The sky above the far ground below was relatively calm. A few turbulences here and there, but it wasn't anything scary or dangerous. In fact, besides the occasionnal snore coming from Steamlord's room, there wasn't really anything to hear. The engines were very silent, and the engine room underneath was sound-proofed, preventing any noise to come out of crevices or doors. Sunrise, on the other hand, was talking with the stow-away while her 'father' slept, but both became silent when the door to the man's room slid open.

It had only been four hours, but he seemed quite full of energy despite this, shown by his stretching and heading immediately towards the bathroom compartment. Sunrise and the "guest" just sat in place, their bodies completely frozen up and their faces looking into a far emptiness during this event. As Steamlord walked by their corner, he said:

"Hello, Sunrise. Hello, Twilght."

He said this in a relatively calm tone, and simply entered the bathroom a few feet further away. Both frozen characters slowly turned around to look at the door where the man went, their faces coated in disbelief.

"You two do know that he has already reacted to Twilight Sparkle's prescnece, correct?" SS noted.

The two nodded nervously.

"They you know what will happen. I believe you have around five seconds to think of an 'excuse', as you would call it."

"Five seconds?! But we--" Sunrise was immediately cut off by the door opening and the sound of flushing, along with Steamlord readjusting his jacket.

"You best explain why you stowed away on my vessel, or I'll flush you too, Twilight." he glared at the mare through his goggles.

"I...Okay. I stowed away because I wanted to see what this was all about." her apologztic mood immediately flipped into a joyful and excited one."Can you believe it? There's somepony else here who can make things just like you!"

"Ahem. They don't make things 'just like me'. This technology is far inferior to mine. In fact, if I should ever admit something, it's that that technology is true clockwork and gears. The majority of the technology I have is only aesthetically like that."

"Why?"

"Are you kidding me? Even though this ship still works via clockwork and gears, I need efficient energy transfer sources and other complicated things just for SS to work!"

"Ah..."

"This still isn't an excuse. These sort of things are too dangerous. Don't you recall how powerless you were when you first discovered me?"

Twilight did recall her first encounter with Steamlord that ended in a black-out and a very painful lump on the back of her head, shown by her rubbing said area with her hoof.

"Magic may be strong, but technology, no matter what it is, will always evolve and become more and more powerful while spells tend to linger and remain the same. Were my technology from the early nineties, you would have easily defeated my bodyguards, but they aren't. This isn't some nature spotting game, and I don't want anyone to die because of me anymore."

Steamlord was actually showing some empathy here; something very rare.

"But, dad. She only wanted to--"

The sirens went blaring off again, causing the man to rush to the cockpit once more.

"Hmph. Every time I try to talk, the sirens go off." Sunrise pouted.

"Uhhh. Sunrise. What is that thing outside? It looks like a bronze bird." Twilight noted as she peered at the exterior.

"Bronze bird? I don't recall learning that from school."

Gluing her face against the windows, both managed to better distinguish the creature in question. It wasn't of flesh and blood. It was actually made up of clockwork and steampipes. The face, although still with a very large beak, had tiny red eyes cramped into rectangular compartments which belched tiny amounts of smoke every now and then. Its wings looked like extended, thin sheets of metal placed on flexible mounts, giving loud creaks and screeches as the gears moved the joints. Its tail looked like a fan, whilst the body itself was very naked, showing the entirety of its interior functions. Added to that, there was some sort of exhaust pipe above that belched fire and smoke, showing that this contraption, along with its rusted body, was poorly constructed, or, atleast, was made with some shoddy technology.

"Hey. There are others." Twilight spotted the rest flying closely behind this suffering pile of metal.

"It's...a whole battalion."

"ALERT! Exterior constructs are hostile. Brace and prepare for possible attack." SS announced.

"How about we show them just how much I've upgraded my technology?" Steamlord could be heard shouting in the pilot's compartment.

Twilight looked up to Sunrise for an answer.

"We kinda...went against Steamlord's wishes."

"What do you mean?"

