The Steam Age

by ElectricSky25

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 4237

Twilight enters a steampunk war

When Twilight is sucked into a portal that leads to a alternate dimension with a never-ending war, Twilight must choose between saving this world; or returning home. But when all the advanced technology catches up to her, she must save the world and return home before she becomes one of them.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-23 19:41:11 UTC

The Spark

It was late at night, Twilight was tired, but she had to finish the books Luna sent her, but her mind wandered over to what Spike told her Why would Electric Sky do that? Was it a joke, an experiment, or something more? She couldn’t shake the thought off that something very wrong happened. Why would any pony do that? They knew they would get into serious trouble, Sky would never do that, she was like an element of harmony, a friend, a mentor. Anger boiled deeply inside her, why would she, a very close pony, do that? She shook it off, and went back to reading……..No. She would go to Sky’s house and force her to explain why she would EVER do that. Twilight grabbed her scarf and marched to Electric Sky’s house, stomping her hooves, flapping her wings, and snorting with rage the entire way.

****************************************************************************************************

Electric Sky was at her desk, working on something, the back of her spiked mane facing Twilight. She spun around, a casual look on her face, with her mane and goggles, she looked like what she was, a mad scientist. Twilight suddenly burst in, a very unhappy look on her face.

“Oh hey Twi, what brings you to my Lair?” She said with emphasis, an insane smile on her face, canines glinting in the dim light. Twilight stared, a small hiss could be heard coming from her, then her wings, mane, and tail burst into flame.

“WHY DID YOU ZAP INTO MY HOUSE AND TERRIFY SPIKE?!!!” Twilight thundered, using the newly acquired Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Why would I ever do that? Sky said, a frown forming on her face. “ Twilight, I would never do that, even if I could, I would never, you are too close of a friend to do that. Ever.”  She winced as she heard Twilights cruel accusation, a few tears blossoming in her eyes. Twilight stared the flames slowly turning back to what they were before.

“Wait, so were you the one who broke into my library and terrified Spike?” Twilight asked, confusion showing on her face. Electric stopped for a moment, thinking, then, for some reason a light bulb lit up above her head,

“My hologram spell!”

“What?”

“My hologram spell! I was testing it earlier and it never showed, i guess it glitched and appeared at your library, sorry.” Sky said, strangely smiling. Twilight gave her a quizzical look, then left, glad she could finish her books then sleep.

#########################YOLO

She was wearing a beautiful wedding dress, Flash Sentry was also dressed handsomely , with a rose in his pocket. They were getting married.

“Do you, Twilight Sparkle take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded groom?”

“Yes, I Princess Twilight Sparkle, Take Flash Sentry to be my lawfully wedded groom.” She said, a giant smile plastered on her face.

“And do you, Flash Sentry, take this mare to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Flash smiled, and said,

“WAKE UP!!!!!!!!” Twilight stared at him shock on her face. Then Flash looked back at her, but he was wearing a clown costume made of cake and instead if of flesh on his face all he had was a skull.

“Help meeeeeee…..”

“Ahhhhh!” Twilight gasped, falling out of her bed gasping as she realised it was a dream and Spike was looking down at her.

“Twilight, I was calling you for hours! I made you breakfast!” Spike said, an annoyed look on his face. She walked downstairs for breakfast, it was slightly burnt, but overall delicious. She finished and went to read some books that were donated to her. She picked one up and started to read.

“Hey Twi, i’m leaving to help Rarity ok?” Spike called, opening the door to leave. She giggled and told him to come back after he finished. She went back to the page she was reading and soaked in the again warm sun.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Twilight snapped the book shut, it only took her five minutes to read the short paperback, she walked into the kitchen and started to prepare some tea. Just as she was about to pour herself a cup when the room started to shake, and electricity started to cackle out of nowhere and form a sphere midair. It seemed to suck the air out of the area around her. She tried to yell, but the vortex was too strong, and she was sucked in.

The Inventor

“How did this happen?!” Twilight cried out, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

“She was never a violent mare, she was an inventor, an artist, not a mare who kills or fights! How could they do this to her?!” She looked into Rarity’s eyes, only to meet her eyes full of disgust.

