//------------------------------// // Forging part 1 // Story: Hammer and Harmony // by omniblitz //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash normally didn’t make an effort to get up early. In fact, most ponies called her lazy, but today was different. Today, she would see a real blacksmith make armor, not any old armor either, but HER armor. It was a thrilling aspect to say the least. The normally sleep-heavy pegasus barely slept that night, and was knocking on the library’s window quite early. “Twilight! Let’s go, we don’t wanna miss any of the awesomeness!” “Rainbow, its like 6 A.M. There’s no way hes up and working already. Besides, I need coffee and food. Come in and join me.” “Alright, but if we miss anything, it’s your fault,” Dash responded as her stomach growled. Around an hour later, both ponies were well-fed and ready to go. Twilight sported a large notebook, ink, and quill to record her observations. Three knocks on the door once again signaled their arrival. “Come in Twilight Sparkle and Pegasus, I was about to get started.” The two ponies walked into a room very similar to the one they left yesterday, with the addition of six large green bars on the floor along with a Big Mac-sized anvil. “Ka-Kajiya… is that what I think it is?” Twilight asked, shocked. “Yes. It is Orichalum. Please sit where you like but away from the anvil, forge and water,” Kajiya responded pointing his hoof at various objects including a large steel bucket. “Whats the big deal about Orichalum Twi?” “Dash… Any one of those bars would sell for enough money to buy all of Ponyville.” “Oh wow… Is he using those in our armor?” “Yes, I am. I was hired by Princess Celestia. I will spare no expense in repaying her,” Kajiya stated grimly as he took a large hammer from the wall. “Why?” Twilight asked “That story is not mine to tell. Ask your Princess. Now be silent and leave questions for when I take rest.” The earth pony proceeded to place all six bars into the furnace for around ten minutes. After he was satisfied with the now glowing color of the metal he retrieved his tongs and hammer setting the latter upon the anvil. He retrieved a single bar and hammered upon it flattening it until the glow receded. Not satisfied with the thickness he shoved the bar into the furnace again. The glow slowly returned, then another session of hammering. This continued until the bar was twice its original size, then he folded the metal in half and hammered it again, merging the sides. He then placed the bar back into the furnace once more. The earth pony repeated this process for all six bars. The two mares we mesmerized by the performance. A more sophisticated pony would comment on the pure fluidity that was shown in every step and action the stallion took. Some poets have even written upon the subject of the neighponese Kajiya and their motions. The pony surprised the mares once more, he took a red hot poker from the fire and touched it to the side of his chest, remarking grimly “ONE”. Too entranced to protest the self mutilation Twilight continued to take notes and Dash continued to drink in every second of the performance.With practiced ease the stallion continued his work placing the bars back into the furnace once again. “TWO”                 “FIVE”                 “TEN”                 “TWENTY”                 “FIFTY”         “ONE HUNDRED” Panting, the stallion removed the poker from his chest. “That is all for today, so to not bore you I will be doing this for the next two weeks.” “TWO WEEKS?” Twilight exclaimed as she arose from her trance. “You plan on torturing yourself with that poker for two weeks for a mere set of armor?” “Umm… Twi you shouldn’t have said that” Dash responded looking at the shaking stallion. A feeling of dread crept over the mares. The house vibrated slightly and the mares felt as though they stood next to a large mountain about to collapse with no means of escape. “How. Dare. You.” the stallion said cold anger suffusing his words, making the very air tremble. “How Dare you dishonor my craft. How dare you dishonor my entire existence. I live for the forge, and I will die by the forge. Since I could walk, all I knew was its warmth. I knew not the love of a mother, only the cruel mistress of the forge. You know why I torture myself on the forge? Because I pay the price. I pay the price of the sins that my creations will commit. I hurt myself so that the wielder may never