Violet's Childhood Tragety
“We can’t sell it, my Grandfather made it right after the city was founded!” A cream coloured Unicorn stallion said.
“I know dear but it hasn't worked in ages and your grandfather was the only one who could fix it. It’s just taking up space here.” A Brown Unicorn mare argued back.
“Why do mom and dad have to argue about that stupid clock all the time?” A tan Unicorn colt said listening to his parents argue from another room. “It doesn't look so special to me.” He said looking at the clock which was sitting on the table.
The clock face was of a simple design, and was decorated with images of a chimera, a sword and the family crest of two interlocking brass gears. The young colt stared at it for a couple of seconds before getting an Idea.
“Hey, maybe if I can fix it then they’ll stop arguing!” He said before running to his room to get the clock fixing tools he got last hearts worming eve.
Retuning with the tools and hearing his parents still bickering in the other room he set to work on trying to fix the clock. He had seen his mom fix many clocks before and it had seemed easy enough. However this clock was unlike any he had seen before, it looked like someone had fused a music box and a clock together just to see what would happen.
“Wow!” He said opening it up and looking at the jumble of gears and springs. “This might be more complicated than I thought.”
The next few minutes were spent trying to find the problem and make the gears turn but try as he might he couldn't seem to find what was wrong with it.
“UH!” He said in frustration. “Stupid clock, I'm so frustrated I could just-“ Suddenly his horn flared up and the clock was covered in his magic aurora and it was like he could see the inner workings of the clock from a whole new angle and the problem became perfectly clear.
Running back to his room he took a tiny screw from his collection of junk he found around the neighbourhood and used it to replace the broken one in the clock. Setting it up right so the pendulum could swing he started it up and the clock struck 12:00, and a small hole near the top opened up to reveal a picture of the full moon as a song started to play.
“And another thing, I-“ The Unicorn stallion said before stopping when he heard the music playing. “That song. It can’t be.”
The two adult Unicorns walked into the room were there son was sitting on the floor listening to the song that came from the clock.
“Beautiful.” The young colt said.
“The clock it’s fixed. I haven’t heard that song in years.” His Father said in amazement.
“Violet, what did you do?” The Unicorn Mare asked.
“I don’t know. I heard you two arguing about this clock again so I decided to try and fix it then my horn surged with magic and I found the problem.” Violet said.
“Well it looks like that’s not all it did.” The cream coloured Unicorn said pointing to his sons flank.
“Huh? Hey I finally got my Cutie Mark!” He said happily looking at the two interlocking brass gears the now adorned his flack.
As the song ended they all looked outside to see a beautiful rainbow streak across the sky, making that wondrous day even more so.
“Huh, it seems the number of attacks by Airship Pirates has increased over the past year.” The cream coloured Unicorn said reading the morning paper. “And the bounty on one of the pirates head has gone up again.”
“Don't you think we should cancel our family trip until this pirate business dies down?” His wife asked packing a suitcase in their room.
“Don't worry honey. It’s just a two day Airship cruise from here to Fillydelphia and the flight path takes us right by Canterlot. With all the guards on high alert there’s no way the pirates would risk getting caught by attacking us. Plus the Captain himself invited us on the maiden voyage thanks to the bang up job I did in making it.” He said reassuring her and putting the paper down.
“If you say so.” She said uneasily, putting the last of the suitcases by the door. “Well I got everything packed. Is every one ready to go?”
“Yep!” Violet said excitedly, finishing the last of his breakfast and jumping off of his seat.
His parents laughed lightly at his enthusiasm as they opened the front door and made their way to the Airship Docks.
Massive.
That was the only word Violet could use to describe the Airship in front of him. The Airship Sky Queen defiantly lived up to its name. In Violet’s eyes it had to be 1000 feet long and 300 feet in height. Granted this was the first airship he’d seen up close.
As they walked on board they were greeted by a cobalt blue Pegasus with a dark green mane and tail.
“Welcome aboard Plum Runner, is this your family?” The Pegasus greeted.
“Thanks and yes. This is my wife Crystal and our son Violet.” Plum said introducing his family.
“Good day madam, I'm Swift Wind and I'm the Captain of this fine airship your husband built.” He said shacking Chrystal hoof. “Hello their little guy, is this your first time on an airship?” Swift asked leaning down to look at Violet.
“Yes sir and I can’t wait till we take off!” Violet said excitedly.
“Great, I like your enthusiasm. How would you like to see the cockpit as we take off followed by a tour of the engine room? If that’s ok with you of course.” The Captain said looking at his mother.
“I would live to! Can I mom? Please?” He asked pleading.
“Alright, just be sure to meet us in our room after.” She said after a minute of thinking.
“Thanks mom!” Violet said happily, hopping up and down.
“Alright here are your keys to your room, number 23 on deck 4.” Swift said handing Violet’s father the keys as a couple of attendants helped them with their bags, before he lead Violet to the cockpit before they took off.