“Twilight, I think you are overreacting, we can’t always choose our fate, she became a commander and is very happy with it! Why you are showing such disgrace disgusts me. Now, calm down and I’ll show you to the dining area and we will continue discussing what will happen if we don’t win the war!” Rarity fumed, her face showing that she was doing her best to contain her anger. Finally she calmed down she got off the stool and started leading her to the food. As they started the walk to the dining area Rarity noticed how Twilight was somehow, different.

“Whatever happened to your wing braces darling?”

“Huh?”

“Your wing braces are missing.” Twilight looked at her with confusion.

“The metal braces that protect your wings and make them stronger darling, all winged creatures use them. Oh! They could be the next fashion statement! Either way, I remember yours were a stunning platinum, or was it gold, or…” She trailed off, listing the names of metals. Twilight sighed and continued looking around, it was amazing that somepony could build technology this advanced, suddenly, she smelled food, and it was getting closer. Right when they entered the dining area Twilight’s stomach let out an enormous growl. She quickly used her wings to cover her belly, muffling the noise.

“Hmhm, looks like somepony worked up an appetite.” Rarity giggled and showed her to a seat.

“Now you wait here while I get you some food, its not healthy for you to walk that much after you passed out, and you seem rather weak, so you just rest up, ok?” Twilight suddenly realised how weak she felt, not only from being unconscious, but from hunger also. As Rarity walked off to get food, she looked out the window, it was late the sun was starting to set in the calm sky. How can there be a war, when everything looks so calm? She shook off the thought when Rarity came back, plates of food in her telekinetic grasp. She licked her lips and dug in to the feast before her. But a hoof stopped her after she just started eating.

“Don’t eat so fast! It’ll give you a stomach ache, now take small bites and don’t stuff yourself.” Rarity sternly replied, Twilight realised that she was a Princess, and needed to act like one, so she took a small piece and slowly chewed it. Rarity smiled and went to attending her own food. When they finished eating (should I mention that it was daffodile sandwiches with potato soup?) Rarity once again stood up, picked up the plates and walked off. Twilight looked down at the table, it was made of metal. So were the stools, except they were padded with leather. She stared at the leather, realizing that she might be sitting on one of Applejack’s cattle. When Rarity returned, another pony was next to her. It was yellow, with a spiked royal blue and honey yellow mane. Her goggles were set behind her horn. She wore jeans and a tool strap. But what amazed Twilight the most was her right leg, it’s made of metal! its a mechanical leg that works just as good as the real thing! She looked at it with her mouth agape, eyes wide with wonder.

“Your highness, without any disrespect, but why are you staring at my leg?” The commander looked at her, her face angled slightly away from the princess, but still facing her in some way.

“Oh, uh, well, it’s just that how did you build that? How does it work so well? I mean, when you make a metal leg, it never moves, but yours is even better than a real leg! It’s a feat of science!” Twilight’s eyes were bigger than a plate by now.

“Uh, I built it when I lost my leg in a combat mission, back when the war had just started and I was a complete rookie. How could you forget?” Commander Sky scrunched up her face. She shook it off and started a new conversation.

“Listen, I need to speak with you in private, so will you walk with me?”  Electric said, avoiding eye contact from Rarity, but she didn’t notice. As the entered the hallway, Twilight noticed that she had wing braces.

“Aren’t you a unicorn?”

“A crystal unicorn, as for the wing braces-” She opened her wings to show,

“These are made of leather, but if I am charged with a lot of magic, my soul will manifest into a pair of wings.” She lit up a spell and the leather changed into feathers made of a light blue aura.

“But this is not the reason I brought you here Twilight, the reason you are here is because I had summoned you, I need your help to save Equestria, for I fear we are losing, and that will cost us very dearly.” She solemnly replied.

“So it wasn’t a glitch in the hologram spell, that was you?”

“Yes, and once I tried telling you in a dream, but you could tell Luna was not there for me to send you the message clearly.” Twilight stood next to her, eyes full of distrust.

“How could you do this? Why didn’t you ask the me from this dimension?” She looked away eyes filled with tears.

