//------------------------------// // Power up // Story: Steam The Unknown // by Cavedragon //------------------------------// Steam the Unknown by Cavedragon Edited by: JTHENOOB Chapter two: Power up God, why my face? My head was pounding in my skull, and my body was sore. I think I might have had too much to drink again and I had crazy nightmare. That is till the sounds of crackling wood greated my ears. I opened my eyes to campfire, a small tent, and a tan unicorn with a sword and a black hat black leather duster lying next to him. I groaned it wasn’t a dream. I looked over at the unicorn to see if he was ok. Edge was sleeping on the other side of the fire peacefully. He had bandages wrapped around his middle, but he wasn't to wosre for the where. I couldn't do more then roll over on to my side, damn I was hurting. I was surprised that I was able to move at all. Looking at the fire, I thought about what happened to me a while ago. I mean, the power was incredible but scary at the same time, but the question remained. Where did it come from? The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't rap my head around it. Well I guess that’s what happens when you try to figure out magic. A rustling in the bushes cought my attention. I looked up from the fire to see the little blue unicorn came back with some wood in her magic. I could see her better in the fire light. Her cap was in taters, her mane and tail was dark blue with two light blue stripse. I could see her cutie-mark was a star wand with a whisp of blue magic with sparkles. I bet I could guess who I saved last night. She saw that I was awake; she put the wood into a pile near the fire, and came over to me. “I see that you’re awake Dragon." she said adjusting her hat. It was a dirty blue mages hat, with worn stars. It seemed to have been stepped on at one point in its life. I slowly sat up holding my throbbing head. “Ya, I'm awake... My name is Steam by that way." She smiled as if this was an opening for something," Well Steam" She jumped up and posed like she practiced this before flinging her dingy cap out behind her. With a mystical voice, she began to speak, " I AM THE-“. ” Great and powerful Tixie" I finished for her intro for her. I said it without thinking, and I did think it to be kind of ironic since it was her episode I last saw from my world. She stopped, slack-jawed, some weak firework magic going off behind her. “How did you know that?" she asked a bit deflated by me interrupting her big intro. She dropped to her rump stunned. I shrugged, “I hear things here and there I guess." I rubbed my claw between my horns feeling a dull ache. She just took some pride from that. “Oh I see, my reputation precedes me, even to the more remote regions". “Reputation? That’s not saying much.” Edge snorted rolling over. Edge grumbled from the pain in his side, and slowly sat up, wincing from possibly a broken rip or two. Tixie looked at him eyes narrowed, " You impudent merc, how dare you slander my stature?" He glared back at her, “Well, considering the fact that I just fought, five Manticores, and a Ursa Major for only SEVENTY-FIVE BITS to protect a stuck up mare who ran off and left me to DIE I'm not impressed"! I can understand where he was coming from, but this was starting to get out of hand, “umm..." I began to say but was interrupted by Tixie. “You should be honored to be serving the Great and Power Tixie." Her voice tense but under control despite her anger. “Uhh, can we just...” I tried to speak again but was cut off again. “Honored? Don't make me laugh. You hired me and those two other slobs to protect you from things in the forest because you can't. Not go on suicide missions." He said not breaking eye contact with Trixie, his voice low and threatening. She didn't back down," I hired you buffoons to protect me so I can practice in the forest without being disturbed". He laughed, thick with sarcasm," HAHA... Oh, that’s rich, I know you weren't out there to practice, you were out there to prove that you where better then Twilight Sparkle. We all know that". “N-no I was not. Why would you think of such a thing?" she said taken aback," I would have won that fight with that beast if you two didn't interfere with my corageous battle.", she was doing her best to look confident, but Edge looked right through it. “Oh, sure you had it. You just don't want to admit that Twilight is more powerful then you". Come on don’t attack her like that. Trixie was starting to look nervous, " wha..." she managed to get out before, Edge interrupted her, " I mean you can't it let go. She upstages you once, saved ponyville, and you can't let go of that loss. You rattle on and on about your acomplishments, and your different scams to try and upstage her. Your a pathetic arogant ass ". Ok,this was getting way out of hand. “Will you two..." I was cut off by Edge doing a very lousy Trixie impersonation by putting a hoof over his forehead in a terrible dramatic pose. “Oh, I'm the Great and Power Trixie, and I am obsessed with Twilight