Forge Fires
“Who are you calling weak?” you say to her in a challenging tone, and Dash flies a bit ahead and grabs one of those decorative tables that lined the palace walls. Setting the flower vase that had been on it gently against the ground, she slams her leg on the table.
“You wanna test how weak you are?” she offers, and you smirk, wishing you could roll up your sleeve. Seeing as that’s not an option, you smack your vambraces together to create a ringing sound, and then spit on your palms, before slapping one against hers, and grunting as your try to get it to move. For almost a full thirty seconds nothing happens, and you can feel your face going red with the effort, as Dash just sits there, contemptuously blowing on her other hoof, like she wasn’t even trying.
“Oh come on!” you cry, and then place you free hand on top of the other one, and at last her leg begins to slowly move. The next thing you know, your head hurts, the world is upside down, and there’s a bunch of blurs standing over you as your vision slowly comes back into focus.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry…but you see now what I’m talking about, right?” said Dash, as she bites your leg, and pulls you right side up, the Princess using her magic to help the rest of the way. Standing, leaning against the wall, you rub your head.
“I think I might see a reason or two to agree with you,” you say at last. Kind of embarrassed by this. You’d been competing with her for a while now, since she became a Bolt, but usually it was flying, or you in a mech. You’d figured the mechs were stronger than you, but it seemed you’d underestimated just how much stronger than you they were.
“Dash, you know we’re supposed to be protecting him, not breaking him again,” chides Soarin, and you can see Rainbow blush a bit under her uniform, using her hoof to dust you off, until you push her back, finally able to stand on your own two feet.
“It’s okay. I suppose I needed the lesson. Guess I’m not as able to take care of myself as I thought,” you say, looking at your new guardians. Weird to think about, actually, considering the day before yesterday you’d been the big hero, and now, after getting back to normal size, you were already missing the power that came with being small.
“Indeed, and it’s best to get those kind of lessons where a bruised ego is the worst of your injuries,” says a new voice, and everypony in the hall turns towards the way you’d been walking to find the Captain standing there. His armor was now the one that turned him into a black unicorn, and he bowed slightly to the Princess.
“So, I take it the item is ready?” she asked, and he got a smirk on his face as he looked towards you, and then nodded.
“The smith said it would be finished within an hour of the speech starting. Considering your Sister took almost two to thank us all, it should be done now,” he tells her, and Luna giggles like a school filly, clacking her hooves together in front of her, before remembering there were other ponies in the hall and coughing embarrassedly.
“Excellent, Captain. Lead the way,” she commanded, and the Captain shook his head and rolled his eyes, before starting back the way he’d come, the five of you following close behind, with the Wonderbolts in the trail position, while you walk side by side with the Princess.
“Why do I have the feeling this has something to do with me?” you ask her, and she just smiles while continuing to walk forward.
“Because, for today at least, just about everything in Canterlot does,” she told you simply, and then picked up the pace a bit.
It was at this point that you begin to realize that ponies walk fast, as you had to nearly run to keep up with what you knew was just a trot for them. That did not bode well for your future, as you were getting winded after just a short while. For the second time in ten minutes you’re actually wishing for your powers back, even if it meant being only a few inches tall.
“Can we rest for a minute?” you ask, breathing hard, and trying not to gasp at the air.
“Heh, it’s just two more flights down. You can make it,” the Captain reassures you, and you look at him dejectedly. That made him shake his head, and then come back to where you and the Princess were walking. With a dexterity that was actually rather surprising, he gets behind you, and then runs between your legs, his neck bouncing upward, causing you to land heavily on his back. It pains you to admit, but the group starts to move faster to its destination after this.
“Ah, here we are,” says the Princess a few minutes later, and you look around, while pulling yourself off the Captain’s back. This area of the palace is new. In three months, you’d never been here, and it’s easy to see why. The place was hot as Tartarus, and smelled horrid. It was easy to see it was a forge, for the Royal Guard if the spears along the wall and the armor set on stands was any indication. It was an active forge too, as you could hear the banging of metal on metal from somewhere in the back.
“Forge Master, we’ve come to procure the special order,” said the Captain, walking towards an opening that led deeper into the room, the source of the banging, and likely the forge itself. Curious, you follow, and get to gaze on something at once beautiful and terrifying.