“She went missing three years, we never found her, and just when we got close to finding a clue, the inevitable happened.”

“What?” Twilight whispered, barely a breath on the word.

“The gates of Tartarus opened, releasing the hellish beasts inside, along with the ‘Dark Horse’, the monsters that no pony ever heard of or saw, those who see one, get obliterated.” Sky’s eyes glazed over, remembering the loved ones she lost to them. She looked back to her.

“This is why I need you, you are the only one who knows how to save us. Can you find it in yourself to lend a hoof?”She looked ahead, eyes on the horizon. As Twilight calculated the events following each action, she knew what she had to do.

“Can I see all of my friends?” She neede facts, a claim, some evidence to get her moving on to her theory.

“Are you sure? Things are different, and I’m not so sure if each reaction to seeing you will be positive.”

“I’m sure, these are my friends, and I know that no matter what happens, or happened, we will always be together.” Clarity showed in her eyes. Sky on the other hand, avoided eye contact from her. She pulled out a notepad and wrote something in it. She then turned to Twilight and showed her the pad.

“This is a list of your friends, you will go and visit each of them, then mark one of these checks, understood?” She managed to say all of that without eye contact. Twilight nodded.

“But what do I need to mark them as in the boxes?”

“In time, you’ll know.” Sky looked away again, but when she spoke Twilight realised that the only emotion she showed, was sadness. Why was she so sad? Quickly she shook it off and continued walking with Electric Sky.

“May we head back? I’m getting awfully thirsty.” Sky made a small laugh and helped Twilight walk back, seeing that her energy was waning quickly. The commander quickly opened one of her wings and used it to hold Twilight steady. They walked, or rather stumbled back to the dining hall and sat down. The commander left again, this time to get them some coffee. When she returned, Twilight was asleep. She lightly tapped her on the shoulder and set the cup of coffee down. Sky sat down and sipped her coffee, and flinched when she realized it was too hot. Twilight later woke up and drank her coffee.

“So when are we going to visit one of my friends?” She asked after taking a sip, this time adding more sugar.

“Tomorrow, I have managed to get ahold of Rainbow Dash, we will meet her at Airship Sunset.”

“‘Airship Sunset’?” She asked.

“A port for airships, well known for its strong defence and amazing coffee.” Twilight cocked her head at the last statement, and Sky shook it off. They chatted about technology and went to bed. When they finished, each stood up, and Sky bowed. Twilight looked at her and realized she also had to bow. Awkwardly she bowed and walked off to what Rarity told her earlier would be her quarters for now. She wandered that halls and asked a few soldiers until she finally found the room. It was fairly simple, a metal room with a desk and a bed. There was a lamp next to the bed and a window over the desk, the purple cloth covering the view of the night sky. Twilight took in the room and… took a pillow to the face and fell into a deep sleep.

      ###################################################

“What are you going to do when the fire swallows you all little pony? Are you going to sant in the ruins of the world, Or will you do something?” A figure in the shadows laughed, singing a mad song.

“The world ended without my musical angel, Will yours too?” The figure cackled, a shadow spinning, Twilight looked around desperately for the figure that was speaking. She appeared to be floating in a dark room.

“She was my angel of music, and she did this to me!” A pony floated from the shadows, wearing a mask, he tore it off, revealing a disfigured face.

“Don’t let the world disappear pony, For I will be here writing my songs of Hell!” He shouted, and the world faded, Twilight screaming the entire time.

The Clouds

“Twilight! Wake up!” Rarity shook her violently, fear spread on her face, she stopped when she saw Twilight’s eyes open and made an attempt to collect herself.

“Sorry, it’s just that, you are here now, after three years, and you were shaking and screaming, I thought you were having a seizure…”She sobbed, tears dripping down onto her uniform. Twilight wiped off the tears and helped her off the floor.

“No, I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner. We better clean up my bed and go, Commander Sky told me we were going to see Rainbow Dash today.” Rarity jumped up and fixed the bed with her magic.