sparkle. One day I'll best her, even though I don't stand a snowpony chance in tartarus because all I know is how to brag and do cheap magic tricks." uhh-oh, that did it. Trixies eyes swelled with tears, then without a word, she ran off into the dark forest. I staired at him, thinking of the right words without him stab me in the face. Edge he finally looked at me after a while," What"? he said holding his hooves up. I picked my words carefully," Well, aren't you a prince charming." I said, my lips dripped with sarcasm. Ok, so I was being blunt about it, he kind of deserved it right? He narrowed his eyes at me," What's that’s sapost to mean"? Ok, I was a bit scared that him might stab me, but I still I glared back, " I can understand that you are upset about her almost getting you killed, but that doesn’t give you the grounds to completely destroy her the way you did". No matter how menacing he looked, I was going to stick up for her. Even at the cost of his sword in a place that it was not built for. “You heard the whole thing, do you think what she did was right"? He said relaxing a bit but still looking very searus. “Not in the slightest, but if you lost everything like she did in the way she did, would you being doing anything to get back what you lost?" I asked, doing my best to hit the real subject hard. Edge just sat there thinking in intently on my words. I sat there patiently for his answer trying to slow my heart. After a minute or two that felt like hours, He sighed and looked at me with some gilt in his eyes, " I guess your right Steam." he said looking down. I could see he was feeling very guilty about what he did and a wash of relief came over me. I got to my feet slowly, and walked over you. I gave him a nudge for him to look at me," Well, it's not too late to say you’re sorry, and besides, we need to get her before she finds another Ursa Major." I said trying to inject some humor into the conversation. He gave me a small smile," Ya, she still owes me twenty-five bits." He said getting to his hooves. He picked up his hat and light rapier. It wasn't long before we headed after trixie. . . . Edge lights the tip of his horn with a small ball of light that lit up the area about as bright as a torch. It wasn’t long before he found Trixies trail, and who could have missed it? It was overuse that she was upset from the trampled bushes, and tossed aside stones. As we walked along the trail, we began to talk some to pass the time, mostly about him. From what he told me, Sharp Edge was in the plot bucking business and in his words," Business is good". He explained, he was one of the finest swordsponies in Eqestria. He hasn't met a pony yet that could best him with a blade, well except his master. We were talking about the time he was playing a prank on his master with a huge balloon filled with water and soap, is when I was blind sighted with a pillow that felt like it was shot out of a high power air cannon. The force knocked me over with a face full of pillow. I could hear Edge laughing hard before he asked the expected question," are you ok"? When I finally sat up and pulled the pillow off is when a wad of spaghetti, splattered over Edges face. I grinned and did my best not laugh looking at the red goo and hanging noodles. “Where the buck did this come from?” he licked the sauce off his lips, “strawberry "? He looked at me grinning at him, “What are you grinning at"? I held the pillow over my head and yelled,” ALL HAIL THE FLYING SPAGETTI MONSTER!” I don’t know why I said that but I just thought it was funny. Edge opened his mouth for a retort but a small scream from ahead got our attention. It sounded like Trixie was in series trouble. We ran ahead to see what was going on. The goings on was ahh...was something. It was a good sized shrine that was dimly lit torches. The shrine was for the most part mix matched work of a building. The colors was faded, but was in variety of them. There was just the same statute in different poses, all around it. However, the ones that weren't too smashed looked like the craftsmen lost some pieces and desisted to replace them with other parts that were in a grab bag. They where so random I couldn’t really tell what it was. They all resembald what looked like a eastern dragon body, a head of a goat, one ice spiked for a horn, a thin dragon horn for the other, a single snaggle tooth, a lions paw for one leg, and a eagle claw for the other. It was a strange creature, but not as much so as what was grading the shrine. The guards were a red, a yellow, a green, and an orange gummy bears. They were about pony size. I had to admit, that had to be a lot of sugar walking around. They even moved around in the shrine in a camping formation, it was kind of funny. However, they had army helmets made of gummy to match their color and armed with what looked to be comical sized rocket launchers. The red had the spaghetti launcher, the yellow had the pillow air cannon, the orange shot an orange sticky liquid, and green one was shooting a scatter blast of