The Diary of Crankshaft and his Mechanical Misadventures

by BLT185

Chapter 2: Experiments and Explosions

Chapter 2: Experiments and Explosions

I awoke to the sight two pale green eyes staring intently at me. I gasped and I bolted upright. The creature bolted to the foot of my bed only for me to realize that it was my cat. I rested my back against the headboard and chuckled, he wanted his breakfast, this happens almost every morning and still it surprises me. I’ve had Ashes, since I was a young foal. He was always a faithful companion and, for a time, the grey feline was my only friend.

I got to my hooves, made my bed and walked to the kitchen and filled Ashes’ bowl. He mewed happily and proceeded to eat. I then proceeded to prepare my own breakfast of oatmeal, I rarely have the time to prepare something more extravagant, and even then I typically save the most refined dishes in my repertoire for when I am entertaining a guest.

I headed to my workshop immediately after I had finished eating, the books and gems I had procured yesterday in tow. I set up a barrier enchantment on all exits of the workshop. I rested the books on a desk and proceeded to read. The Relation between Gemstones and Magic made it very clear that if one is trying to use magic with gems, it takes a steady hoof and extreme focus.

After gleaning all the information I could from it, I closed the book and opened the other tome I had been given, titled The Molecular Structure of Gems. I removed a notebook from one of my shelves and proceeded to take notes on the gems I had purchased including chemical makeup and molecular density. I knew I was now ready to begin my experiments.

I had laid the gems in a row and had organized them by type, I had decided at the spur of the moment to purchase two of each, so that I could have a control for my experiment. I decided to start with the ruby. It became enshrouded in my blue-grey magic aura. I focused and tried to will some of my magical energy into the ruby, the red gem had began to glow a very faint purple at its core. I set the gem down and compared it to the ruby I was using as a control. There was an extremely small sphere of energy, about the size of a pea with the same color as my magic aura, in the charged gem. This was causing it to emit a pulsating purple light.

The sapphire was next, chemically speaking, the ruby and the sapphire are almost the same, but they are not identical. I proceeded to force my magic into it and it received it, a small glowing sphere appeared in the middle, much like it did in the ruby. I set it down after the sphere had reached roughly the same size as the one contained within the ruby. I was being very careful not to fill the gems with too much energy, if I did, I ran the risk of the gem collapsing in on itself and imploding, even though I had barriers in place, the results would be devastating to my home.

The emerald looked almost aquamarine by the time I had finished charging it, I was beginning to feel a little tired, which was unusual given that it was only noon and I had gone to bed earlier than usual the previous night.
The diamond was the last gem to be charged. I was surprised by the amount of effort it took to force energy into it; clearly its molecular density was making it difficult to penetrate but eventually, much like the others, a small sphere of energy began to grow inside of it. When the energy sphere had grown to the size of a pea I set it down and looked at it.

Deep cracks had begun to snake all across the diamond’s surface and almost all the way to the energy sphere. Its density must make it unable to hold that much energy. I decided to destroy it; it would be too dangerous to keep in that condition. If I didn’t dispose of it, it would most likely explode on its own. I put a small metal dome over it, rigged the inside with small explosives I had invented and bolted it to the ground. I ran outside my containment enchantment with the other charged gems and covered my ears with my hooves. The explosives went off and there was a deafening boom. Luckily, the barrier enchantment was still in place.

As I reentered my workshop I decided to take in all the damage that had been done by the explosion. First and foremost, there was a small deep crater in the ground where the dome had been bolted down. I checked it for signs of the diamond; I found none and knew that the explosion had completely destroyed it. The dome I used to cover it had become lodged into the ceiling. Any notes that I hadn’t put into cabinets had been scattered and charred to the point of illegibility. The notes I had filed were safe, but the cabinets containing them had been knocked over. My safe was one of the few things that showed no damages, save for a few scuff marks on the outside. I put the successfully charged gems in there, to separate them from anything else in the workshop.

Before I closed the workshop for the night I had to clean up what I could. I replaced the cabinets and swept up the gravel from the ceiling that had fallen down when the dome flew into it. I found the books I had been studying, the table they were on had flipped over, sparing them from most of the blast, but they were a little worse for wear. After I had finished, the workshop looked much as it was before the experiment, granted it now had a crater in the floor, but I can’t do anything to fix that right now.

I went inside my house to check on everything. Ashes was hiding under the bed, the explosion had obviously frightened him. I served him dinner, ate a meager helping of hay fries I had cooked up. I took a shower to completely wash the dust and gunpowder residue from my body and now I am planning to go to bed, I have more work to do tomorrow, I need my rest.

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoy this chapter and enjoy my story.