The next morning, Spike did something on accident, something that he enjoyed immensely before: he slept in. Opening his eyes and realizing it was already almost noon, he panicked, and rushed out the door towards Gizo’s place. Opening the door, he found the stallion taking several objects out of the magic still.
“Ah, dragon, I am afraid I am already done decorating the weapons,” Gizo said as he pointed a hoof towards the finished, and now enchanted, weapons.
The rapier and longsword now had decorative hilts, studded in leftover gems and gold. The hydra had been finish-braided along a ten foot length, leaving the last two feet as four small ropes which were now studded with leftover orichalum. The disk looked the same as it did yesterday, while the bugle and shoes were lined with words of power, and were glowing slightly.
“Aww,” Spike pouted, wishing now that he hadn’t slept in.
“Go, and collect your friends. I shall teach them today and go back to Canterlot on tonight’s train.”
“Do you have to leave?”
“I have no place here, dragon. I belong to the forge, and this is the end of my forge in Ponyville.”
Saddened, Spike made his way out of the house and went to collect his friends for what he assumed was the last meeting with the small stallion that he’d come to know.
The midsummer sun shone brightly upon Sweet Apple acres, revealing a single orange mare enjoying the warm temperature. A slight breeze swept through the fields, rustling the bright green tree leaves.
Today was the day. Today was when Kajiya was supposed to train each pony on how to use their weapons that he’d made. Six other ponies and one small dragon made their way towards where the orange mare was sitting in the empty field.
“Howdy ya’ll, ya ready ta git started?”
“Yes,” the single stallion said as he dropped his saddlebags, carefully revealing blue-white metal inside them.
“Kajiya, you never actually told us what those images on the dice meant. What weapons are we using?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Longsword for Twilight, of normal length,” Kajiya said, pulling out a sword that looked similar to those used by the royal guard. “Rapier and crystalline metal for Rarity,” he continued, pulling out a smaller, thinner sword and small, blue crystalline disk. “Enchanted Bugle and horseshoes for Pinkie, and wing blades for Rainbow Dash.” He pulled out the named items, all three glittering blue in the bright sun. “Finally, a Hydra for Applejack. Fluttershy has no weapon.” the stallion finished pulling out a small, blue ropelike object.
“What in tarnation’s a ‘Hydra’? Ah mean, Ah know its a critter, but what’s the weapon?”
“Hydra is metal rope, with four ends studded in spikes. Used like a lasso or rope” Kajiya replied.
“So, why doesn’t Fluttershy have a weapon?” Dash asked as she had already attached her wing blades and was admiring them in the sunlight.
“Die rolled a Star. Star means magic. I made her armor enhance her magic, and that is her weapon. Now, all of you must practice. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle need to practice slashing motions, Rarity stabbing motions and Pinkie must practice bucking.”
“Ah can teach Pinkie ta buck, but what am ah supposed ta practice?” Applejack inquired
The stallion turned away from the mares, who all stared at his strange movements. In one swift motion, Kajiya reared up, and brought his forehooves down with a mighty THUMP!, shaking the ground around them. The impact was imbued with Earth pony magic, and caused a dozen or so large earthen pony mannequins to rise from the ground.
“You must practice on these, for your weapon is the hardest to use. However, the dragon once mentioned you can use a lasso. Lasso a target, but use the Hydra instead of your rope.”
Skeptical, Applejack followed Kajiya’s instructions, tying one end of the weapon into her tail and lifting the weapon above her head in circular motions. She found to her surprise that it wasn’t much heavier than her actual rope.
With one last circle over her head, Applejack swung the Hydra at the closest mannequin as she would a lasso. Instead of catching the statue in a single loop, each of the four heads of the weapon had encircled the statue.
“Now pull” Kajiya said simply.
Applejack pulled slightly on the weapon. To her surprise, the mannequin simply fell apart, large chunks falling to the ground.
“Well done. You have a good talent for the Hydra. But beware, for that is exactly what it would do to an actual pony,” Kajiya cautioned grimly. He walked over to the others, who were all practicing around a single mannequin.
Stunned, Applejack just stared at the remains of the mannequin. Full realization crept over the mare, turning her a sickly shade of green. She quickly faced away from her friends, and threw up when the visual image of doing that to another pony hit her.