feel guilt for the sins they commit in my craft. Leave now. Leave before I do something I regret. Leave and come back when you have accepted my craft, and not before.” The mares galloped out the door. Pure fear, not the fear they faced in the everfree forest, not the fear they felt against Tirek, but Pure fear. The kind of fear that only occurs when you know it’s over, that your life is at an end, and there is no survival. Still shivering, Twilight spoke first, “I say we take a day off then I’ll go apologize.” The first rays of sunset glimpsed the skies as the mares made their way home. “Yeah,” Dash responded quickly, then flew off to her cloud home to avoid being seen with tears in her eyes. True to her word, the next morning around the same time, Twilight approached the small house. Three knocks sounded her arrival but this time no response was heard. Considering her previous experience with the stallion Twilight knocked once more. Still no response came so Twilight opened the door slightly. “Hello?” Twilight called into the house. Opening the door fully, the light revealed the small stallion sitting perfectly still above a bowl of oats and grass with his eyes closed. “I hope you have come to apologize.” “Yes. I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. I’m afraid I’m not well versed in Neighpon traditions, so I had no idea what I said would be an insult. For that I am very sorry. Also, since you will be doing the same thing for the next two weeks I will leave you to your work.” “Thank you. Apology accepted,” the stallion responded as he ate his grass and oats. “I do have a few questions before you get started though.” “Ask.” “Why are you folding the orichalum?” “Because folded metal stronger than normal metal. Folded 1500 times is best.” “Why are you eating grass and oats?” “Grass and oats sustain the body. I eat only because I need to, not because I want to. It is quite inconvenient having to eat.” “How much metal goes into each armor set?” “You are mares, and not war stallions. One bar is one set. Each bar weighs 25 pounds.” “What are you going to make the weapons out of?” “Mithril, orichalum is good for armor but it isn’t rigid enough for weapons.” Twilight’s eyes widened slightly. “But mithril is almost as hard to get as orichalum!” The stallion walked over to a medium sized crate and opened the top. Looking inside Twilight saw it was filled to the brim with mithril and iron. “I brought my supplies.” “Well, thanks for answering my questions. I’ll let you get back to work.” “Thank you,” replied the stallion as he moved towards his forge to begin. Later that day Six mares and a dragon sat around the library in various chairs and couches calmly sipping their tea. The sun was high in the sky and Twilight had called for a meeting in the library. “Ah, still don’t like em’ ,” Applejack started off “Me neither. He didn’t even let me throw him a party!” Pinkie pouted “Not to mention how much of a ruffian he is,” Rarity added. “I mean, what kind of stallion loses his temper and shouts at two mares he hardly knows?” she asked, still slightly mortified of Twilight and Dash’s account of yesterday. “He scares me,” Fluttershy said, and then continued to sip her tea. “Well, hopefully he won’t have to stay too much longer girls. None of us like him, but he’s here until his work is done at the very least,” Twilight confirmed. “Well, it’s not like he goes outside or anything, so nopony has to deal with him,” Applejack said. “Well, I kinda like him,” Spike interjected. When the others looked at him oddly, he quickly added, “I mean, he wasn’t nice to Twilight and Rainbow, but otherwise he seems cool, maybe just a little misunderstood.” “Spike, you’re quite right, its just that none of us really want to interact with him, that's all,” Rarity responded. Spike thought a moment, before a lightbulb came on in his head, “Hey, I could talk with him for you girls, that way you can still get the armor made, but you don’t have to talk to him much.” “I don’t know Spike, he seems awfully dangerous,” Twilight said, obviously concerned. “Well I think it’s a splendid idea Twilight,” Rarity commented. “Spike could use more to do, especially since I don’t have any orders I need help with at the moment.”   “Alright,” Twilight agreed, “you can talk to him Spike. But if he ever tries to hurt you, tell me as fast as possible. As for me,” Twilight sighed heavily,”I’ll be glad when this is all over.” That night Spike adhered to the apple family adage, “Early to bed, early to rise,” and was on his way to Kajiya’s shop early that morning around 7 A.M. Mimicking Twilight, Spike likewise knocked three times on the door. “Come in.” As the door opened Kajiya spoke again, “Young dragon, does Twilight Sparkle know you are here?” “Yes. None of her friends wanted to come watch or help, but I was intrigued by the time I helped you the other day, and wanted to see more. So . . . I was wondering if I could help?” “Not today young dragon, unless you wish to go get gemstones for me.” “Sure, I always like going to Miss Rarity’s place!” “I need 6 pounds of the dullest gems she has, along with the largest purest white crystal she has.” “Why dull gems?” “Because gems can hold power just fine. However, to transmit that power they must have imperfections. If my guess is correct, Rarity does not have any ‘bad’ gems, so dull will have to do. And the crystal is for use in her weapon.” “Okay I’m on my way!” “Wait! It is early still. Wait until I have done twenty folds then go.” “Aww. Okay.” Around two hours later Spike found himself knocking on the door to arguably his favorite place in tower, Carousel Boutique. Spike was still slightly confused as to why Kajiya needed gemstones to make armor. The royal guard armor didn’t have any gems in it: he knew he checked Shining’s armor once. The door opened to the normal phrase, “Welcome to- Oh, Spike, I wasn’t expecting you this morning. Is everything okay?” Rarity asked. “Yeah everything’s fine, Kajiya sent me over to get gems, and a, uhh- crystal, yeah, a crystal for the armor.” “Well, do come in. I would much rather deal with my Spikey Wikey than that ruffian.” Spike blushed slightly. “Now Darling did he tell you what kind of gems he wanted?” “Umm he didn’t tell me what color but he said to get the dullest gems you have and one large white crystal.” “That’s certainly odd. How much did he say he needed?” “He needs 6 pounds.” “Well, as a fashion designer, my guess is he needs one pound for each set of armor, and since he didn’t specify color, I guess I’ll choose.” The dragon and pony continued inside towards the back room. Once there, Rarity opened a quite large chest, lighting up the room with every color of the rainbow when the light hit the large pile of gems inside. “Hmmm. Well I suppose our coats won’t be too visible in armor, so maybe something having to do with our cutie marks or coat color would work best. AH! I have it!” Rarity exclaimed as inspiration took hold. She grabbed a pound of diamonds for herself and the same amount of amethyst, blue topaz,emerald, citrine and ruby. “Okay Spike, the Diamond is for mine, Emerald for Fluttershy, amethyst for Twilight, Citrine for Applejack, Ruby for Rainbow Dash, and blue topaz for Pinkie Pie.” “Alright, now we need a large white crystal,” Spike added as he struggled to pick up the massive amount of gems laid out. “Oh darling, you don’t have to carry all of that. Here, here’s a wagon you can borrow.” Rarity used her magic to drag a small wagon from a corner of the room into which Spike placed the gems. “I do happen to have a large crystal, I got it as a souvenir when we were at the Equestria Games. It should do quite nicely,” Rarity continued as she went into her room, opened a drawer and withdrew a saddlebag-sized white crystal and placed it in the wagon. “That should be everything, Rarity. Thanks a bunch!” “Of course and do come by and see me soon I always miss my little Spikey Wikey.” Spike blushed as he quickly made his way out of the shop towards Kajiya’s house, salivating every step of the way. Reaching the house he opened the door and walked right in, seeing the blacksmith in the same position as when he left. Spike placed the gems in an empty corner of the room, now content to watch the magic happen. Kajiya stopped briefly at lunchtime, more for Spike’s sake than his own, to have lunch and inspect the gems Rarity provided. “Good, gems are good quality but not perfect . . . they will be perfect. But why are they all the same colors?” “Rarity thought they might be visible, so she chose a color for each of her friends” “Ah, I see. That is appropriate, I suppose. I don’t need any more help for quite some time, young dragon. You may go back to doing what you normally do. Come back on the last day of folding, 12 days from now.” “Alright I’ll see you then, mister. I’m looking forward to it!”