“We must hurry then! Rainbow Dash hates it when ponies are late!” She grabbed Twilight with her magic and raced toward the dining quarters. When they reached the dining quarters, Rarity grabbed two cups of coffee and some muffins and dragged all of that plus Twilight to the Dressing Hall. When they reached it, Rarity rushed her breakfast down and urged Twilight to do the same.

“If we don’t hurry and find you a good outfit to wear, oh, the chaos.”Rarity said while pulling out racks of clothes and tossing them onto her.

“Rarity, calm down, I don’t think Dash is going to flip over an outfit.” Twilight reassured, tossing off a way too poofy dress off of her. She quickly grimaced at it and turned back to Rarity.

“Oh, no no no! She is very picky when it comes to detail. Now dress up in this and let’s go to the bow.” Rarity then threw her a simple outfit which Twilight put on and they galloped (carefully as so not to get sweaty or ruin the dresses of course) to the bow. When they reached it, Twilight was happy to see that the Commander was there along with some other  ponies.

“Do you see it? She’s right over there, glinting in the morning sun.” Sky whispered pointing with a hoof towards what Twilight believed was the Airship Sunset. Then she heard a collection of gasps as ponies turned to look at her.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle!” a pony shouted and pointed at her, soon everypony was looking at her in awe. They crowded around her, muttering the strangest things that Twilight couldn’t hear.

“All right ponies! Give the girl some room the breathe!” Electric Sky yelled, walking in front of her and opening her wings wide open as to guard Twilight. The ponies backed off and after some time of the commander staring at them, going back to work. Rarity stared in awe.

“Wow, you are so brave!” Rarity gushed at Sky, who ignored the comment. She was looking on the horizon, until she ran up to the glass and shouted,

“The enemy is nearby! Hard to port!” She shouted, turning to the captain, a gruff stallion with a scratch over his eye. He spun the wheel and they did a steep turn. Twilight slid across the ground, wings wide open flapping madly.

“Get the guns ready!” Sky yelled again, standing firm, oblivious to a flailing Twilight flying all over the room. Rarity grabbed her with her magic and set her down.

“Thank you.” Twilight said and brushed herself off. Sky ran over to her, tossing her an aviator jacket.

“You might want to join me for this part.” Sky grinned, but Rarity intercepted her and replied sternly,

“No! You’ll risk putting her in danger and ruining her outfit.” She said, pointing to Twilight’s already ruined outfit that consisted of a large hat, a skirt, and a lace shirt, all of which were already ruined thanks to her flailing. Rarity then noticed this and grimaced.

“You can take her along, just make sure she doesn’t get killed.” She said as she pulled the outfit off of Twilight. Sky grinned again and gave her the jacket and a pair of goggles.

“Alright, now lets go shoot some Darkhorse flank!” Sky yelled, and called towards a group of unicorns huddleing around a table nearby.

“Alright, you know your stations! Go and Get Some!” She yelled and they all galloped to a door, leading outside. Twilight reluctantly followed, trying to put on her jacket, but kept getting tangled, Rarity quickly fixed it for her and left. Sky then turned back to her and briefly explained to her.

“Ok, we are going to use a special spell I made to keep the enemy away from us long enough to make a getaway, when you get outside, climb the ladder to the top, and enter the same pod as me, I’ll explain further when-” The ship groaned and did another sharp turn.

“I’m wasting time, see you in the pod!” Sky yelled as she exited the ship and disappeared from Twilight’s view. She took a deep breath and walked out the door, and a dark shadow whipped right past her, striking her muzzle. She jumped back, but quickly started climbing the ladder as soon as it left her. After several minutes of climbing, she reached the top and saw little pods dotting the top of the ship. In each of the pods were two unicorns, shooting the black shadows above them, which were screeching.  She then spotted Electric Sky on her own, fighting off five of the shadows, but Twilight knew she would be needing help very soon. Twilight ran against the wind, dodging all the shadows and spell being fired. When she reached the pod she jumped into it and fired off a powerful fire spell.

“Thanks, I needed that.” Sky gasped, looking slightly exhausted.

“Now to explain, You aim a special spell at them, I call it a HARP spell. Now make sure you aim right at the tip of the thing, got it ?” Sky explained, and handed her a scroll, which Twilight quickly read and nodded.