“And then we went to the engine room and I amazed him with my knowledge of how they worked.” Violet said, recanting what he did that day to his parents.
“Sounds like you had fun.” His Father said as they got ready for dinner.
“I hope you were on your best behaviour.” His mother said coming out of the washroom.
“I was.” Violet said rolling his eyes a little.
“Good. Now is everypony ready? We've been invited to sit at the Captain’s table tonight.” She said as they finished getting dressed.
“And as the cloud cover cleared a beautiful Aurora spread out above us and we saw what appeared to be an entire city made out of crystal below. No one said a word as we watched what was happening unfold before us before it disappeared with the Aurora.” The Captain said finishing his story of his first time in command of an Airship in the far north.
“Wow.” Violet said astounded finishing his food.
“Look Violet. You can see Canterlot.” Plum Runner said pointing a bunch of lights coming from a city on a mountain a short distance away.
After dinner they had decided to head to the open air observation deck for some fresh air and to get a view of the night sky.
“Cool.” Violet said looking at it.
Suddenly the Airship violently shook causing other passengers to lose their balance and drop some of their drinks.
“What was that?” Crystal Runner asked worriedly.
“I don’t know. Head back to the room I’ll meet you there.” Plum said running to go find the captain.
“Let’s go Violet I have a bad feeling about this.” His mother said ushering him away from the rails.
“Surrender and prepare to be boarded!” Someone shouted from below as a bunch of griffins jumped out of the clouds below them and landed on the deck.
“Airship Pirates!” Someone yelled as everyone started panicking and running around.
“MOM! MOM! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Violet called, having been separated from her in all the commotion.
Deciding that the best course of action would be to head to their room so his parents could find him when everything calmed down he headed there. Luckily do to his small size he managed to make it there without being spotted by any of the griffins. However as he approached his room he saw it was slightly agar and could hear voices coming from it.
“Stay away from her you bloody bird.” He heard his Fathers voice say.
“Brave words. Too bad they’ll be your last.” A voice he didn't recognise said before he heard a sickening sound like a knife cutting through a bag of fat.
“No!” Violet heard his mother scream before the other voice spoke up again.
“Don’t worry you’ll be with him soon.” It said before there was another sound like a knife cutting through a bag of fat.
Cautiously Violet pushed open the door to see both his parents lying on the floor, blood slowly starting to pool around them. In the middle of the room stood a griffin that was bigger than the rest that he had seen standing over his parents bodies. Violet tried not to make a sound but was to scared and let out a gasp. Hearing it the tall Griffin turned around and looked directly at him.
Violet stood there frozen, looking into the griffins’ soulless eyes and seeing no remorse or gilt for what he had just done. The two just stood there staring at each other for what felt like an entreaty.
“Captain Sharp Wing! We’ve got everything loaded onto the ship and the royal guards are on their way.” Another Griffin called from down the hall.
“Right head back to the ship and prepare to take off at maximum speed.” Sharp Wing shouted back, breaking eye contact with Violet before leaving the room.
Violet hadn’t moved from the spot he had been in since he first entered his room to find his parents dead 2 hours ago. It wasn't until he felt the hoof of one of the royal guards on his shoulder that he even looked up. The Airship had made an emergency landing in Canterlot and they were evacuating the passengers.
“Poor kid. Lost both his parents to that bastard Sharp Wing.” One of the guards who was ordered to look out for him said.
“Yeah, I have a younger sister about his age. It’s got to be tough to have lost both your parents at such a young age.” A young white unicorn guard with a blue mane and tail said shaking his head. “So what’s going to happen to him now?” He asked his superior.
“We contacted his next of kin. His godfather, Iron Thorn, is on his way to pick him up tomorrow morning. I guess he will be looking after the little fellah now.” The older stallion said hanging his head.
Violet just kept his head low not making eye contact with anyone as he sat in the airship terminal in Canterlot.
“I hate them.” He said quietly to himself. “I hate all Griffins.”
The funeral for Violet’s parents was a week later. Violet spent most of that week in his room as his stuff was brought from his old home to his new one with his godfather. The last of the stuff was brought over after the funeral. Iron tried his best to cheer him up but with little success.
Violet was sitting in his room cry softly not paying attention to the time when the clock stroked midnight and the room began to fill with music. Hearing the music playing Violet stopped crying and started to cheer up. Looking from the clock to his Cutie Mark he got up and walked over to his desk and started drawing.
The next morning Iron Thorn went into Violet’s room to check on him and found him asleep at his desk. He walked over to wake him up when he noticed what he had drawn. Picking it up he smiled when he noticed it was working blueprints for an Airship engine. Putting it back down Iron decided to let him sleep. He then walked out of the room with a smile on his face as he went to get Violet his own set of tools.
Author's Note
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