The depths of the forge were lit only by the fires of the same. It cast a sickly, orange pale over everything It touched, including a pony who was using a hammer tied to his hoof to work on a spear head he’d set against an anvil. It was easy to see he was an earth pony, as the suit he wore had no room for wings or a horn, and instead was coat tight against him, hiding his color beneath something that looked black as soot, and a face mask that was the same, likely to protect his eyes from stray sparks.
“Forge Master!” shouted the Captain, growing closer, as the pony at the anvil didn’t seem to hear anything over the banging of his hammer.
“SILVER HAMMER!!!” he cried at last, and the banging hammer stopped at last, the pony in the suit looking up, and saying something muffled like Pyro’s speech. Setting the hammer against the anvil, he picked up the spear from where it lay, twirling it almost like you’d seen a few guards do once to show off, and then jamming it tip first into a barrel of water, creating a rising cloud of steam that blocked him from view.
“Well, well, the glorious Captain of the Royal Guard, come to my forge. What an honor,” came a gruff voice, his tone less sarcastic than his words would have you think, but the expression on the Captain’s face seemed to say the sarcasm was implied.
“I brought others with me as well, oh Master of the Royal Forge,” said the Captain in return, and you watched as the one he was talking to finally emerged from the steam.
He looked big, bigger than either the Captain or Big Mac. Not quite as tall as Celestia, but he probably outweighed her by at least a few kilos. All of it muscle too, as you watched them bunch beneath his coat with each step. His legs, fore and hind, were massive, and the floor almost sounded like it would crack with every fall. His coat was silver, gleaming in the light of the forge fire with sweat, and his mane was white, or at least, you think it is, kind of hard to tell. His cutie mark though, that was easy, an anvil, with a hammer falling onto it making sparks.
“So what poor rook did you…oh, Princess, it’s you,” he says with a smile at first, turning to something like reverence as he bows. For a moment you think he’s insulting you or maybe you’d earned the title somehow by beating Discord. Turning though, you find Luna entering the forge behind you.
“Hello Silver Hammer, it has been a while since We’ve visited your work place,” said the Princess, slipping into her Royal we easily as she addressed him.
“And it is still an honor when You or Your Sister decide to come down. Might I inquire as to the reason?” he asked, and she nodded, pointing a hoof to you.
“We require the item that you were forging to accompany the armor you forged for our guest,” she says, and the forger pony blinks towards where you’re standing, with you realizing suddenly that you’d been standing out of the forge light as it was hot. Taking a step to the side, so you are now fully revealed, you try your best to smile warmly at him.
“Ah, yes, the special order from yesterday. Not often a smith of my station gets to work with such fine material as Prism Stone,” he said, walking over towards you, and then standing in front of you. His face is just below yours, as he looked you up and down, and then kicks at you with his forehoof, probably testing the breastplate. He was probably doing so lightly, but given the relative mass difference between you and him, it ended up being enough to knock you back onto your bottom, causing the smith to eye you appraisingly.
“Hmm, a puny one, for a Hero of the Ages. Still, it’s not everypony who could have stood up to that monster, Discord,” he says, and then walks towards the back of the forge, with you rising to your feet, trying to ignore the laughter from behind you that you knew was coming from Rainbow Dash, with a light chuckle that was probably Soarin.
“Indeed. I’m thinking of giving him a bit of basic training to get some muscles on him. Still, he should be able to hold it, right?” asked the Captain, as Silver Hammer led the three of you to the rear of the forge, to a large chest that looked like something straight out of a video game.
“Aye, its weight shouldn’t be a problem, seeing as how the materials were light to begin with. A lesser smith might have tried to mix in some iron or mythril to make up the difference. Bah to them, it’s only when it’s forged alone that Prism Stone can reach its full potential,” he said, working on the latch of the chest with his hooves, and then pushing it back with a loud creak, before standing away to show the three of you his work.
It was, as one might have surmised, a weapon forged from the same material as your armor. Specifically, it was a sword, about three feet in length, with a straight blade and a double edge that gleamed in the light of the forge. Better than that, as the light struck it, the Prism Stone of its makeup cast the glow back out in a rainbow of colors that was both beautiful, and probably deadly.
“I must admit, the greatest challenge was designing it for something with hands. Normally hooves are what my weapons are wielded by, and rarely does a sword fit such a thing. Still, I used what I’d learned doing something for the Belkan princes two years previous, though I had to adjust the hilt for four fingers and a thumb, instead of three thumbs and a finger,” he said.