caramel apples. They looked like they mean business. We spotted Trixie hiding behind a large cracked statue. She looked ok except a good portion of her coat was soaked with the orange goo. She was trapped and under fire from the gummy bears. She tried to hold a shield up to try and get out, but for some reason the spaghetti and orange slim, past right through it and splattering her like Edge. She was defiantly in trouble. We crouched down to think of a way to help her. “So, do you know what’s going on down there?" I asked Edge. He edged over to look at it again for a few seconds. “It looks like she got herself into a Discord shrine." He said shaking his head and crouching again. I blinked confused," A what?" I asked. He looked at me, " you know Discord right"? I held up my claw and made a sorda jester. He continued to explain," Well, it was said that, when he barely came into power. He made these shrines. Some are just to poke fun at ponies, and just like practical jokes, but some say that they had some sort of secret of Discord.", he shrugged when he said that," But no one has ever proved that. All anypony has found from these shrines was... Well this." he motioned a hoof to the strange sight over his shoulder. Well, that makes some sort of since, even for the God of Chose. “So, we know what it is. Now, how do we go about getting Trixie without getting smothered by a pillow, or spaghetti, or impaled by a caramel apple?" I asked him. He scratched his chin with a hoof, " Well, there’s more of them then use so I think we need to do a surprise attack." he said thinking. Ok, try to think of this as a videogame, so lets think of this as black ops" That’s a good Idea. I think you need to be the distraction because you are faster than I am and you doge easier then I can. I'll sneak around and surprise them with a back attack. When I get their attention, get to Trixie and make sure she’s ok, then both of you attack them when they have full attention on me." I said to him drawing crud drawing of the plan in the dirt with my claw. He grinned," That sounds like a great plan. I’m ready to do this thing." he said starting to get up. I pulled him back down," just be careful, you still look terrible and I don't want to have to carry you out of here because you busted more bones". He just gave me a smirk," no problemo" He jumped up and ran around the statues yelling out taunts and insults. That unicorn was crazy. It took me a while to sneak around the back of the shrine. It wasn’t much easier with a tail. I had to maneuver around bushes, climb over broken statues, and not get seen by the commando Gummy bears. I didn’t think it would that difficult to maneuver on my belly with a tail attached. None the less, I brought the pillow that hit me in the face earlier. You can't be over prepared for these kinds of things. I poked my head over a stone slab that was knocked over behind the gummy bears. Edge was going a great job; they didn't seem to notice me. " Ok," I whispered to myself," Time to give you guys the most unpleasant pillow fight of your lives.” my claws motioned on the pillow like I was cocking a gun, and for some reason it actually made the noises of a shotgun loading the first round into the barrel. The red one heard me, turned around quick, and armed at me. I throw the pillow at the red's launcher, making his shot go wild, making a spaghetti mess on the opposite wall. This was a perfect opportunity. I rushed him and tor his head off with my claws. That’s funny; doesn’t everyone eat the head of a gummy bear first? I just think of it as ironic is all. Anyway, with that pause, the Orange, splattered the left side of my face with...Orange sherbet? I was dazed long enough to get hit with five caramel apples. One especially, hit a very sensitive place of my dragon anatomy. I went to the ground and rolled behind a of some sort of stone pedestal and clutched myself. I may have thick skin, and scales but it still hurts like hell when you take a hit by a high speed apple to the joystick and two buttons. "Oooo...not those", I whimpered hearing more caramel apples thumped agents the stone pedestal, “Edge, a little assistance.... Please..." I said as loud as I could muster without reviling that my voice went up a few octaves. I heard a courageous yell up from behind me. I leaned around the pedestal slightly to see Sharpe Edge holding the red gummy bear's head, squared on his sword. He took a large bit out the head and charged. He dodged the spaghetti but a pillow hit him hard in the rips. Yes it was a pillow, but from point blank range from a launcher that could send it a hundred meters, he could have died. I hope he doesn’t after this. He yelped in pain and went down in a tumble. A whistling of a firework flew through the air. The rocket hit the yellow gummy bear, and then exploded. The yellow gummy bear breasted into a bunch of glittering sparkles. I got up to see that the Orange bear pointing its launcher nearly touching Sharp Edge’s head. I don't care who you are, that’s way too much sugar