EYE of the STORM
Prologue
One must firstly be acquainted with the beginning, and know it well enough to understand this story is about Steam Punk, or Steam for short. His tale stretches long, too long to sum up into the story, so just the mere basics will be covered. The man who stands on the balcony of the high flying, blimp-like plane has been in search of the most precious thing in his world; His true love. His universe, a barren place for fiends and demons alike would probably most accurately be described as desolate of any humanoid characters. The sky is his home, for the ground is uninhabitable, and utterly ruined beyond repair. This man, or thing, whatever one wishes to call him floats in his blimp searching for his love. Over five hundred years of seeking out the sky has proven a waist of his time. All he knows is a letter that came to him from her pet dragon said these words.
The green light has engulfed my ship. Avoid it at all costs.
The light, which he dubbed the EYE of the STORM has been located by many others like him, but few ever try to investigate what it truly is.
As Steam stands on the balcony, looking through the telescope in search of this luminescence of green, seeing nothing but clouds and a rainbow or two, his luck shows itself before him. Shining brightly, he knows his journey is almost over. Despite numerous warnings about how this phenomenon is highly dangerous and unexplainable, he knows his life has little meaning behind it as the light is what holds all the answers of his love.
Closing the instrument used to magnify sight, he turns and slowly walks towards the dragon, his pet. As he pets the creature, it purrs silently. He checks his calculations carefully, marking the latitude and longitude of his destination, his eyes looking through the ghostly white goggles he wore. Returning to the wheel of the ship, he turns it and feels the direction shift along.
Returning once again to the inside, he picks up a highly flammable and destructive chemical. It is the essence of the extracted feedback that his love collected from the light, and was able to send to him using her dragon just before the green light swallowed her. He measures it with his hands, and tosses it into the furnace. As he does, he grabs all the records and documentation of the light he has collected and unenthusiastically throws it in as well. as he stands, staring at the jade colored inferno, he knows there will be no need for such things where he is going.
Finally, his one single memento of his lost soul mate, a box containing her love for him, juiced out and formed into a single picture that shined brightly at him laid in his hands. He pondered burning this, but couldn’t bring himself to do so. This was the one thing he had left to keep the memory of her image fresh in his mind, but there was no need for it now. He exited the shelter slowly, his white scarf with little holes in it at the ends blowing freely. He approached the end of the railing and reluctantly dropped it down to the far away ground. His line of vision fell upon the upcoming storm, and a small drop of liquid fell upon the glass of his goggles. Hearing far off thunder, he prepared himself for the tough challenge he faced.
Thunder surged all around the ship as he struggled to maintain course. As he swung the wheel violently to try and keep the ship steady, water whipped his being and forced his hands to stay steady through the rain. His dragon watched curiously as to what he was doing, but never exited the safety of the inside.
The powerful winds blew out the final light of the ship, and everything was dark for a while. As the beat and barely awake Steam Punk Mechanic lifted his overworked head to see his thought to be final resting place, his hands slid coyly on the wheel he rested upon. The storm was fierce, but not as much as his will to fight through the raging winds.
As he stepped back and held his heavy head, he looked down to see the key of the dragon’s chain. Finally, with no need for such a pet, he released her, granting the majestic creature her freedom. As her wings extended, shivers could be felt on Steam’s back, for he knew this was the final farewell he would have with the kind fiend. Flying away, he wondered where she would go, but figured this was irrelevant as he had a date with destiny, and if he were to be late, he might not ever be able to get his ultimate chance in life again. As he looked onward into its radiance, he saw the light blinking, signaling him time was short.
He tied the wheel, and fastened it with rope, then grabbed the throttle and pushed all the way down. The speed tracer was placed on full, and his moment of ultimate judgment was finally at hand. The ship churned and cranked into high gear, and as he stood on the balcony for the last time, snow ascended upwards from the clouds his ship glided on.
Entering the throne chamber, he sat and turned his chair around to face away from the final destination he was sure to greet at any moment. Watching the world he lived in pass by the rear windows, Steam now felt fully ready to enter his doom. This would be the final voyage his life would ever bear witness to.
His ship crashed right into the phenomenon, and as green shimmers turned into rainbow lightning, he watched the world he once inhabited wither away, and just like that, the black nothingness morphed into clear, sunny skies. He stood, realizing he was still alive and ran to the balcony. Just before he fell to his death, he saw most of his ship was ripped to shreds. The balcony was destroyed and the ship was headed for what appeared to be a palace. Dumbfounded at what was happening, he frantically did all he could to try and stop the ship from crash landing in the royal structure, but just before the collision, he felt the entirety of the destroyed mechanism stop abruptly. As it slowly floated down and rested on the soft grass of the Canterlot plains, he saw an alicorn fly down. Her lush, rainbow like mane waived freely, and her regalia shimmered in the sun’s shine. As she trotted up to him while he exited the machinery, she introduced herself.
“Hello, I am Princess Celestia.”
The man looked around as he didn’t have a form of communication. The princess smiled and summoned a collar. As it wrapped around his neck, he grew curious as to what its purpose was. It forced out static sounds and soon, he heard his mental voice asking “What is this thing?”
