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Centurion stood next to his creator's ship: Its bird-head appearance standing out, as always, in the gardens of Celestia and Luna. Its loria segmentata were newly polished and replaced, the overlapping bands of metal stretching all the way to its black, charred hands. Its blue optics shining through the shadow cast by its cassis head over the large opening left for its eyes. The rest of its face was covered up by a single plate of metal. The top of its head had been fitted with a vertical brush of long strands of fiber-lights made to simulate the color and movements of feathers or strands of hair. Its hips were partially covered by a tunica of brownish-blue hues and a balteus, both going over its knees. The legs were covered with false leather, creating an illusion of Roman sandals complete with many straps of leather reaching to just under the knee joint.
The robot wore multiple guns, cannons, and melee weapons on its back, forcing the torso to be much wider and sturdy than the three Crusader Knights. Much to Steamlord's intrigue, the machine had decided to fashion itself a cape out of a long flap of red cloth it pilfered from the garbage of Canterlot, awaiting pickup by the health administration for recycling and repurposing. Being waste, essentially, the cape was tattered full of holes, rips, and pale discolorations, giving an illusion of battle wear. While the battle wear for the cape was false, Centurion had seen his fair share of warfare with the Ink Mechanic and changeling hives.
Today, however, was very calm. Sunrise has left with Twilight Sparkle to see other dragons and how they lived, as well as in hopes of finding the same genus as the humanoid dragoness. Her genetic immunity to a fatal disease for the draconic species was also going to be a useful bargaining chip for the future, she thought. Steamlord and two of his crusaders: Hospitaller and Templar, had left to the griffin mountains to discuss mechanical mumbo-jumbo. The lonely man found an intellectual pier and, although he didn't like to show it, he was overly excited to talk with him. That left the young Centurion with only Teutonic and Security System to watch him.
The royal guards looked at centurion and immediately sped away. They had grown somewhat accustomed to the crusaders, but not the walking weapons platform, and that's just how Steamlord liked it. Centurion was made for intimidation, not huggability.
"-git. I was hoping to see this 'Steamlord' you mentioned, aunt," a female voice complained.
"Many ponies seem to," Celestia pondered. "And most try to acquire his technology for their own purposes, but he refuses to share it."
"I don't understand wh...Is that it?"
The two princesses were standing in front of the massive, golden ship, but only Cadance displayed awe at it. Centurion noticed them and calmly expelled some steam from his neck joints.
"Are those his creations?" Cadance asked. "How did he even find the time to make such enormous things?"
Celestia shrugged. "Supposedly, all but that machine standing next to the ship were made in his old world. He never told me more than that. I'm sorry I can't sate your curiosity."
"It's alright, auntie. I wasn't expecting...well, something like this." The pink alicorn stared longly at the ship and noticed the open entrance and the long band of metal leading to it. "Are we allowed inside?"
"Yes, but Steamlord still doesn't want us to touch anything."
Cadance giggled. "That name is still ridiculous."
Celestia just smiled in response. Centurion didn't react to their presence, but the second they were four steps from the robot, it violently expelled seething hot steam from its joints and broke out of its immobile position next to the beam of metal. The robot spread its arms apart and hunched over slightly, assuming a battle position. Cadance flinched at it and backed away.
"What's wrong with it?!" Cadance shouted.
"Oh. I forgot about this one," Celestia said. She looked at the machine despondently . "It's the new machine of Steamlord's, but it's very...sensitive? SS should be able to keep it calmed down."
"SS?" Cadance repeated.
"I'll introduce you when we get aboard the vessel."
"If...if you say so," Cadance stuttered.
Unlike the Crusaders, Centurion wasn't throwing aggression around as an intimidating tactic. The alicorns had gotten too close, and the robot's right forearm opened a compartment that ejected a stick which, once grabbed, extended into a pilum with a blue, metal end thrumming with electricity.
"Celestia, I don't think--" Cadance started. She was interrupted by Celestia pushing her behind her with a foreleg. "Your 'friend' sure is aggressive," Cadance noted.
"He's distant, but not aggressive. It's his machines. He imbues them with personalities, and this one is new." Celestia looked up towards the ship and yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice. "SS! The new robot is threatening us with weaponry! I require your aid in subduing him."
A few seconds passed before SS responded from the ship. "It will not obey commands. It has an error in its programming. recommendations: Send Teutonic; Step away from the vessel."
The two alicorns looked at each other and nodded. They both slowly stepped away from the ship without looking away from the robot, but Centurion was already wound up. It pounced on the ponies and threw its spear down upon them. Luckily, Cadance's experience with shields showed its fruits as her reflexes summoned a shield microseconds before the spear hit Celestia.