in one douse. I ran for bear growling. With a quick grab and tug, I ripped the Orange bears head off and bit its torso off to make sure it was dead. It didn't taste that bad, but I still throw the head over my shoulder. I looked down at Edge, he was still breathing. “That’s good” I said to myself with some relief, “now, time to deal with the last one”. When I turned around, I was staring down the barrel of the Green gummy bear’s launcher. This is going to hurt. The green one was about to fire when I saw blue ora prying a large stone brick above the Green bear. It made a loud squishing thud when the brick came loose and made contacted with greens head. When I brain finally clicked to what was going on. I was kind of blank from nearly getting shot in the face with caramel apples. I shook my head, and walked over to Edge to see if he was ok. He was still breathing but he looked like he was in a lot of pain. I skipped the stupid question of are you ok to the more pressing matter," Edge do you think you can get up?" I asked him. "No, I’m just twitching on the ground in pain because its a new dance craze" he said through clinched teeth. Yep, he’s alive. I looked over to Trixie when she was inspecting the brick the squished the green gummy bear, " Trixie, can you please help him?"I said with some worry in my voice. She looked up at me from the squished gummy bear and glared at me," Why should I? He does nothing but my mock me. He doesn’t deserve my help.” She said anger still burning in her eyes. “Look, it was wrong of me to yell at you like that. I was upset and in pain, I'm so sorry for everything I said." Edge said with tears of pain leaked from his eye, on the verge of crying in agony, “please help me, it’s getting harder to breath". She was stunned for a bit before she walked up to him," do you really mean that? Including the bad impression of me", she asked him still glaring at him. He did his best to nod to her; his breath was getting very shallow. She looked sceptical as she gazed down at him. None the less, she lit up her horn with a light blue glow. The blue glow conceited with his rib-cage, there were some loud popping and abetment to his raps, and he could breath normally again. "I did what I could but you still need to go to a healer." she said finishing up. I helped him to his hooves, he was limping a little more but he was doing better. I looked around the shine letting them talk and say their sorries. It looked bigger on the inside then the outside. The decor was set up to be a home base for the gummy bears but it also served as some sort of holding chamber or something of the like. I looked at the pedestal that I was hiding behind," I wonder why where they protecting this place so visuals?" I asked myself looking on top of it. There seem to be a small square block on top of it. The block was covered with blue, red, yellow, green, orange, and white squares. I picked it up in my claws, “They were protecting an f yay ing rubrics-cube?" I asked no one in particular, and it was getting a little annoying with my foul language was being changed when it leaves my lips. What was up with that? It was then; in my thinking process is when I heard something move. All of us looked over at the body of the red gummy bear, with the orange’s head to replace its own. It held up a launcher from one of his fallen friends. We couldn't do anything about it shooting out a pillar which started to make the hole shrine start coming down on top of us. The duel color gummy was crushed under one of the falling rubble of the shrine. I knew I only had moments to push the two ponies out when a lot of the roof started coming down. I Picked up Edge the best i could and shoved Trixie. Larges chucks where coming down quickly when we neared the opening. I closed my eyes and gave a hard jump with Trixie in front of me. With a large whoosh of air, the shrine was no more. I stood up in the dust cloud coughing," is everyone still alive?" I asked out into the dark. “Trixei is here", she coughed to my left. “I’m not dead" Edge said to my right. Trixie and Edge lit their horns so we could see each other, and we looked terrible. “I think we need to head back to camp and try to get some sleep.", I said panting. We all agreed and started making our way back to the camp. . . . When we got back to came, the fire was only glowing embers. I helped Edge back to his spot as Trixie started the fire going again. As the campfire lit up the surrounding area, we all could see the sticky, dusty coding that covered us. I was looking at the cube from the shrine when sat down hard, but jumped up again when I let out a small yelp when I sat on my tail wrong. I held my tail as I gingerly sat down again. I looked at my tail. I was weird really looking at it now. Before, I didn't really notice it, but now I think of it, It just feels strange. My stomach growled in protest for food. I guess the gummy bear wasn’t enough. Trixie looked at me," I'm guessing you’re hungry". I gave her a nod, “I could eat". She pulled up her saddlebags