What is the second query?"

"The one with the metal." Steamlord sighed in irritation.

"After Sunrise retrieved a sample, I analyzed the metallic composition of the mechanoid. It is composed of iron and copper, along with some heavily damaged steel conductors."

"Hmmm. Thank you, SS." Steamlord pushed his goggles again then looked at Red Pepper.

"I think I know why they have invaded your mines, and I also think I know why they randomly come out to attack you."

"'N why is that?" another griffin asked.

"They're general composition is that of the metals you've been finding in your mines, so their builder must have programmed them to keep you out of there while he takes the ressources for himself."

"Then why do they come out and attack us?" the fatter griffin asked.

"I think it's because they hear you, somehow, and attack you to dissuade you from trying to retake the mines."

The griffins nodded in agreement together.

"Den what are we ta do?" the female wondered as she scratched her head.

"I'm going to rest in my ship for today and think about how I'm going to proceed tomorrow. I'll probably leave around sunrise. In the meantime, make sure you don't talk about this to anyone. Got it?" Steamlord spoke with a serious tone.

"Aye!" the griffins answered.

"Good! Then I'm going."

"Oh. Iff'n ya needz anyting, just ask us. We'ze gotz anytin' dat ya'll meyt beneedin'." Red Pepper proposed with a nervous and begging smile.

"Thank you, but I'll manage for now."

---

"...And that's what Teutonic has been doing recently." Sunrise told Twilight outside the core chambers.

"I didn't think that he would be showing anything besides...well...a lack of emotion. I mean, Templar seems interested in young creatures, and Hospitaller just seems to be develpping a creative touch to things. Yet, Teutonic is the only one who doesn't seem to be getting that interested in anything. He isn't changing." Twilight seemed worried as she said these things.

"Because he is the most conservative. He was the first of Steamlord's creations, and humans have a deep connection to many 'firsts' of their creations." SS interrupted.

"Huh? That doesn't explai--"

"Twilight Sparkle." Steamlord said with a stern as Teutonic and Hospitaller turned left immediately after entering the ship to go down to the lower levels.

"What were you talking about, Sunrise?"

"About our times together."

Sunrise looked around for a bit as she tapped her claws together.

"Hm. I need to planify some things, so I'll be in the lower levels. AND before you ask, Twilight, you're coming along seeing as you want to 'document' everything."

"Thank you!"

Twilight's eyes gleemed as she thought of all the things she could be seeing and studying, literally falling into a trance and weirding out Steamlord, who slowly backed off while Sunrise just snapped her fingers in front of the pony's face, breaking off her trance and returning her to reality.

"What?" Twilight wondered aloud.

"I'll be below. If you need me for anything IMPORTANT, ask SS to call me."

"Can't I just go and find you?" Twilight asked.

Steamlord stopped in his tracks and crunched up.

"No. Everything below can only be viewed by me, the Crusader Knights, and SS."

"What about Sunrise?"

"Don't worry about that, Twilight. It's only temporary."

"Yeah, and don't forget to study the mechanical books if you want to be able to do what I do."

"Ugh!" Sunrise whined and rolled her eyes.

Once Steamlord left, Twilight levitated a few books on the shelves to the two's spot and took one.

" 'Conductivity of elements and placement of electronics'. Seems complicated. You know, Sunrise, while I'm here, we can study this together. "

"How? It's boring and takes too long. Plus, I've never seen dad apply what's in these books. Security System does all the work. No offense." the dragon said to the ceiling.

"That's because he built her using those techniques. You know, when I study, I like to imagine things happening while I read those. How did the ponies think about them? When did they get the ideas? What happened when they did? It always helps to know some things over others."

The dragon grabbed the floating book and stared longly at the cover, then lowered it and looked at Twilight. She scrunched her lips and began to nod slowly.

"You're right. My dream, for now, is to create my own robot, but there's still too much I don't know, so I'm forced to read this."

"Well, let's get started."

---

Steamlord stayed in his developpment room, thinking about the decorative ornements of his project. He sat on his wodden stool and tapped on his drawing table.

