As Onyx sat listing to Rainbow's story on how she had gotten her cutie mark, he could not help but think back to how he had gotten his before he could reminisce about it. Pinkie appeared in front of him. Pinkie smiled. "How did you get your Onyx?"
The girls and the crusaders were genuinely curious. Onyx blinked before looking at the tea in his hand and letting out a sigh. "Cutie marks in the cobalt family all have to deal with the medical field; it is why Emerald is pretty much the best doctor in Ponyville."
"I was pouring over medical textbooks trying to find which branch of medicine I belonged to when I heard it that bang of metal on metal." Onyx looked up at the ceiling remembering the beautiful sound. "It drew me in and would not let me go."
"My mother, the woman who married into the Cobalt family, was making a training sword for a young warrior." Onyx slowly started moving his finger, tracing something into the table. "When she noticed me watching, she started making the sweetest music I ever heard by banging that metal together."
Onyx started tapping a beat on the table. "Foragemasters need rhythm, and my mother was one of the best."
Pinkie was surprised. "What rank was she when she retired?"
"My mother was one of the few Heirloom grade weapon masters, Pinkie." Onyx explained, "I still remember the beat. I can feel it in my heart sometimes."
"I did not get my cutie mark right off the bat, of course, but I knew right then that was my path; the runes were a surprise though." Onyx smirked before looking at Pinkie. "I have a hammer and anvil making the blessed music on my body covered in runes."
The girls were surprised by this; the crusaders looked at the girls confused. Applebloom asked Applejack, "Why is everyone so surprised, sis?"
"It is because Onyx Talent is the creation aspect of metalworking, not the researching aspect." Applejack explains happily that she was getting to teach Applebloom something. "Onyx is a top-tier researcher from what we can see and what Twilight says."
"When my Cutie mark appeared, it was the first time I made the music that my mother made for me." Onyx's taps got harder and harder on the table. "When you find what you love and make that music like we all do, well, then you will never work a day in your life."
The crusaders looked up at Onyx in surprise. Scootaloo asked Onyx the question that each of them wanted to ask. "How will we know the music is there?"
"You won't, not until you learn to listen for it, and even then, it is just going to be a whisper in your ear." Onyx informed. "The only reason it was so loud for me was because of the rhythm my mother was making."
The Crusaders blink before nodding their heads. "We need to try making music!"
The girls tried to stop them before watching them run out of the shop. Pinkie snorted, "They are going to be playing music to try and figure out their Cutie mark for days, Onyx."
"I did not lie to them." Onyx smiled before recalling the banging of the metal on metal.
"I know you did not lie to them, Onyx." Pinkie smiled as she watched her friends complain about all the noise that the girls would be making. "How is your engine going?"
"Mac and I have finally finished the machine that will hold the engine." Onyx smiled and sipped his tea. "It is going to move at a staggering 20mph and be able to run on full for 12 hours."
Pinkie let out a low whistle at the numbers. "Sounds impressive."
"It is really not." Onyx thought back to some of the things that were created in his previous world. "But what it truly is, is a start."
"The fact my Runic engine works means I can start working on my next creation." Onyx was thinking about his next creation with genuine joy.
"Oh yeah, what are you working on next?" Twilight was curious because she had seen the blueprints for the Runic engine, and it was awe-inspiring.
Onyx smirked before pulling out a blueprint for a massive airship. "Meet the air cruiser."
"it is 500 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 122 feet tall. It holds a crew of roughly 489 people comfortably and doubles that with 12-hour shifts on and off." Onyx explained as he pointed to the various pieces on the ship. "Of course, it is nowhere near ready. I need to get my Runic language completed, but this is going to be a crown jewel."
Twilight and Rainbow were quickly able to see that this behemoth was meant to fly. Twilight looked at the measurements and everything else before asking. "Will your runic engine be able to move this thing."
"According to all the information I have. Yes, it can." Onyx informed them. "I will have to scale the Runic engine, of course, but from all of my reading, it will work perfectly."
"This is going to be really expensive, Onyx. How are you going to pay for it?" Twilight questioned as she looked at the blueprint.
"Oh, I am nowhere near ready to make this thing," Onyx answered while looked at the airship before turning to a different section of the book and showing them a blueprint. "This is a communications device that would go onto the airship itself, allowing them to communicate back and forth between two such devices."
Onyx was explaining radio which he hopes to get working using Runes itself. Twilight studied the blueprint and realized that this was another part of the airship used for daily life. "All the parts of the airship double for civilians, Onyx?"
Onyx smiled and nodded, happy that Twilight was getting it. "Yup, I try not to make things that can only work for one side of the divide."
Pinkie looked the blueprint up and down and could not make heads or toes about it, while Rainbow was still looking at the airship. "What are you going to call it?"
Onyx was confused before realizing that he would need to come up with a name for the airship class he was making. "Not sure yet."
The girls nodded before they heard a god-awful racket; they quickly looked outside and saw the three crusaders playing music. The look they gave Onyx was devasting. "This is your fault Onyx."
"Give them a week, and they will move on just like anyone else." Onyx informed and tapped a beat on the table. "They have good rhythm, though."
Pinkie started counting the beats and was just as impressed as Onyx was. "They might not know notes, but they most definitely can keep a beat."
Twilight was confused before ignoring the noise and counting when they were making the notes. "One of them has the potential for music, but it is not their talent there talent most likely needs them to keep a rhythm in something."
Onyx hummed along to the beat before snorting when one of them messed up a note, but the others quickly recovered for her. "I wonder which one of them has the rhythm talent?"