“It looks beautiful, Silver,” said the Princess looking down at it, and the smith nodded smugly.
“It’s not my best work, but it is one of my better ones, I will admit,” he told her, and reached forward, taking the blade from where it rested, and holding it aloft.
“A blade of Prism Stone will never dull or chip. It will also never stain, no matter what you use it for, and it splits spells as easily as skulls,” he said, and then with a flick of his hoof, he brought it down on one of the nearby anvils. There was a blinding flash of light, which cleared slowly to show the smith holding the blade against the floor, and at first, it just seemed to have just passed through the thick metal, but a heartbeat passes, and the anvil falls in twain, clanging against the stone floor.
“Truly, a weapon fit for a god slayer,” he said, and held it out to you. It gleamed wickedly now, and you thought you saw it sparkle a bit, but it might have just been your mind playing tricks on you.
Reaching out, you gripped the hilt of the blade, and then felt the weight of it settle into your hand as the smith released his grip. Almost instantly, the blade fell towards the floor, but you were able to grab the hilt with your other hand to keep it from falling. The blade was heavy, despite the smith’s words about its weight, and you had trouble holding it aloft.
“You ponies make this stuff look light,” you say, trying to hold it straight, only to feel it start to slip in your grip. The heat of the forge was making your palms sweaty, and you are forced to turn the blade down, then let it fall naturally so that it slams into the stone floor, burying itself almost a foot into the ground.
“Um…whoops?” you say, shrugging, and the smith just stares at you, mouth agape, before shaking his head and facehoofing.
“You’re sure he’s the one who defeated Discord, right?” he asked, turning to the Captain and Luna, who both have amused expressions on their faces.
“Indeed, though he seemed far more skilled with a blade before,” comments the armored guard, trotting towards you, and then pulling the weapon from where you’d dropped it.
“Usually the weapon or armor helps me to use it. That’s how the stuff I make works,” you admit to him, and he helps you to draw the weapon from the ground, and hold it steady.
“Hmm, perhaps you could use more training than I thought. Princess, might I request a few days leave?” he asks, turning to Luna, who nods.
“Of course, Captain,” she answered.
“Excellent. I will get DawnChaser to assist, and we can turn you into a swordstallion with at least a modicum of skill by a fortnight’s passing,” he said, and then began to move his hooves, pulling your hands with him as he lowered the blade in an arc, before setting it gently onto an anvil.
“Maybe I could use some gloves?” you say, holding out one hand so he can see your palm covered in sweat.
“Hmm, no, if you used them, you wouldn’t be able to use the scabbard’s magic,” he commented, and you look at him.
“Scabbard?” you ask, and he smiles at you.
“I believe that’s finished as well, right brother?” he asked, and the smith nods.
“Came in a few minutes after the speech. I must admit, that fashion pony did as good a job on this as on the chainmail beneath his armor,” he commented, and pulled it out of the chest where the sword had been stored, probably having been sitting beneath it, which was why you hadn’t noticed it. The thing was made of red stuff, looked like leather actually, and as he held it out, you could see some writing on it that glowed slightly in the light of the forge.
“Woah,” you say, as he handed it to you. The sheath was solid…whatever it was, and felt light, allowing you to hold it up to try and read the writing on it. Of course, it all seemed to be gibberish you, and after not seeing a single familiar character, you held it out to Luna.
“What’s it say?” you ask, and she chuckles again, using her magic to hold it in front of you, the letters seeming to take on the light of her power.
“The language it speaks is older than Our Sister, or Ourself, and speaks to the world around us all. It says many things to that world, and in turn, the world speaks back to it,” she tells you cryptically, and you turn to the Captain, who lets out a belly laugh.
“It’s runes, magic letters. I would have assumed that DawnChaser’s tests would have involved them at some point,” he explains, and you nod.
“I think they did, once, but the things didn’t like me. If I remember right, they exploded,” you say, vaguely recalling a test from your first month that had you stand in a circle of them. Said circle glowed, then blasted the whole room you’d been standing in. The rest of that day had been spent goofing off while DawnChaser insisted that the reaction was impossible.
“So, what do these do?” you ask, and the smith points with his hoof at the top three.
“These are runes of recall. Though a weapon forged of Prism Stone cannot be itself inscrolled, things can be…layered onto it during the forging that allow for it to have a name. Simply hold the scabbard outward, and call out the weapon’s name, and it shall return to you, no matter how far away it is,” he tells you, Luna bringing it closer so you can take it from her, and then face towards were the sword is, holding it out, then waiting expectantly.
