//------------------------------// // Pony of All Trades (Edited) // Story: I Am (No) God: Month 0 // by Animatorsnake //------------------------------// Ponyville, Town Square; 11:00am The sun was at its highest and ponies were busy enjoying the warm rays that it gave, Applejack was outside at her family’s apple stand. Yesterday, she and the girls helped Eclipse with setting up his new home and enjoyed a meal with him, so far she hasn’t heard from him since but Fluttershy came by, shopping for some more carrots for Angel and mentioned some noise coming from his storage building. At first Applejack was worried something was happening at Eclipse’s, but Fluttershy eased her worries, saying he was building something and wanted it to be a surprise. He also mentioned to her that it wasn’t safe to come inside, possibly related to what he was building. I wonder what’s he been building in there? Applejack was so busy with her thoughts that she didn’t notice something entering the town square from the bridge that led to Fluttershy’s and Eclipse’s residencies. It was twice as high and longer than Applejack’s stand; a triangular roof that was held by four wooden poles and three wooden panels, it has a wooden door with no handle but was opened by sliding it. The strange stand – if it could be called a stand – was being pulled by Eclipse,having his signature blank bored look and eyes lidded, whether it was from him being tired or bored was the real question. The black-furred stallion stopped his stand in the middle of the square, some distance from Applejack’s. What really caught her and everypony’s attention was the material the stand was made of; the wood was so black, it looked less like wood and more like coal. Removing the harness from himself, Eclipse placed down four wooden stakes that stabilized the stand so it was kept still from rolling away. Eclipse went the opposite end where the harness was kept, which he removed and pushed back to a hidden compartment which made all four sides to match with each other. He then entered through the sliding door before closing it behind him. Applejack gotten curious from seeing the strange sight and stepped from her own stand to join a growing crowd of ponies to see what all the commotion was about. Amongst the crowd were some of her friends, Rainbow, Pinkie, and even Rarity who were also curious about what was happening. “What is Eclipse doing?” asked Rainbow. “I believe he mentioned wanting to sell some items, but I assumed he do it in some shop or gain a sponsor from one of the local stores… This wasn’t what I thought he do,” said Rarity, examining the material of the stand. “He really made this real fast!” said Pinkie. “I guess Fluttershy wasn’t wrong when he was making something and wanted to keep it a surprise,” said Applejack, commenting at the creation of the stand. Suddenly, some noise came from inside the stand and before anypony could ask what was happening, the three wooden panels opened up by sliding upward to reveal what was inside. What laid before everypony was an arrangement of items; one shelf held small objects that oddly resembled the crystals the girls saw yesterday, while another shelf held tiny figures made of wood, but one item in particular caught the girls attention. The item was a row of a familiar bottle with a familiar liquid inside with two other colored bottles beside them. Arranged a certain order, three colored bottles of pink, blue, and orange were placed in a row that continued the same theme until no more bottles could fit on top of the counter of the stand. While the two sides of the stand held some items, the front side opposite of the door was empty but had a metal box that was placed to the side but closed. Eclipse moved to the front side of the stand, and spoke out with a professional but calm tone. “Hello, I’d like to officially open my traveling store – The Obsidian Wagon; Knick-Knacks & Snacks – since this is the first day of business, the first customer pick of any flavor of my signature ‘Flavor Soda’ will have it for free. If you like for more, they cost only two bits, I also have other things to sell, but for now I’ll sell my drinks as an opening and I hope you come by to buy more of my wares,” said Eclipse, with a polite bow. After hearing this announcement, the ponies at first gave a curious glance at the strange bottles, the first pony to approach was a well-known mare called Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ P0N3. The famous DJ while spoke rarely, decided to try these new drinks, picking the blue one. Opening the bottle with her magic, she took a quick swig of the drink, with what happening next was still shock as the blue-haired mare froze solid still. Many of the ponies were worried, especially when a posh earth pony approached the even more silent unicorn. “Vinyl? Are you alright, is something wrong?” asked the worried mare. Vinyl quickly shook her head before pushing the drink to her friend, at first she denied