It was scratchy, and low vocalic, but it was a voice, never the less.
Chapter one: Details of the destination
Chapter one: Details of the destination
As Steam rubbed his fingers on the neck device, princess Celestia slowly circled him.
“So, what would you call yourself, my friend?”
The mechanic didn’t answer, but instead looked at his destroyed home.
“Don’t you have a name?” the alicorn asked. “And where did you come from?”
The man finally said “Steam.”
Celestia looked at his goggles with curiosity.
“My name… is Steam.”
“Oh, yes of course…”
Some awkward silence fell upon the two as his hands rubbed the machinery. Soon, he continued.
“I come from… I’m guessing another universe… or world.” He kneeled down to observe the base and integrity of his ship. “The world is horrible… and the ground is basically unsanitary, so my kind must fly to survive…” he stood and looked at the being as he finished. “I’m looking for someone… She looks like me… I came here because she told me a green light swallowed her in a note. I found the phenomenon, and entered. Next thing I know… I’m here.”
Celestia shook her head understanding his situation. As she turned around, she said “I have never seen a being like you before in my kingdom. Please, follow me to the palace throne room. I’ll brief you on the location, dos and don’ts, and see if there is anything I can do to help.
As the man followed her highness, he received suspecting looks from many ponies. “So, this is a horse world?” he asked.
Celestia giggled slightly and claimed “In a sense, but more like ponies. This world is called Equestria. Me and my sister, Luna rules it.”
As the man entered the building, some guards sloped as they observed his frame.
“You see,” her highness continued. “We raise the sun and the moon. I raise the sun.”
“And Luna raises the moon, right?”
“Yes and the world you will be living in has its rules.”
The two entered the throne room, and as they did, Steam couldn’t believe the mastery if design. Pillars aligned in rows to the sides of the walls while flags of the sun and the moon hung from the ceiling. To the far side, the throne sat golden and eye catching. Celestia sat in it, and as the man looked around, her highness summoned a seat for him. He sat and looked at her benevolence.
“So, you’re the ruler… then I should be kneeling rather than sitting?
Celestia chuckled and said “You are now my subject, but there is no need for worship. We only just met, after all.” Celestia then began to explain the law of the land. “There are four kinds of ponies in this world. The first kind is normal earth ponies. They are basic, but very kind. Then there is the Pegasus. They have wings and can fly. Thirdly are the unicorns. They have horns like mine and can control magic, and finally there are the alicorn’s.”
“That would be you, I presume.” Steam said.
The princess bowed her head in signaling he was correct.
“You see, alicorn’s are considered the rulers of this land due to their immense power. Their magic abilities are that of a unicorn, but increased by ten times. There are only four alicorn’s in this world. There’s me and my sister, cadence which is unfortunately away at the time, and finally, Princess Skyla.”
The man shot up at the name, knocking the chair down. Even though his face was completely blocked by his goggles and his mouth shrouded by an ominous shadow, Princess Celestia knew this signaled something odd. As the echoing thud of the impact died down, Celestia asked “You know her, don’t you?”
His head shook as he spoke. “Yes, I did. She’s the one I’m searching for. I thought she was dead, but if she’s a princess here… then I know she’s alright, but would that mean she’s a pony as well?”
Celestia explained “She arrived over five hundred years ago, and took the form of a pony when I met her. Whether she was a pony before then, I can’t say for sure.”
Celestia took the time to finish her explanation for the rest of the afternoon. Steam Punk asked if he could get some assistance with his mode of transportation. As he and at least ten unicorns approached the heap of destroyed metal and wood, he said “Alright, just follow my every comment to the tee, and this will blow over smoothly.”
All night, the unicorns worked very diligently to assist their new friend. Parts of metal were scraped while others were put to good use. By morning, the trash had been revamped into one amazing hot rod motorcycle.
As he looked the piece of sheer art up and down, he said “Now, for the final touch… paint vinyl flames on it, blue and green, please.”
The unicorns did as they were instructed. As the silvery metal turned into painted designs, Steam shook his head in approval.
“You know what this is?” he asked and the royal unicorns said they didn’t. “It’s a custom Chopper; a motorcycle that has extended front ends with a greater angle than standard bikes. The raked front end makes for a motorcycle that is stable but not agile. It’s mainly an all-around performance vehicle that will ultimately take me anywhere I need. The old style of these was abolished when my home world ground ended up being taken over by…”
He looked up to see confused faces, so he ended this with one statement. “It’s my mode of transportation that I’ll be using to get around this world.”
As the sun rose over the land, rays shined on the leather seating. His hand rubbed on the handlebars as he hopped on. Her highness, Princess Celestia approached and said “Leaving so soon?”
“Yeah…” Steam said.
The princess summoned a map and explained “This is magically enhanced to show you your location in the world. All you need to do is touch the red dot for it to magnify. I’ve set your destination for Ezekias, home of Princess Skyla. It’ll guide you there quite easily.”
Steam tucked the map into his coat pocket and thanked her highness for the help. As he started up the solar powered engine, the loud rumble hurt all their ears, but soon, he took off with great speed. In no time, his being disappeared with a cloud of dusty smoke following him.
