//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: First Day // Story: The Frost Chronicles: Book 1: Veil of Night // by steelwingx //------------------------------// CHAPTER 13 First Day After our unique meeting with one of the former rulers of Equestria, Iron Star escorted us to our rooms below. Since we were all to train in the Monastery, just like all the new recruits were to do. After making our way down a few floors, we were shown to our rooms, which were surprisingly cozy and comforting. Each of the rooms, was decorated with a large bed, enough to hold two full grown ponies, each of them had their own bathroom, wardrobe and large window that looked out over the valley. After we were left alone, I immediately went about my room, examining my new surroundings. I went about the room, packing what clothes I had into the wardrobe, I went over and leaned on the bed. Much to my surprise, the bed was the most comfortable that I had ever slept on, the bed I had shared with my sister back in Ashen, was comfortable for what it was, but that was because I had never really experienced anything better. As for the younger of the population of Ashen, they had been given the choice, to join the younger Night Ranger’s where they would be trained from an early age to be any sort of help to the cause, whether it was on the front lines or simply being a radio operator, or they could choose to take part in helping the community to grow, by helping all of those who were not of the Ranger’s. Whether or not I agreed with it, Misty choose to join the Night Ranger’s and fight for the cause, I assumed she was simply trying to get on my good side, but I couldn't help but be cautious, I was all she had now. The day went by with a simple rundown of the various facilities of the Monastery. Which included a grand dining hall, which was filled with large tables, where all the new initiates would eat and chat with their friends. There was also a large training room, filled with all sorts of training exercises for all three races, as well as an indoor garden where many ponies could go and relax, and finally a large library filled with books from all across the world, where the initiates could go and study, for pleasure or for study. My friends and I were amazed at the thriving community that nopony could have ever thought of, how despite that many of these ponies had been uprooted by the King’s army, but they had managed to move on from their old lives and find a place to thrive among the Night Ranger’s, from the way Iron Star explained it, much of the way of life these ponies lived, was how they lived in the old days, long before Red Spear. After this long tour, we were escorted back to our rooms, which had been spread out through the whole floor we were on, so that we could still visit each other’s rooms. After feeling the exhaustion finally hit me, I made my way to the bed, I sighed as I removed the medallion from around my neck and stared at it for a while. My mind drifted back to what happened with Luna’s medallion, how the image changed to that of her cutie mark, but mine did not, but after a yawn interrupted my thoughts, I placed the medallion in the drawer of the nightstand. I quickly pulled the covers over me and stared at the ceiling. My mind drifted back to everything that had happened with the past few days. My mother was gone, my home was destroyed, and I was forced into a war I really wanted nothing to do with, but I knew that they needed my help, and I would be damned before I let anypony else feel the pain I felt. With that thought in my mind, I slowly drifted off into sleep. ________________________________________ The next day came with a particularly interesting surprise, as I woke up, feeling I got a better sleep than I ever did before, thanks to an extremely comfortable bed, and washed up for the day. The plumbing in the Monastery proved to be functioning properly, which surprised since the structure was so old, and still managed to have a functioning water system. After I finished my shower and other preparations for the day, I made my way down to the large mess hall, where I met up with my friends for breakfast. As I walked along, levitating my tray of freshly prepared hay pancakes, I saw my friends waiting for me at the table, they smiled and waved to me as I sat down next to them, River and Vapor on one side, Dust and I on the others. We simply sat there chatting about what we thought of the place so far, even though we had barely been there a day. Our conversation slowly drifted to more about what we thought our training was going to be, but we had no idea what we were truly in for. As we talked we saw Lieutenant Arrow walk up to us, a look of malicious amusement on his face, we all stopped and watched as he stood at the edge of the table. “ah glad I could find you, I’m just here to inform you that Iron Star wishes to see you in the Armory, if I were you, I wouldn't keep him waiting” he said as his gaze slowly drifted over to me. We all exchanged concerned looks, “why in the Armory?” River asked him, he turned to her and smiled, “because…you’ll be picking out your weapons today” he said as he turned and walked away, but not before giving me a certain glare, that nearly sent a chill down my spine. We all turned to look at each other, we sighed and slowly got up and made our way to the Armory. ________________________________________ After successfully making our way through the maze of halls that was the Monastery, we arrived at the armory, where all the ponies’ weapons were kept. As we walked in we saw Iron Star standing by the residential blacksmith, who was standing in front of the large furnace where he made freshly made weapons each day for the new initiates, the furnace seemed relatively low on fire, mainly because not many new initiates were coming in, only those who had grown up here in the community. Much to our surprise, Luna was standing there as well, smiling as we entered the room, as we did Iron Star turned to us, “ah there you four are, glad you can finally make it, I hope you rested well, because you’ll be achingly sore by the time you’re done” he said with a smile that only made us more uncomfortable. As we came fully into the room, the blacksmith removed their face plate, revealing a young unicorn mare, with a light pink coat, almost to the point of it being tan, and a light blue mane, but what was really surprising was that she appeared slightly taller than us, not by much, but if you put me or Dust beside her, she would come off as a few inches taller than us, since Stallions are particularly larger than mares. She smiled warmly at us, her mane was tied back behind her head, as for it not to catch fire, as we approached her, Luna stepped forward, “may I introduce Aurora Melody, our finest and quite frankly only blacksmith, but she puts her heart into her work, making some of the finest