the drink, mostly because her friend just drank from it but gave up. After taking it around the crook of her leg, she carefully sipped it… only to down the whole thing. Vinyl became saddened that her friend downed her whole drink with a sad pout, but brightened immediately at her friend’s reaction. “THIS STUFF IS WONDERFUL! I’LL BUY FIVE MORE OF THOSE BLUE ONES!” At that single moment, the crowd grabbed hold onto the mare’s reaction; hook, line, and sinker. Everypony took a free bottle of the drinks, until those who already got their first free one lined up to buy more. Each pony had various reactions but they were all the same, they were ecstatic, having not tasted something like this before… ever. The girls managed to reach the stand, being the last customers as everypony else sat somewhere to drink or stood where they are to enjoy the flavor of the new beverage. “So this is the surprise you been making. Well for starters, you surprised me, that’s for sure,” said Applejack, grinning. Eclipse was busy counting the bits he had, before sliding them into the metal box with a loud clatter. Closing it, he turned to the girls with his simple straight-faced expression. “The business idea of selling them for free for first pick was so to get ponies to like the taste and the price is fair for everypony of all ages. I’m planning of making different flavors and bigger batches, but I need to go and gain agreements with certain companies to gain the resources I need to make more. I also have other things than my drinks to sell that are equally new and interesting.” At this the girls became interested as Eclipse went down, possibly going through more shelves that were underneath the counter, rummaging through before pulling out several items; pulling out a figurine, an orb, and finally a rock, but the most interesting was the orb or rather what was inside. “Hey, isn’t that the purple crystal you told us can make lightning?!” asked Rainbow, pointing a hoof at the orb. After taking a careful look, it was indeed the same crystal that Eclipse warned them all about; it was surrounded by the clear orb, a tiny piece of the crystal they saw yesterday inside. Rarity took a step back out of caution, but Eclipse raised his hoof before motioning them to come close. “Don’t worry, the orb keeps any actual contact with the crystal from any accidents to occur, the purpose of this has many uses. Think of it as carrying the very elements in your hooves for practical purposes,” said Eclipse, beginning to explain. The orbs come in ten types, but to better explain the orbs’ uses I need to explain the ten types of crystals I came upon in my travels. You already know two of them but not what they can do beyond their elemental uses – first off we’ll go with the fire crystal. The fire crystal creates flames that range from different temperatures that can be used for warmth, cooking, and a source of light, another use is the ability to give its user a temporary power-boost. This boost will give anybody the temporary use of increased strength, this strength is of course limited and is only increased based off the user’s current strength. Basically let’s say a pony like Fluttershy who isn’t an earth pony nor regularly exercises were to use this would have an equivalent strength to be able to carry twice her usual weight. However if a pony like Applejack were to use this, then she be able to life her whole stand, with one hoof, without any problems. Now here was when the questions started to appear as the first to ask was Applejack. “This sounds mighty interesting, but there’s got to be a catch.” And there is, these orbs work like a unicorn’s horn, the longer a unicorn uses magic, the longer they’ll feel fatigued from using or casting said magic, the orbs also work like batteries and will run out meaning its given effects will wear off, so if it flashes that means it is below ten percent. I’m the only one who can charge these orbs, but I do plan to give everypony else a way to charge these orbs themselves, but for now I’ll ease it slowly into town. Moving on… The next orb is based off the light crystal. The next orb had a yellow crystal inside and gave off a brighter glow than the previous orb and for some strange reason it gave everypony a strange warmness inside them, similar to when they’re under the warmth of the sun. It shares two traits like the red orb, warmth and light, but the one unique trait it holds is its ability to contain and share magic. “Uhhh what?” asked Rainbow, confused. Basically it can contain spells or simply pure magic from a unicorn, you can cast any spell you want into this orb and it’ll hold. Simply a unicorn would need to point a horn to it and cast a spell and to release the spell they have to do the same thing again; instant magic. For now these ones only can hold simple spells that aren’t too complicated or don’t take too long to cast. It also gives magic users a boost to their magical power, based off the size of the crystal