over to her and started looking through them, “I don't have much in the way of dragon food, but I do have this.” she pulled out a large red crystal that was slightly glowing its color" I founded in a pile of teeth where the Ursa Major was standing." she said before holding it out to me," you can eat this, I don't want to want to own anything that was in the beasts mouth or you look at me like a meal". I took the crystal and wiped it off not knowing where it’s been. I know that diamond dogs and dragons eat gems, so I guess this could work. I put the crystal in my mouth and bit down. My fangs broke that crystal Iike rock candy; in fact it tasted like rock candy. The flavor was wild cherry with the distinct popping in my mouth of pop rocks. I swallowed and felt better, even tingly. “umm Steam,” Edge began to speak," Why are you all growly?" he asked with wide eyes, even Trixie was staring at me with disbelief on her face. I looked at myself, and sure enough I was glowing red for a few seconds then the glow dissipated. “Umm," I stumbled with the surprise," what was that about?” I asked but only silence answered me. Trixie looked at me closely before answering my question, “I have no idea...” she walked about over to her saddlebags and dug through them until she pulled out a book. A couple of page flips latter, and a few strange curses, she found what she was looking for, " Celestia’s big fat rump..I should have kept that crystal". “Why?" Edge and I asked simultaneously. “Well, what I can say is that was not any normal crystal. It was a Power Crystal." she said with her noise still in the book. I didn't say anything, Edge looked confused, “What the hay is a Power Crystal?" Edge asked in his confusion. His facile expression was priceless. Trixie just rolled her eyes. “It says here, that a Power Crystal is a crystal that gave off its own uneic magic source. It is so rare, there is no recorded of how many are in existence or If any do exist. It also says that the only one ever found was by a diamond dog named Gimpaly. He found it when he was digging to deep in his hole and nearly hit tartars." she said reading. I held back a smile when she read about the diamond dog. “So, Steam must have gotten some kind of new power when he ate it?" Edge asked. Trixie closed the book and placed it back in her saddlebags. “seem so, I could have use it but I had to give it up for lizard food." she snorted indignantly. “He isn't any Lizard, he’s a dragon, and this dragon saved your plot form being a stain on an Ursa Major's paw.” Edge snapped. Trixie was about to speak before I burped up the same black scroll earlier today, the only thing different was the stamp was only a single white star. We all stared at the scroll for a few minutes before I picked it up and opened it. Pyro Breath “Pyro breath? What is that sapost to mean?" Edge said very confused. I shrugged, then I got a sniffle, “ahhh AH CHOO" I sneezed, sending a jet of an inferno dark blue flame straight across the camp, nearly missing the two unicorns and tent. I clamped my mouth shut with my claws, only steam came out my noise. Trixie was in saucer eyed fear as Edge just looked in awe. “That.... was ....AWSOME!" He cheered doing a hoof pump. “I do have to admit... that was very impressive." Trixie said still with the priceless look. I smiled and shrugged, taking my claws off my snout, “thanks I guess, but I dont remeber it being that big." I said fibbing a bit. She looked at the scorch marks on her tent," the Power Crystal must have strengthened your fire." she said, testing to see if the fabric of her tent was still good. I shrugged looking back over at Edge. He was limping over and picked up the multi colored cube in his magic. “Whats this thingy?" he asked looking it over. I looked at him," Oh, that's what was in Discords shrine. I think it’s a puzzle cube" I said to him. “oh, how do you open it do you think?" he asked looking at it intently trying to open it with his eyes. “well, I guess you try and twist it to mach up the colors" I said holding up my claw making the mosions to how to function a rubrics-cube. “Ho...” he said turning the cube in various combinations. I watched him in his frustration, fiddling with the cub for a few minutes. When Trixie was done making sure her tent survived, she sat near him and watched him as well, she was getting very annoyed after a few minutes of him trying to mach up clolors on a cube. “Let me see that," she grabbed the cube with her magic and started to twist it around and around. “I bet I could figure it out. I have the knowhow to figure out any Discord Puzzle" she said eyes focused on the cub as It buzzed around and around in her magic. “You’re messing it up, I almost had it" Edge said watching her progress. Every second passes by, his annoyance increased. He took the cube away from here,” here let me show you how its done” he said twisting it around in his magic. I started to feel very... itchy. It must been the sticky substance that was mixing with the dirty, was getting into my scales. "Umm, you