“Well, are you going to invoke the magic?” asked Silver Hammer, and you look at him.
“You haven’t told me the weapon’s name yet,” you remind him, and he looks like he’s about to protest before freezing, and then tapping a hoof against his chin.
“SpectrumFlash,” he says simply, and you nod, facing towards where the sword lays again.
“SpectrumFlash!” you cry, and instantly, the sword shakes where it’s lying, before hopping into the air, and making a beeline for you. To your credit, you don’t flinch or panic, though that’s mostly a lack of time to do so, as it sails over the short distance to slam home into its sheath. To your discredited, once again, you’re flung into a wall, landing with a clatter of metal as you smash into a dummy that had been wearing a suit of armor, before finally striking the stone with a hard thunk.
“Sweet Celestia, I wish I had a camera, bwa ha ha ha,” comes the laughter from the forge’s entrance, and you look over to find two shapes, you believe to be Soarin and Dash, rolling around on the ground, while one beside them is holding a hoof up to its mouth, Spitfire trying to fight back the laughter. The Captain, smirking but not laughing, walks over to you and helps you up, using a bit of magic and hoof power to get you standing, while you rub at your shoulder.
“Why is it that I only get knocked around like this once I become full sized?” you ask him, and he just shrugs as you and he walk back over to where the smith and Luna are standing.
“Hmm, I may have to work on some stabilizers for this one, if he can’t take the weight of his blade. Still, that only makes the other runes all the more important,” he says, motioning for you to hold out the scabbard again, which you do.
“Yes, there’s still some space for it. I’ll get that white unicorn filly to put two more runes on this. One to reduce the impact of catching it, the other to make it lighter while in its sheath,” he tells you, moving his hoof closer to the bottom of the sheath.
“Still, that is for later. For now, draw SpectrumFlash again, and set it aside,” he orders, and you do so, being careful as you draw it, and then set it down at your feet.
“Alright, these last two runes draw on the power of the beast to which this skin belonged,” he comments, and you look at them.
“Um, what beast is that?” you ask.
“Dragon of course. Nothing else would be able to handle the edge of that fine blade,” he tells you, and you look at him, and then towards Luna, asking a silent question.
“It was taken from her willingly. A bit of shed skin, traded for a few gems she found tasty,” she tells you, and you nod. You’d never considered yourself a bleeding heart before, but being here, you’d begun to not want anyone to get hurt to give you things, and killing something for its hide, especially something like a dragon, seemed wrong.
“Anyway, simply hold the sheath’s bottom to your lips, and blow into it like a horn,” he instructed, and you did so, nearly dropping the thing as flames, large ones, shot out of the open end, slamming into the anvil he’d sliced before, and melting it to slag within a heartbeat.
“Oh my, that’s powerful,” commented the Captain as the flames subsided, and you just stare at the damage you’d done.
“Of course. The Wyrm this skin comes from was of the most ancient clutch, a direct descendent of the Mother of All Dragons. Her flame burns quite powerfully,” comments the Princess.
“Indeed. Her power is great, hotter than my best forge,” adds the smith, as he reaches over and grabs a bucket, tossing it onto the slag, which is then covered by hissing steam. Looking at the weapon in your hands, well, weapon and weapon carrying case, you can’t believe what you’d just seen, and on auto pilot reach down to replace the sword in the scabbard, so you can then just stare at it.
“Is the weapon acceptable?” asks Silver Hammer as he comes up beside you, and you just nod.
“More than I could have had back home. But can I ask, why? I mean, I don’t plan on leaving the city, and I’ll have Dash, Soarin, and Spitfire, plus my usual royal guardpony. Why do I need weapons like these?” you say, holding the thing out from yourself, and then passing it to the smith when he motions for it.
“Many reasons for that, my human friend. For one, guards are not absolute. We can’t be everywhere at once, and it is best that you can defend yourself. Before, you powers covered most of that, but for now, a weapon is required,” explained the Captain, as he came to stand in front of you, the Princess as well, while the smith places the sword back into the chest.
“The second reason, because We feel you deserve our help, now more than ever. You did Our kingdom, and Ourselves a great service, and risk to both your body and soul. We offered you once to bend all Our resources to returning you home, you declined, so now We shall endeavor to make this world as safe for you as We might,” she added, the Captain nodding.