within the orb. I’m not sure what it can do to non-magic users, but so far I’ll see what affects it’ll give. Next on the list was a cyan glowing orb, that gave the opposite feeling of warmth, looking at it seemed to give shivers but not out of fear but more of a cold breeze that came out of nowhere. “Eep, chilly,” said Pinkie, shaking. This holds an ice crystal, I think something like this may interest you in particular Rainbow. Rainbow raised a brow but allowed Eclipse to continue, wanting to hear what exactly this thing could do. Now practical uses for this is a bit ambiguous but it can be used on hot days to bring a sense of cold to keep the user and others nearby cool. Another use is to create snow… as for what, it’s up to the user. Finally, it gives the ability to increase one’s speed, making the user to go beyond their regular speed. Same way how the red orb works, depending the user’s normal speed, let’s say… a normal pony’s running, they can run twice as fast. It also helps that the increase speed has no affect on one’s stamina, but again I’d be careful using this one, as going at speeds you’re unaccustomed to can be dangerous. These versions however while allow one to go fast – for a certain limit – it also increase their sense of awareness, allowing them to do multiple things at once. “Hey, this sounds helpful back at the bakery!” said Pinkie, clopping her hooves together. “The color is wonderful, I myself actually might find a use; saving time by slowing everything down seems a wonderful idea,” said Rarity. Applejack looked at Rainbow for her reaction but surprisingly she seemed uninterested. “I don’t need no speed-thingy to make me fast, I’m already the fastest there is,” said Rainbow, posing. “I find that a fair reason, the orb isn’t meant for going to extreme speeds due to the crystal’s size. I think using it for multi-tasking or traveling a simple distance from across town is a good enough use.” Moving onto the next orb, is the wind crystal, this gray orb can create light breezes and stronger gusts, varying on the size of the crystal. Its ability is to give the ability of levitation and flight- “WHAT?!” shouted Rainbow, shocked. The girls were a bit taken back by Rainbow’s sudden explosive reaction, leaving Eclipse unfazed. “Something wrong, Rainbow?” asked Eclipse. “Okay, so far these orbs sound all… cool and stuff but you got an orb for FLYING! That’s… that’s… CHEATING!” “Rainbow why are you so mad all sudden?” asked Applejack. “I actually understand Rainbow’s point, she sees this orb as a threat to not only herself but other pegasi. Specifically their jobs and way of living, but I should mention something before you throw any more accusations or assumptions.” The orb can give these things… but with one flaw, like how young pegasi have to learn to fly, the same is applied to the orb but that isn’t the biggest disadvantage. The gray orb can only give levitation and flying capabilities but the normal skills that a pegasi can do like manipulating the weather can’t be done with this crystal. Another problem is that using the orb has a dangerous downfall, that using it for flying can make a user tire easily as it is using the same stamina one uses for running. This kind of orb is more for the simple task for reaching something or carrying a heavy object or multiple objects through levitation. You can reach up a few meters beyond the height of the town hall, but beyond that I wouldn’t recommend if you’re feeling fatigued. “To put it simply, the orb isn’t meant to be used to go over one’s limits… So there’s no reason for you to worry Rainbow, that and these versions of the wind crystal only have the levitation ability applied. The ability for flight I’ll plan to place later, just so everypony understands clearly to not fool around with these orbs; I want them to be used for simple tasks, not for enjoyment reasons so I’ll sell them to older individuals or those who have permission.” Rainbow thought this through but nodded, Applejack and Rarity – who have younger siblings – accepted these terms and found the application for such orbs to be fascinating. Finally, we have the fifth and last orb for now, you girls recognize this one, do you not. The orb glowed purple and inside was the same orb that Rarity had found interesting yesterday. As you already know, this one can conduct electricity but what you don’t know yet is it can do more than just cast lightning. This kind of orb is very experimental as it can create a type of energy; the purpose of the energy is to power certain… objects. So far I’m not planning to sell these but for now they can be used to track these energies, nearby thunderheads, electric-based spells, and rubbing one’s fur against a towel which creates static energy and can be used as a sort of attraction device to attract lightning. This is especially useful for placing above your home so the lightning strikes the orb and not whatever you placed the orb above. Applejack whistled, impressed