two try and figure that it out will I go clean up." I said getting up when Trixie and Edge was having a magic tug-of-war with the colored cube. I picked up with the scroll and started walking a little way into the forest to a little stream near the camp. I could hear those muffled arguments of the two fighting about which way the cube should turn. I opened the scroll, "Infamous two really?" I said to the scroll knowing Luna can hear me. :P Maybe. Just thought it would make it easier on you if I helped you along a bit, by making your adventure a bit like a videogame. I sighed and shook my head, “Well, I almost died if you didn't know." I said to the scroll, feeling a bit frustrated, "I was going to die by a giant paw of a Purple bear”. She took a pause; I guess she was choosing her word carefully. But you didn’t your still in one piece...aren't you? “Yes I am, thanks to this... this power that came over me.” I said, before realizing that I was talking to one of the most powerful beings in this demotion. “Wait a minute. What was that about? I mean, you’re the one that brought me here, what did you do to me?" I ask Luna hopefully. I took her a few seconds before answering. When I brought you here, I gave you a body of a basic dragon. It had the basic states of being fire proof, some improved strength, scales for some defense, and claws for digging through nearly anything, razer sharpe teeth, and hard skull to your dragon brains from becoming pudding from all of the hits you been taking. However, your new body didn't have much power. So, I gave you a rage power if you will. It worked beautifully, but it had some side-effects. I took a pause at that," Side-effects, what kind of Side-effects?" I asked hoping nothing weird happens to my new anatomy. She took a bit to reply back to me. I'm not going to lie Steam. When you used that the Dragon Rage to fend off the Ursa Major, it nearly killed you. I was frozen for a few beats," what?" I felt the blood run from my head and puddle in my feet. It seems that she was hesitant to reply. I'm sorry Steam; I meant for it to be charged over time. However, when you activated your Dragon Rage by being near death, it had no energy stored in you. So, it drew off your natural anger that was apart of your life force. Which, was a great success but the drain of your lifeforce nearly killed you. I didn’t mean for it to react that way. The worst part, is that it is now connected with your lifeforce permently. “So... you gave me a power that could KILL ME!?" I said feeling a bit upset. Ok, I was feeling very upset. I felt steam leak out my nosie as I felt my temper rising. She was hasty to reply. I didn't mean for this to happen Steam. I never would have given it to you if I known that would have happened. I would never get somepony killed, exspetally one that saved my life. To be honist Steam...I kind of like you. Ok, that caught me off guard. It felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over me, then heat warmed my face face. If dragons could blush I think I was. “Umm... Thanks...um anyway, do you know anything about Power Crystals?" I asked trying to hide my embarrassment. I swear I heard a giggle before she reply. All I know of Power Crystals is that they are few and far. I have noticed you have found a fire breathing Power Crystal. That’s why I sent the scroll to give you a clue of what you got. I will be sending more clues to you when you find more. I wont spoil anythingels for you ,but I can assure you that there are more. I can't talk much longer. My sister is getting a bit upset at me not working. WelI, that was some good info, I may have a chance if i find more Power Crystals, but I had a weird question that I had to ask. "Luna, before you go I have a question. Is there any other humans from my demotion that got brought here besides me?" I don’t know why I asked that to here. I guess I just wanted to know if I was alone in this world or not. Either way, it took her a few minutes to answer. Well, there have been rumors of others being brought here for versus reasons, but i can not say. However, to my understanding anypony with enough power can do that for anyone. If you’re very lucky you may find another human in a new body here but its unlikely since they are usealy seprested. I really must be going. Just be safe little dragon. ;P I just grind when the scroll vanished in a pool of black smoke with blue sparkles. I didn’t like the little part but I just wrote it off as a joke. I did my best to clean the dirt and dryed sticky goo off my scales before I heard the arguing get louder. “Well, better go separate the kids before they kill each other." I said with a chuckle before making my way back to camp. I wonder what is in the little cube. Footnote: Power up: Pyro Breath, light fires with a simple sigh. You can now breathe fire at will. Useing Pyro breath will drain stamina. (Anthers note: Thank you for comments guys, please keep them coming. No trolls would be nice. And thanks for ablest reading my story for those just browsing)