"He started to become paranoid, so the Knights, SS, and I, all went along and refitted his ship with reactive armor action by steam-pumps and turrets which fire compressed, explosive shells."

"Then how does he know about that?"

"He noticed the changes the second he returned to the ship. I'm still stumped on how that's possible."

"Wh-AH!"

Twilight's yelp was founded by the creatures slamming against the ship, and producing a notable screeching noise as they rubbed themselves against its metallic surface, only to be projected further away by the reactive armor. Watching the whole scene as best they could, the two passengers wathed as twin-linked cannons arose from the hull of their host, and began to open fire at the metallic creatures. Each shot almost exploded on them, but that was only when it neared their bodies. Sunrise explained to Twilight that this was the "flak" system that she read about in the history of humans. Although crude, it was very effective, as the targeting and navigation systems of the birds outside seemed so simplistic that they became confused when their paths were clouded, causing mid-air crashes.

This lasted for about half an hour until something came out from the mountains. Steamlord didn't catch a good glimpse of it, but it seemed to be a gigantic biped of the same creator as the birds, although this one held an immense cannon on its left shoulder which, with one strong fire, blew out the left of the ship, causing it to fall down in smoke.

With a face of fatigue and irritation, Steamlord simply said:

"And...I'm back to square one."

Both girls were screaming with fear in the back of the ship while the birds flew out of sight and the vessel began to shake violently. Its 'crash' was rather violent, tossing everyone around until grinding to a halt. Sunrise had found herself to be upside-down while Twilight layed on her left foot.

"Are you two okay?" Steamlord asked in a panic after leaving the cockpit.

"Y-yes, dad. We're alright."

"Are you sure?" he insisted

"Yes. Thanks for asking." Twilight answered.

"I must check on the project! It can't be lost now!"

The man quickly scampered away into the lower levels of the ship where the three Knights were at, completely terrified of damages that could arise if his "secret project" were destroyed or damaged.

"Ugh. Perhaps we should get out of the ship?" Sunrise proposed.

"Suggesting we aren't floating in the open." Twilight answered with a sarcastic smile.

"Aha."

"We are not floating. We have crashed next to a griffin city. I have no data on griffin territory, and my databanks are still incomplete for Equestria, most notably for regions such as the Nyubet climat."SS said.

"Near a griffin city? That's both good and bad news." Twilight rubbed he back of her head.

"And why is that?" Sunrise wondered.

"Well...They aren't exactly the most polite or kind to outsiders..."

"We should get out anyways. It'll give the interior of this vessel some fresh air during the repairs. How long until it's fixed?"

"About twenty-two days?"

"WHAT?!" Twilight and Sunrise shouted.

"...Is what I would have normally said a year ago, but upgrades have allowed for more effective working mechanisms and nano-repair bots. A day should be sufficient."

The two wiped their foreheads and gave a sigh of relief.

"You scared me." the dragoness smiled before being grabbed by Twilight.

"I thought you said she couldn't develop emotions." the unicorn whispered.

"I guess she has atleast understood the concept."

"...Fine. Let's just get out and be yelled at by the griffins."

The two, expecting a huge army to welcome them after the door slid open, only found a small village nearby with an immense lake next to it, along with what looked like some country-folk with straw-hats and green, yellow, and red clothes. One, in particular, with his head feathers combed and twisted in a way to make them look like they were curving along his face, stepped up with a burning piece of straw in his mouth. He took it and said:

"Well, hallo dere. What are da odds of some crazy pony-folk comin' bah here on some flyin' metal tingie wot fo'. Nice ta see ya, horned poneh and da strange reptile gal."

The two simply stared at this bizarre display of kindness and cultural differences with a simple neck strain and a bit of eye-twitching. Where had they fallen?

Author's Notes:

Seeing how many people have been liking this, I feel inspiration to begin updating everyday again. Some comments so I know what you think to help me prepare the future chapters would be nice though, or your general thoughts.

Also, do note that I'm currently going over the first Steamlord's spelling and punctuation, so you don't have to put bleach on your eyes every time you re-read it.