weapons and armor that we use in our cause” she said with a proud smile. The young mare walked up to us, smiling as she extended her hoof out in greeting. Smiled as I shook her hoof, “it’s a pleasure to finally meet you Frost Fall, I've heard much about you, I really do hope you can help us, we’ll need it” she said with warming smile, we all nodded and shook her hoof one by one. As I studied her a bit closely, she didn't come off as a blacksmith, but of a fighter herself. “Aurora, don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t seem like blacksmith material, what made you want to start doing this?” I asked her, she smiled and glanced at Luna who simply nodded at her, “well, I've always loved to craft things, ever since I was a young filly, my parents were killed by the king’s army, so now I do what I can to make sure we win this war” she said with a confident smile. After that Iron Star took a step forward, “alright then, since you four are going to be Night Ranger’s, each of you will be allowed to customize your weapon, whatever it is, Aurora can build it, she’s a master of the craft, so take a look around, see what you are comfortable with, and then we will move on to firearms” he said, and we all split up around the room, examining the various weapons on the racks. They had everything from swords, axes, and even pole arms, but none of them seemed to spark my interest, but as I examined them, I remembered what Iron Star said about picking what you’re comfortable with, and then the thought hit me. I calmly turned around and walked up to the three, “sorry to interrupt, but you said to pick something you’re comfortable with, well…I always used my trusty woodcutters axe, you think that could be modified into a real weapon?” I asked, Iron Star and Aurora looked surprised at first, but he turned to her and smiled, she simply brought her hoof up to her chin. “Hmm, I never really have turned an ordinary working tool into a weapon, I’ll have to see it, you have it with you?” she asked me, my eyes lit up as I nodded. ________________________________________ After making the exhausting trip back up to my room, I returned to the Armory, the axe levitating in my grip, I watched as her magical aura enveloped it and she brought it over to her workbench, and began to study it. We watched for a moment, but she turned to me levitating the axe in front of her, “well…it would be possible, but I’ll have to give it a new blade, better grip, and a longer stock, that okay with you?” she asked with a smile. I smiled back and nodded, she nodded and made her way over to the furnace. She slipped the helmet over her head, and threw more coals into the fire, and pressing a small pedal on the floor, the fires breathed up and down as the furnace roared to life. ________________________________________ It had taken a few hours, and while I waited for mine to be done, my friends had already chosen their weapons. Dust had taken a mobile pole arm, one that was designed to be fast like a Pegasus was, Vapor took a large crossbow, accompanied with a dagger for close combat, and River had taken the duel scimitars that she could levitate and fight with, each of their weapons was specifically designed to be used by all races, Iron Star took them into the training room to see how they liked their weapons. But mine had yet to be done. I watched as Aurora slaved over the hot fire, she broke off the dull axe head, i watched in ae as she took out a set of dark metallic bars to smelt, and that she would mold into a sharp axe. I watched a she went hard to work on making a more durable and light handle for it, so that it would be easy to use with levitation. Soon it came as she poured the searing hot liquid metal into the axe molding, and then attached it to the handle, which had been elongated and turned from simple wood, to a hard iron grip, that nopony could understand. Another hour had passed before she pulled out the blazing hot metal piece of equipment and dumped it in the water, creating a loud hissing sound, as steam filled the room. I watched as she removed the now sleek black metal weapon of death. She walked over to her workbench and encased the handle in a more flexible material, but would still allow it to withstand the heaviest blows and not shatter. She turned to me with the proudest of smiles as she levitated up my new weapon, which looked nothing like it had before. “may I present to you, your new axe, made from the hardest crystal of the northern mountains, of course your friends weapons will be made of this to, should they choose to keep them” she said as she walked over to a small piece of wood that was used for examples, as she readied it into a fighting position, she gave the wood a quick swipe. The blade went through the wood, but nothing happened at first, but I watched in amazement as the wood slowly slid of in a diagonal angle, a clean cut on the wood. I watched in awe as Aurora turned to me with a grin, “this blade is made from a metal found in the mountains north of the Crystal Empire, it has magic properties that make it both the one of the strongest metals known, and also the lightest, so you can do things like…this!” she said as she reared back and threw the axe across the room, I watched with wide eyes as the axe sunk a direct bulls eye in the target she had placed in the room. I looked back at her in awe and saw the look of amusement on her face. I looked at her with a smile, “the metal is called Heart Stone, and the ponies of the Crystal Empire believe that the metal was formed from some of the Crystal Heart. Sadly, the king makes ponies dig for this stuff in New Canterlot, but with your help, we can stop that” she said with a firm but calming smile. We both heard a chuckling from the door, we both looked to see Luna standing in the doorway. “I see you have enjoyed your weapon, but I’m afraid Aurora tends to show off with her skills” she said as she magically pulled the axe from the target and walked over to me, levitating it to me. I smiled and took it from her, and holstered it in the new harness Aurora also made for me. After that she frowned slightly, “well, now that you and your friends have chosen your weapons, it’s time you train with them. Aurora here, shall train you to use your weapon properly, and before you question her, Aurora has proven that she is one of our most skilled fighters, and she can teach you everything she knows” she said, I looked back at Aurora who smiled and winked at me, but Luna quickly cleared her throat, and I turned back to her. “also…since you wield the fifth medallion, you must learn how to properly use it’s magic, normally I wouldn't intervene with the training of the initiates, but since you are different from them, mind you this doesn't mean you are better than they are, and that you get better treatment, this only means…” she said as she gazed down at me. “I will be your teacher”