"Should I use blue or red? Red is overused...maybe purple? No. Those were special, and that would clash with the rest. It's almost ready and I can't think of any good decorative figures. The knights have their symbols of different colors. Perhaps a golden plating for the body, give it not just the appearance of those leaders, but have the head have the shape of their helmets. The lower legs will have the appearance of their sandal-boots. Yes! The parts left between them should be that of the golden frame. Perfect! Then I can put those here...and modify this..."

---

The next day, the six "investigators" had arrived at the mine entrance. This "mine" was a very strange one. Even though it went through the mountain, the griffins had always managed to dig cliffs and openings in the ceiling of the mountain, which allowed them to take materials out of the deeper portions of the mines and, after gathering them into carts, fly them away to their village for smelting and extraction. Atleast, that's what Red Pepper told Steamlord before the six entered the mines. Now they were in, and there was no turning back for Twilight Sparkle. Luckily, there were small bridges of wood made to connect tunnel opening to tunnel opening, so getting from one place to another didn't require intricate cave traveling.

Wind flowed through this area, taking on the properties of a whistle or flute. Each entrance to mining tunnels proved to only be accesible through the wooden bridges comprised of two wooden boards. The open tops seemed to be the only place where light came in, and they were uneven and with different sizes. The mines still went deep, down below, but it had no real impact on the rest of the trip which only went straight.

"Hm?" Steamlord noticed.

"What is it?" Sunrise asked him as the robots became more wary of their surroundings.

"This place is filled with wiring and what looks like husks of rusted metal. The griffins didn't mention anything about this. They didn't even say anything about those minecarts."

Right in front of everyone sat a minecart on what looked like brand new rails. It was fairly big, being capable of holding atleast ten ponies. Twilight went towards it to analyze said cart to see if anything was special about it.

"Steamlord. It's brand new. These were placed here recently. It seems to even go through those tunnels down there."

"So?"

The Crusader Knights began to get restless, attracting the attention of both Steamlord and Sunrise.

"So?! It could lead us closer to the builder of those auto...atoma..."

"Automatons." Sunrise finished for Twilight.

"Right. Automatons."

"Sunrise has been teaching you well, it seems." Steamlord's voice raised in anger as he turned around to look at his 'daughter'.

The knights suddenly looked upwards and unsheathed their claymores and held them tightly. Steamlord looked up again and locked eyes with an inky figure. It was standing right at the edge of an opening and simply stared stared down back at its opposer before walking away.

"Get in the cart." Steamlord told Twilight and Sunrise.

"What? Why?" the unicorn protested.

The man didn't answer but got Sunrise in it. Templar grabbed Twilight and tossed her upside down in the transport. Templar and Hospitaller hung onto the sides of the cart while Teutonic ran and slammed into the cart to get it moving. He then hopped into the cart and stood in the back while the other three remained crouched as the cart began moving slowly on its own before beginning to gain momentum and begin racing downwards, kicking up sparks on the rails as it did so.

Steamlord looked at his gauntlet for awhile as they raced down, the pressure being created by the speeding cart hunkering its occupants down. The man gave a smile and thought:

"It's finished and on its way. Good. This should prove interesting."

Comments

[Chaotic Shadow]

Ork 1: "'ey boss, rememba' when you'z told us to watch out fer dat one story bout' dat 'umey and an' 'is metal botz, wellz dat 'umey named psycho jus' posted a new chapta'."

Ork 2: "I wondaz how long it takez to make one'a dem chaptaz'....?"

Me: "You'z got ta be kiddin' me boy, datz not been updated since foreva' ago....

Ork 1: "I'z not boss, itz there, go'en check it fer yourself."

Me: "If'n you'z lyin' to me, I'z gonna bopz ya ova' to dem dummy 'umies, an' you'z know what 'appenz when dey git an ork in der 'ands."

Ork 1: " I'z serious boss, I'z bet'n all ma loot on it."

Me: "Alrigh' then..." *Checks favorites*..... "Well you'z won da bet, but you'z ain't gettin' any o' ma loot."
*Walks around corner*
Me: "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

MOUSTACHES! MOUSTACHES FOR EVERYONE!!!

[The Psychopath]

3136364 Since I need to break off from the chapters every few minutes, in total, it takes me about three hours to write one.