by the latest orb. “That’s a neat thing, this may be really helpful during stormy weather, be useful to place atop some of the apple trees and the barn. Would finally stop us from losing more trees during the rainy season and from Big Mac replacing new roofing for the barn’s roof from being torched black,” said Applejack. “Hey Eclipse, if you do finish testing these things, I might buy em myself, if you’re up for a trade.” Applejack grinned back and at first Eclipse seemed to mull this over, a small twitch from his ears were the only sign of any movement but after that, he nodded. “That seems fair, I actually planned to come by your estate tomorrow, wanted to ask you something.” “Great!” said Applejack, beaming happily. “Maybe you can join us for breakfast in the morning.” “That seems nice,” said Eclipse. “Yeah yeah cool, but what other stuff you got? You have any of those cool stuff like that sword from before?” asked Rainbow, ecstatic. “Now Rainbow, why would Eclipse be selling something as ghastly as that? Not there’s anything wrong with what you own Eclipse, but I find what Rainbow is interested in a bit… ‘unsafe’ is the best word I can find to describe it.” Eclipse turned around to look through some more shelves in the back, disappearing in the darkened end of the stand. At the same time, Fluttershy came by with a saddlebag full of carrots and various other vegetables for her animals and herself. The butterscotch mare approached the strange stand before spotting her friends and with a happy trot she approached. “Hello girls… Who’s stand is this? Its a bit big...” “Its Ipsy’s!” “Eclipse? So this is what he worked on?” “Yep, Eclipse sure did made this real quick though,” said Applejack, answering her question. Shuffling back was Eclipse, around his hooves was a box, before gently plopping it on top the counter. Opening said box revealed more figurines but most intriguing, was a strange piece of paper that was faced down. A breeze from nowhere sent the paper flying up before it flew straight onto Fluttershy’s vision. With a quiet eep and stumbling onto her haunches, Fluttershy reached for the paper to reveal it was a drawing. The drawing itself was aged, with the corners of the paper yellowed and the graphite drawing somewhat dulled but visible enough to see what was drawn. The girls surrounded Fluttershy, surprisingly the usually shy mare was fine with the closeness of everypony and saw what was drawn. The drawing showed a colorless drawing of a cliff with a tree barely hanging over the edge, sharp rocks and crashing waves were drawn with a dull gray, with a light gray drawn for the clouds and in the background was the sun slowly rising. Most peculiar was the use of using a gray tint to shade in the shadows and difference between the sky, cliff, and water below. “Eclipse… did you make this?” asked Fluttershy, with everypony else looking up. What happened next was a surprise as Eclipse was gone, it was then they noticed the peak of two ears over the counter and looking over they saw a barely hidden Eclipse with both hooves covering his head. “Uhhh… dude, what you doing?” “Darling… are you… embarrassed?” “Now there ain’t nothin to be embarrassed about, these drawing while old are pretty swell,” said Applejack, trying to cheer him up. “That’s not why I’m like this...” That drawings brings too many memories… back then… “Just remembered something from before is all...” Worried but not wanting to push the subject any further, Fluttershy looked at the drawing closer and saw two small figures that were leaning against one another, sitting on a bench, facing the rising sun. “Its really beautiful… h-here, you can have it back,” said Fluttershy, hoofing the drawing back. Eclipse kept quiet standing back up, standing up and turned to face Fluttershy who stared back at him. Gazing at the drawing, an unseen headache came to him, an old memory resurfacing back to him; extending his hoof, he gently pushed the drawing back to Fluttershy’s chest, as the drawing was wrapped around the crook of her hoof. “You can keep that Fluttershy, I can make another some other time later,” said Eclipse, a tad quieter than usual. Fluttershy gave a sheepish smile, accepting the gift. “I’d love to,” said Fluttershy, with a warm smile. Eclipse responded with a nod and swiveled his head to check more ponies approaching. “Well I must go back to business, it was nice meeting all of you this fine day, have a wonderful day now,” said Eclipse, with a bow. Everypony left their separate ways but Rarity stayed behind. “Darling… Eclipse, if it is not too much, but can you draw another more of those drawings… I’d love to see what you can draw.” Eclipse thought of this, but looked behind him to look at something that Rarity couldn’t see before turning to face her once more. “That depends, while I’d love to make a drawing for you, I’d need to know what you want me to draw and if you want it colored or not.” “Oh nothing too extravagant,” That be a first for me. “Something colored but simple, I’ll give you some bits for doing something like this for me.” “No bother, I was thinking of drawing something to be honest… When shall I come to your abode?” asked Eclipse. Rarity thought of a good time to visit and decided on a date. “How about the seventh of August?” “That’s reasonable, I can have what you want me to draw done the day after. I’d love to continue our conversation but I must go back to business.” Rarity understood and trotted off, waving a friendly farewell, heading back to her boutique. Eclipse waved back before turning to face the upcoming group of ponies to see what kind of wares the newest shopkeeper had for sale. Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner; 5:30pm Eclipse left his stand, placing a “Be back in half an hour” sign that hung on a nail where ponies give their bits to him. He trotted to Sugarcube Corner, the bakery being the place to get what he was trying to find. Entering the bakery, while the time was nearing dusk, there were still ponies inside the bakery, ranging from ponies conversing with one another, eating, or simply relaxing inside. Approaching the counter that was made of glass which had different confectioneries inside like cupcakes, muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, and many more sweets for any sweet-toothed fan. The one handling the front was a somewhat pudgy mare, with a pinkish swirl of mane and a light blue fur coat. She looked up with violet eyes before blinking and recognizing Eclipse in a heartbeat. “Oh, you’re that new pony that Pinkie was celebrating here just a few days ago… Eclipse Light, right?” asked the confectioner pony. “My name’s Cupcake, I own Sugarcube Corner with my husband, Carrot Cake.” “It is nice to meet you, but you can refer to me as simply Eclipse. I came here to ask you for a… proposition...” At this Mrs. Cake looked at Eclipse for one moment, before turning to face some swinging doors that most likely led to the kitchen. “Um dear, there’s somepony here that wishes to speak to us!” said Mrs. Cake, raising her voice. “Coming Cupcake,” said Mr Cake. Stepping out was a skinny, yellow coated stallion with a short ginger mane. “What’s wrong my sweet?” “This stallion here wants to give us… a proposition,” said Mrs Cake, whispering the last part. Mr Cake raised a brow before looking at Eclipse, going through his memories; he remembers who this is, shaking his head and focusing back at Eclipse with a smile and hoofshake. “Oh, you must be the pony with the new stand… er, store, how can we help you?” Eclipse bowed in greeting before pulling out something from the saddlebags he brought with him from his stand. Removing a sheaf of papers, he placed one paper down; the paper mentioned several things but the most notable thing was the deal to gain access to Sugarcube Corner’s sugar supply, while being given a monthly supply of Flavor Soda to be sold, with a quarter of bits to go to Eclipse. “I was wondering if it was possible for you to possibly share a portion of your sugar supplies, I need it to create some new drinks that I plan to sell. I can give you a monthly shipment of these new beverages to you, with a quarter of any sold going to me. If these agreements are fine with you, I just need you to sign here.” Mr Cake and Mrs Cake looked down at the agreement paper than at each other. This offer was a possible benefit but the sugar they needed was important to create their confectioneries. “How long do you plan to use some of our sugar?” asked Mr Cake. “A few months, I plan to create or find my own source of sugar, I simply need to find temporary solution until a permanent one is made. I am fine if you don’t agree to these terms, I’ll ask if you know where you buy your sugar so I may get some for my own uses.” “...Alright, we’ll accept, helping another pony out, especially somepony new would be fine with us. We’ll ask Pinkie to give you four bags of sugar to your home, but there is another question I have. After this agreement been fulfilled, are you still planning to give us these shipment of… beverages of yours?” “Of course, I need a way to spread my product to have ponies more interested in what I sell. It also helps to have connections and make good impressions with new acquaintances.” Mr Cake nodded, finding the philosophy to his liking, after some more discussion, Eclipse said his farewells and left the bakery. After exiting he looked around before heading to his next destination, his stand. Once returning back to his stand, flipping the sign to show “Open”, checking his supplies and beverages. For awhile the day started to slow down, until Eclipse decided to do something to keep himself busy. Pulling out a piece of paper, a pencil, Eclipse looked around before staring at the slowly setting sun… and began to draw. A tune came to him and began to hum, alone inside the stand, staring at the setting sun and the different hues it gave off, drawing the sight – both in paper and memory.