“Here come some more!” A unicorn yelled over the wind and shot at one, and soon all the ponies were firing spells at the shadows. Twilight managed to hit a few while, Sky kept firing and almost always managed to hit them. Finally, after several minutes, or possibly hours, all of the shadows were long gone. But nopony stopped to celebrated but instead kept watching the horizon. Nopony spoke, only watched the area around them for any remainders of the enemy.

“We’re good!” Sky yelled to the rest and started to exit the pod. Twilight unsteadily walked out, her legs shaking badly.

“Woah there! We’ll get you something to eat once we get down.” Sky held her steady with a wing. All the ponies were walking back to the ladders when suddenly, fwoosh! A shadow whizzed right past them and struck one of the unicorns. He shrieked and a gruesome transformation happened, the skin around the area he was struck turned black and bubbled, and it started to spread, his eyes went inside his head and he started thrashing madly. Twilight and the others could only watch in horror as he became a wobbling, black,  bubbling mass that faintly resembled a pony until it collapsed to the floor and turned into a shadow, which Sky shot and they all ran back. Nopony bothered to climb the ladders down but instead slid down them, racing back inside.

“Full speed to Airship Sunset!” Sky yelled at the captain once the re-entered the bow. He nodded and they sped along to the airship port. Twilight and Sky then went to the dining area for a more filling breakfast. They had oatmeal and oranges. But Sky hardly touched her meal, and had her head buried beneath her hooves,

“Poor Lightning Strike, he was such a good pony.” She sighed, and gloomily peeled an orange. Without a conversation, twilight just ate and went back to her room, where Rarity was waiting for her.

“Are you alright?” She asked. Twilight nodded and sat down next to her on the bed. Rarity pulled out the outfit for her, this time it was cleaned and mended. They sat in silence and waited. Until the ship made a sudden stop. Twilight and Rarity were flung from the bed and onto the floor. After getting up and checking for any injuries, they left for the bow. Twilight looked towards Sky who was talking to the captain. This is it She thought I’m going to go see Rainbow Dash.

The Smoke

Cough, cough

“ Is she awake?”

“Slow down darling, we must give her a minute to settle.” A calm voice said, a very familiar sound.

“Mh, R-Rarity?” Twilight said, slowly starting to open her eyes.

“Yes, it’s me, that was quite the beating you took, it put all my nursing skills to the test, but it all paid through, and you are alive thankfully.” Rarity sighed, relief in her voice.

“When did you start nursing Rarity?” Twilight said, finally opening her eyes. She was in a strange room full of pipes and fabric. But what terrified her was the look outside the giant windows a few feet in front of her. She was looking out into the clouds, which were right outside the window. They were in the sky in some sort of flying room ?

“Rarity, i think we should get out of here! It isn’t safe to be in a flying room!” Twilight said eyes snapping open.

“Darling, what ever do you mean? We are on an airship, remember? You really must have bumped your head. Any way, if you forgot I started nursing when the war started, but I still design fashion, just not as much as before and differently.” She said, her eyes clouding over with memories.

“War? Equestria never had war! What has happened?!” Twilight jumped up, slightly wobbling after fainting and used her wings for support.

“I don’t remember that well, but now we are fighting against an enemy called the ‘Dark Horse’ they are some kind of super horse, even Celestia doesn't know what they are, but we know they are as evil as Tartarus, and came from there. Nasty things they are, killing everypony and destroying our land.” Rarity said, a fire in her eyes. Twilight looked around the room again, and realised that she was was not in a room, but rather a hallway,and the window spanned across the hall, she was in some sort of little sofa, a gap in the wall with pillows. Rarity had sat on a stool with her medical bags next to her.

“Who was the other voice I heard?” Twilight looked for a second pony, whom she could not find.

“Oh, you meant Commander Sky?” Rarity asked, for some reason she had a duck face on.

“Commander Sky?” Twilight asked, shock plastered on her face.

“Yes, She is quite the war hero, you might remember the name Electric Sky? Well, thats her!” She said, smiling. But Twilight could only look at her in shock and horror,

What has this world came to?