adventure The Eclipse Gem : A Dystopean Tale book 1

[Digit 321]

The is currently just the prologue. Ill try to update regularly, enjoy.

 

P.S i apologize in advance for any poor grammer or spelling pretty sure got any spelling mistakes but grammer is not my strong suite.

 

The early morning air was brisk as it rolled across the deck of the Massive Airship Dragon Mother with a light whistle. The ship was quite and suspended in the air. A low blue glow coming from the massive glass conduction container sticking out of center of the deck was the only light source coming off the ship. The crew was doing its early morning prep making sure the metal deck was free of frost from the night air. A young stallion shivered as a gust of wind rushed past him and chilled him down to his bones, knowing what would happen if he complained he tucked his wings into his coat and stayed quite as he chipped at ice that had made its home on the ships Conductor rods that weaved themselves around the large metal blimp.

“OFFICER ON DECK!” yelled the Sargent from the upper balcony. The crew instantly snapped to attention as a monstrously sized Pegasus appeared on the upper balcony. He began to make his way down the steps as he reached the deck floor the crew tensed up. His stomps were like thunder as he made his way across the massive open deck. He was wearing Silver armor from head to rear, it was adorned with a wing sigil marked with 4 feathers on the breast plate, his golden mane and tail showing threw openings only big enough for the hair to comfortably be pulled threw, he walked across the deck towards the crew were he could look out over the edge of the ship.

As he approached the ship edge he inhaled a large breath threw his nostrils and exhaled a large cloud of mist that seemed to mix itself in with the frost from the high altitude they sat at. As he exhaled he stretched out his wings, one was made of a flexible metal and adorned with chrome wrappings.

“Good Morning General Iron Wing, SIR!” the Sargent had appeared next to him and was issuing a salute with his hoof and holding a tray with a tea pot and a small glass on it with his wings. The general turned and returned the salute allowing the pony to release his he then turned to the crew who were still standing at attention. “At ease; and continue with your tasks!” Iron Wing said in a booming voice that sounded as powerful as its wielder looked. As the crew began its duties again he turned and took the tea that the other pony was offering him. “Good morning Sergeant” he said as he poured a small amount of tea into the glass and turned and began looking out over the ships side once again at the miles of land below them, a faint glow illuminating the metal under carriage of the Dragon Mother.

“I trust the evening was an un-eventful one?” he asked as he sipped on the tea.

“Yes sir, we monitored the surrounding areas, nothing to report.”

“Excellent, I would say give it another day and we can head home.”

Looking slightly troubled the Sargent looked at Iron wing “Permission to speak freely sir?”

Without breaking his gaze on the surroundings “Granted”

“Well sir, was this entirely necessary? We had won these areas days ago but the follow up orders seemed to be, well on the extreme side sir.” He said peering off at the area the General was reluctant to break his gaze from. “I’m not trying to sound insubordinate sir” he said when the general remained quiet. “I understand” the general said after a few more moments of silence. “It is the sign of a good solider when even if they question the orders they are given they carry them out anyway, without hesitation. And you showed me yesterday how excellent of a solider you are.”

“These orders are never easy to carry out, and they are just as hard on those who issue them. That being said you must understand that we do these things because we must restore balance to Equistria and the only way of doing that is breaking it down so that it may rebuild. Everything we do is for the betterment of the Equestrian nation as a whole.” He said as he poured another cup of tea. “Some may see what we are doing as wrong and destructive and those are the ponies that are in the way of healing. Our skies remain clouded; our cities slumber only to awaken to the sound of pain and loneliness, the Pegasus are not even able to fly on our own power anymore. This…” he motioned in an arc with his hoof at the land in front of them. “…is the cost of healing. It may seem extreme now but I assure you Sargent we are coming to a time when this will all be a thing of the past and we will be able to focus on restoring our lands.”

The Sargent let out a sigh of relief “Thank you sir that puts my mind at ease.” He said as he saluted the general once again “I’m going to begin morning checks sir, I will have a mess solider bring up your meal sir if you wish to have it in your quarters as usual.” As the Sargent walked away he began barking orders to start the main reactors. A mare in a blue uniform and rubber covers on her hooves went to a panel that had a large switch, when she pulled it a loud hum began to permeate the quite morning then a loud crack as a bolt of electricity struck the two sphere, shaped lightning rods. As the electricity passed into the large glass chamber the whole ship began to shift and moan as if waking suddenly from a deep sleep.

The electricity became rapid around the coils and suddenly the front of the ship opened and two large propellers came out and locked into the sides of the ship and began to work to move the large vessel. The sounds of troops yelling over top of the loud charge up did not make the general stop staring out at the horizon. The ship suddenly alive with activity was simple background noise to him his mind still on the rising light from the fields below.