“Applejack! Are you Okay?” Twilight shouted, running over from her training after seeing Applejack puke.
“How-How could ah deserve such a cruel weapon? Ah never asked for somethin’ ta kill ponies with! Ah never even wanted this!” Applejack ran from the clearing, tears streaming from her eyes.
“What did you do to Applejack, you ruffian!” Rarity asked in disgust.
“I need to fix this,” Kajiya replied. “The Hydra is a horrible weapon, and I must make her understand, before everything gets out of hand. You are all her friends, where will she go?”
“I’m going with you!” Dash replied, eyeing the stallion warily. “Follow me.” The two ponies quickly galloped off.
They found Applejack behind the apple family barn, crying her eyes out, Hydra still in her tail.
“Applejack, we must speak,” Kajiya said simply.
“Why? Why’d ya give me such a horrible weapon? What d’ya have against me?” Applejack asked, still crying.
“I gave you the weapon fate decide you needed. The Hydra is the most merciful weapon anypony can use.”
“What?”
“When a pony dies by sword or arrow, do you know how long it normally takes them to actually die from that mortal wound? Three minutes. Three minutes of pure agony, watching your life flash before your eyes, and knowing nothing can help you.
“However, with the Hydra, there is very little pain, and the pony dies, without realizing they were even struck. You were given the best weapon, Miss Applejack, not the worst. Rainbow Dash, please comfort her, she needs a friend now, which I am not,” Kajiya finished, and simply walked back to the others.
Rainbow Dash is not known for her kindness and ‘sappiness,’ but that day, two ponies laid together as Applejack sobbed all her tensions and worries away into the cyan mare’s fur.
Returning to the others, Kajiya remember he needed to show Rarity and Pinkie the methods of using their own weapons, now that the hardest part was over with Applejack.
“What did you do to our friend, you Ruffian?” Rarity seethed, obviously still angry at the stallion.
“Yeah, why’d you make Applejack cry!” Pinkie interjected, her hair straighter than normal
“She misunderstood the meaning of her weapon. Rainbow Dash is comforting her. Now, we have work to do. Rarity you must know the uses of the crystalline disk, and Pinkie, you must know the uses of the bugle.”
“Okie-Dokie-Loki.”
“Hmmph… Fine let’s get this over with. Umm, what can this disk do?” Rarity plopped down on the ground staring at the odd disk.
“Both of them do the same thing,” Kajiya responded.
“What?” the mares asked in unison.
“Both the disk and Bugle do whatever you ask of them. They take the shape of what you want to happen. For the disk, whenever you use magic on it, think of the shape and ability you want it to have. For the bugle, whenever you blow it, think of a feeling, and anypony or ponies you want to be affected by it, and it will happen.”
“So, I can make all my friends more happy? AWESOME!” Pinkie started bouncing around at the implications, while Rarity tested the statement by turning the disk into various seamstress objects, like spools and needles.
At this point, Applejack and Rainbow Dash started coming back to the field. Seeing this, Twilight and Fluttershy also joined the group of ponies. Pinkie continued bouncing around, testing her bugle by making Rarity laugh and giggle as she changed her disk into more exotic shapes.
“All of you are good here,” Kajiya said. “I am done. My job is complete. All of you have your armor and weapons now, and you know how to use them. If any of you need more training, ask the royal guard to help you. Goodbye.” the stallion finished his speech and grabbed his saddlebags preparing to head back to the house for the rest of his items.
“Wait. Just like that, you’re going?” Twilight questioned “You never visited anywhere in town, and you never had a party. You can’t just leave!”
“Yes I can. I have no need of friends, or worldly pursuits. The forge is my life, and I can no longer continue my forge here. But in Canterlot, I can, so that’s where I must go.” The pony paused. “I did forget one thing . . . dragon Spike, feel free to visit anytime you like. I will tell you stories of your people, and you can help me with my forge.
“Now again, I say goodbye.”
The six ponies and one dragon watched in awe as the small stallion left town just as he came. Not even the elements of friendship could reach the poor soul. Nopony quite knew what to make of the small stallion. Most who knew him would say he was the most devoted stallion they had ever met, but they would also say that nothing would ever change him. He was a rock, a mountain, never to be disturbed in his solemn suffering of the forge.