For a while, you just sit there, wondering what to say or do. They were being really open with you, and more, the gift they had just given you, the armor, the sword, the expense of them had to be enormous, no matter how much Luna’s tone tried to down play it. At last you settle on just reaching out and hugging them, feeling really good about that, as the Princess leans into it, and the Captain just sort of stands there taking it.
“You are very welcome,” says the Princess as the hug ends. You then turn to the smith, who sees you do so and waves his hoof in front of him.
“Please, no hugs, I smell awful after a day in the forge,” he warns, and you smile, before getting down on your knees in front of him.
“Master Smith, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your skilled worksstallionship on the weapon I will wield and the armor I wear,” you tell him, inclining your head to him in a bow, and he seems taken aback by this, before turning towards the Captain and smirking.
“See Glimmer, this is how one shows proper respect for a master of his art,” he told him, and the Captain held up a hoof in front of his mouth.
“Glimmer, your name’s Glimmer?” you say incredulously. It had been three months since you’d met him, and the Captain, as well as everypony at the palace, had refused to tell you his name. Now it just casually comes out from the smith. Though you do remember the Captain calling him brother earlier, but you still hadn’t expected to learn his name so easily.
“Indeed, named for our grandmare I believe. Glimmer Strike. Course, that was when mom wanted a girl to follow her into the Guard, after our older sister took to the stage more than a blade,” said the smith with a smirk, and the Captain looked like he wanted to bust his face open with one of the anvils, probably more for ruining your game trying to learn his name more than anything else.
“Say, you wouldn’t happen to know how old DawnChaser is by any chance?” you ask casually, and the smith looks at you.
“Who?” he says, and you shake your head at him.
“Never mind,” you tell him as you, the Princess, and Glimmer, formally the Captain, step out of the forge, and back into the hall outside, where Rainbow Dash is obviously fighting another laugh, at the Captain’s expense rather than yours this time, probably only doing so because the Captain outranked her.
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Awesome new weapon lets see how 'you' work out
1356531
There will be pain, and lots of it.
1356543 Lol hardcore training
1356547
More city boy being trained by old school knights. Yeah, he's really gonna miss mechs after a while. But first, the ultimate challenge. He has to learn to DANCE!!! Dun dun duuuuunn.
1356557
Ha ha Glimmer, it suits him well
1357708
I thought so.
1359287
In order
1) Actually, is was a reference to Dragon Ball Z, the original. When Goku falls of Snake Way, he falls into hell. In a bit of creativity, Toei decided to cover up only parts of the word on the ogres shirts, and so their shirts read HFIL or Home For Infinite Losers. At the end of the episode, Goku stole a fruit from a special tree that would, according to the ogres, triple his strength, and keep him from needing to eat for months(Not that he needed to, being dead and all)
2) I'm working on a character List and FAQ I think I'll post as a chapter later.
3) A few, still trying to think of some slow dance songs though, all I've got is the Lion King ones.
1355910
Alrighty then!
1360126
I limit my use of her since she's why too fun to play with. And because she keeps pushing the relationship stuff, which I'm never going to allow to go there. That's not the point of this fic. Also, yeah, David's Doctor would probably act just like that. Mind, the TARDIS might not, but then, you never know.
1360237
I skipped ahead mostly to start up the next section. There's a bit of a dark turn next chapter, and then fighting, real stuff, not the play fighting with the bolts before.
1360367 Alright...I have see you have been repsonding to my comments...but for some reason my notification box hates you...so I haven't been told about them...although I just looked at them right now...I would say something about them...but it wouldn't matter since I can just make more later on in the story... Anyway I expect some evil dastardly villian coming out of nowhere and DOing something evil with Epic fighting by a robot that will cause crazy things to happen. Back to reading
forget sleeping
forget it
1361273
Well, you fought him in the robot. Turned out to be a short fight, but then, face it, Discord is your better. Mind, he's not the last villain, and while Madness is gone, what he was will be important later.
1362281
Indeed, though it is the pony world. I will have some...darkish stuff happen, but nothing really bad. The ponies are too cute for that.
1362330
*snaps fingers* damn, guess that means no shoegoths or other eldritch horrors......
pre00.deviantart.net/e1aa/th/pre/i/2017/214/7/b/pennywise_by_mcalandra-dbilu6u.jpg