SS started to speak again through Steamlord's ship's loudspeakers. "Error. Actions are illogical. Sending Teutonic to subdue. Sunrise will be alerted to the conflict."
"What is Teutonic?!" Cadance shouted.
"One of Steamlord's oldest creations, and a very noble one at that."
A massive claymore intercepted Centurion's pilum, and deflected it with a turn of the blade and swiping of the arm. The Roman-esque machine jumped away and stared at its sibling. Teutonic, as always, was white with a black cross on its torso and back. Its face still displayed a black visor, but that didn't mean it couldn't see. Teutonic's inner gears whirred and grinded before the robot spewed steam.
"What's happening now?" Cadance asked.
"Teutonic is protecting us."
The pink alicorn huffed and pushed herself out of her aunt's protective reach. "Can't we just destroy it?"
"Well, I don't think Steamlord would like that, and considering what he's told me about his new creation, the castle would be flattened before we manage to subdue it."
"Why not trap it in a bubble?"
Celestia scrunched up her face and nodded to Cadance. "Why didn't I think of that?"
The pink alicorn's horn started glowing with a hot pink outline as the magic was flowing, mixed, and focuses into a magic bubble encasing the machine. Teutonic stepped back and observed its 'sibling' look around and tap the shield with its spear.
"There. Now we can wait for this 'Sunrise' she mentioned," Cadance said.
Centurion wasn't going to let itself be trapped so easily by the 'threats'. It pulled several pieces off of its back as well as from its arm and leg compartments, worked them together, then threw the ramshackle 'disc' of metal against the shield. The disc hummed and let out a burst of green energy in a wave, disrupting the magic and dissipating the shield into fragments resembling torn pieces of pink paper being taken by the wind.
"What? How did it do that?!"
"Steamlord's technology." Celestia glared at the disc the robot made and narrowed her eyes. "It seems I need to have talks with my esteemed guest."
Centurion wasn't capable of reaching the princesses due to Teutonic's interference. Cadance noticed something interesting, however. Teutonic was calm and collected; Its body only moving when needed, much like one would expect from a robot. Centurion, however, was vibrating in frustration. Its gears were whirring irregularly in frustration, and steam shot out of every joint on its body.
"It's not attacking the white one. It refuses to," Cadance noted.
"A limiter placed on it?" Celestia wondered aloud.
"No. It's something else. I feel like I've seen this sort of behavior before, but being machines, I just can't figure it out."
Several more attempts by Centurion to circumvent Teutonic lead back to failure and being intercepted. A large, continuous amount of Steam was expelled from the frustrated machine's every joint in a simulacrum of a dragon breathing fire.
"CENTURION!" a voice shouted.
The machine turned to see that Sunrise was rushing towards it, her teck flapping angrily behind her. "What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled. She approached the machine and punched it in the head, knocking it downwards.
While Sunrise scolded the machine, Cadance whistled in surprise.
"Wow. So that's Sunrise? A dragon?"
"Yes," Celestia confirmed.
"So Steamlord is a dragon. Interesting."
"He's not a dragon. He's a human."
Cadance blinked slowly. "What? What is a 'human'?"
Celestia smirked. "Think 'Naked Monkey' without a tail."
"So...it's like an Ape?"
"Yes. That would be a better comparison."
Sunrise came out to Celestia with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. Centurion is a bit...excitable."
"I don't think that's excitement," Cadence said. "It's something else."
Sunrise looked towards the source of the voice. "Who's this?" she asked.
"This is my niece: Princess Cadance of the Crystal Kingdom, Alicorn of love."
"Oh. Pleased to meet you, princess. Sorry for meeting you under these kinds of circumstances."
Cadance waved a hoof. "It's okay. I know how to defend myself." She grinned.
Cadance stretched out her hoof, and Sunrise was about to grab it, but seeing such a scene put Centurion in immense rage. It pulled a cannon over its right shoulder and fired a high explosive shell at the ponies. Had Celestia and Cadance not erected a barrier, they would have found themselves belong to the five-feet-deep crater made by the shell. Teutonic immediately body slammed the machine and locked it onto the ground. It spewed steam angrily at the one holding it down, and its optics glowed bright and angry at the ponies close to Sunrise. The ponies and dragon stared at the machine in disbelief.
"Okay, Centurion is clearly unstable. THAT is not normal," she shouted whilst pointing at the crater.
"I agree. The other three do not behave in such a manner. Even the rusty, disjointed creations of the Ink Mechanic aren't as unstable." Celestia frowned. "I question the logic of giving that thing so many weapons."
"I'll have to talk to my dad about this."
"DAD?!" Cadance bellowed.