He let out another great exhale and thought to himself although they were too high to feel its heat, that there was nothing better than waking up to the glow of a roaring fire. A grin appeared on his snout “Soon this war will be over. Equistria will begin to heal, but it will be I at the helm and I will direct it towards a tomorrow that’s knows not peace but power and No pony will get in my way.” He thought to himself with one last glance out then turning around and issuing a command for the fleet to head north. Behind the Dragon Mother the similar sound of electricity sparking life into other ships and out of the mist an armada of over 50 ships roared behind the great flag ship as they sailed away from the smoke rising from the ocean of fire that just a few days before would have been called the Everfree forest.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Digit

[Digit 321]

Chapter 1 Part 1

 

      The market was loud and full of ponies wandering through the shops looking for the better deal and each merchant seemed to be in a shouting match with one another, each one claiming to have the newest piece of crap that they found in the scrap yards. Flint was wandering through the dusty market his cloak only stopping a bit of the sand from getting into his mane. He was out on an errand for an iron steam valve for a job his sister was trying to complete. As it turns out the only thing the 15 bits she gave him could fetch him was a broken one. He hated that he actually bought it instead of getting something to eat, but he knew his sister and if any pony could make it work like a new one it would be her. 

 

      As he turned the corner to head back to the shop he noticed a pony setting up a stand filled with what looked like scrap from the Canterlot scrap heaps. On closer inspection he noticed the pony had a intact steam arc wielder gun. His eyes lit up thinking about how much more work they could do with that instead of spending hours molding the graphs by hoof.

 

“How much for the arc wielder?” he asked without breaking his gaze from it.

 

“Hmm?” the pony said turning around. “Oh, that isn’t for sell, found that out in the scrap yards of Canterlot. Kind of a good luck charm if you will.” 

 

“Oh come on man, my sister runs one of the best steam tech shops in the waists.” Flint said almost pleading for it.

 

“Well, I don’t really use it and I’m sure a steam technician will get far more use out of it.” He said tapping a hoof to his chin in thought “Ok, I’ll sell it to you for 200 bits.” 

 

“200! That’s ridiculous even for a gun piece in perfect shape!” Flint yelled in annoyance to the ludicrous price.

 

“Well you can’t get new ones anymore and I got that out of a danger zone scrap yard. 200 is the price if you can’t pay it than I suggest you leave.”

 

“Wait, I see you have a steam tech leg, what if I could get you a free tune up and a set of new sand nets. What kind of deal would you give me then?” 

 

“Well with all that included, I would let it go for…200 bits.” He said in a sarcastic tone.

 

Flint let out a frustrated snarl and whirled around to walk away. As he walked away a mare walked up to the stand and started talking with the merchant and drew his attention to the other side of his stand. Noticing this Flint looked back at the tool. Quietly he slid back over to the stand and before he even thought about it snatched up the arc wielder and ran. Noticing, the merchant turned and yelled.

 

“Stop, that pony in the cloak he just stole from me!”

 

At that the guards in the ally broke into a run after Flint. He quickly pulled up his cloak further up to try to cover his identity. He turned into the food market and nearly knocked a mare that was looking at an apple to the ground. As she gave him an annoyed look one of the guards slammed into her, but the other weaved past her and continued the chase. As they ran through the market Flint weaved in and out of the ponies and stands hoping that the guard wouldn’t be able to keep up, but the mustang was proving to be as agile as Flint. 

 

As he turned a corner Flint snagged a cart of scrap with his tail and pulled the leg out and the whole cart toppled over but the mustang simply leaped over the obstruction. Looking back to see if his diversion worked he noticed 2 more guards had joined the chase. Annoyed he picked up speed and turned into an ally, thinking quickly he ran up a trash can and kicked off the wall to reach the roof of the side buildings. “Try that one coppers!” he said with a triumphant laugh. He stopped to catch his breath when he heard loud pings coming from the ally and a sudden release of steam filled the ally and surrounding areas the three guards shoot straight up from the ally and landed on the roof a few feet away from Flint, the jets pulling back into a tucked position. 

 

“OH COME ON!” Flint yelled as he turned to start running again. He ran and jumped from building to building the guards following close behind. Thinking about how what he was about to do was going to piss his sister off he figured it would be better than her bailing him out for the 100th time this year. With the thought he pulled his cloak up a bit and hit a switch on his copper leg. The gears in it began to spin and click; the gears started to build up speed and as they did Flint began to speed up. Suddenly he kicked his leg up and a loud bang sent a jet of steam out of the hoof and propelled him quickly away from the guards. 

 

“YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH” he yelled as he shot through the air. Suddenly his leg began to jerk and sputter then abruptly stopped. He glided for another few feet as he quickly realized that he no longer had buildings under him. In a split second he glided down and slammed into a pile of trash. He lay upside down in the trash heap for a moment to make sure he was in the clear. He flipped over and quickly ditched his cloak. His black mane filled with dirt and his gray coat caked with mud and trash. As he stood up he noticed his copper leg could no longer support any weight. 

 

“Crap, I must have blown all the hydraulic water. Spark is going to be so pissed, but this should more than make up for it.” He said to himself as he inspected the lifted arc wielder. He looked around and then tucked the wielder into his bag and started limping away. As he turned a corner that would keep him off the main road he ran into what felt like a brick wall. Looking up he fell back as the monstrous red stallion glared him down, the stallion was wearing the guard captain uniform which still did little to cover the large amount of steam tech prosthetic that covered his body, from 2 well designed copper legs to an eye cover that Flint immediately recognized as his sisters work. 

Rubbing his snout Flint looked up at the guard and let out a small chuckle. “We have to stop meeting like this Big Mac.”

Edited September 29, 2014 by Digit