//------------------------------// // Into the fire. // Story: Forging a Knight // by BeyondElemental //------------------------------// "Hey Ashy, what exactly is preventing you from digging through the wall?" I asked nonchalantly. "I thought we were done with this." she replied. "You never give me a straight answer." "I don't want to give ya hope. Yer crazy enough to go fer it." "Go for what?" She gave me a signal. I'm pretty sure it meant something along the lines of, 'Shut the fuck up.' "I think I've said too much." "Come on, don't you want out of here?!" "Yes." She said, exasperatedly rubbing her temple. "Then tell me!" "Disdain, ya have no idea how much I hate ya right now. Fine, you'll get yer answer. Abso'lutely nothin. The problem is that three of the sides only lead back to the warren, and tha other one is a half submerged mine. My kin stay away from the magma, but they still guard the area for some reason that they haven't seen fit to clue me in on." "Then let's go, Ashy! They keep it guarded, but there has to be a way up." I said with a chuckle. It was as if they were begging us to leave. "No, ya idiot! We're unarmed and the guards will alert ev'ryone else. As you'd say 'we'd be screwed from both sides' and I'm pretty sure that means the same thing I think it means." "Ashy, are you telling me you've never thought of making your own arms and armor?" I asked, and she gave a sheepish shake of her head. "We constantly have a surplus of ores and they don't ever check on us because they think we were tamed by just stuffing us in here. With the level of skill we've developed working together here, it'd only take a few hours to do. Not only would we have armor, but can you honestly say that you put your all into making the supplies for the rest of them?" "No, no I can't." she said hesitantly, but with a slight gleam in her eye. She saw where I was going with this. Smart girl. "We finished early today, so we have the time. I just need some leg coverings and all you need is one suit of armor and a weapon. Judging by how you use the one you have, I'd suggest a hammer. A big one." "But they'll hear me diggin through the wall." She said, not really believing it herself. "Not if I buck the side of the anvil so it sounds like you're over here shaping some metal. Our entire stint down here has pretty much been training for escape. We can make our own armor, high-quality stuff, too, we know the weak points in all the suits we've given to our enemies, you have been working on your arm strength with all that hammering, I can use my flames much more effeciently and effectively than before, and I read through that one book in our room and thought of a few tricks you could use to make our armor even better." "You can read that?" She asked, incredulous. "You can't? I thought you had read through them and that was why you spoke better than the rest of the dogs." "I'm not tha first blacksmith to work here." She deadpanned. "Fair enough, you want to try this?" "I must a caught yer crazy, 'cause ma answer's yes." "Good, now let's get to work." I said, a gleam in my eye as I set about doing my job, with Ashy working alongside me. "There ya go, all done." Ashy said as she slipped the last gauntlet onto my leg. The polished metal surface of the armored glove reflected the light of the magma, giving them a glow. It was almost as if they were enchanted. They were simple banded tubes of what Ashy called wolfram, the only thing noticeable about them was the spare frost sapphire we had embedded into each of them. With the sapphires Ashy had hoped that if, for some reason, I ended up in the magma it would help me out. I liked it because the gauntlets stayed nice and cold even when surrounded by all this heat. "Are we ready to start, then?" I asked while admiring the workmanship (workdogship?) on Ashy's armor. Ashy had refused most of the designs I proposed based on how heavy they were and how much they would pull on her fur. In the end she opted for mithril everything and only to wear a simple chest-plate, gauntlets identical to mine, knee high boots, and the blacksmiths apron that she had apparently become attached to. I mean, I'm not one to judge, cause I remember the stuffed animal phase, and more recently the pony toys that I'd bought. "Ya, I'll start diggin through the back wall." Ashy disappeared behind the forge and into our room while I started to kick the anvil rhythmically. Vibrations ran through my legs reassuring me that the dogs would not be able to detect Ashy's digging. The wall must have been made of butter because Ashy came back in less than five minutes. "Already done?" "Yeah, you can stop. I didn't see anyone we should be clear to go." she said while picking up and donning her new armor and grabbing her new hammer, or should I say dog tenderizer? The thing was absolutely massive! I followed Ashy back into our room and then through the small tunnel she had been digging. We stepped into the mines and I was amazed by the beauty of the place. Crystals were clustered throughout the cave and reflected the light of the pools of magma in brilliant spots of light, the downside to this being the lack of darkness to cling to. Boldly we walked through the middle of the cave in the direction of a tunnel that appeared to lead up. "YOU!" We heard from behind us, turning on our heels to face the voice that had interrupted the soft bubbling of the magma pits. "Oh shit." was the only thing that I could think to say. "YOU ARE ONE WHO BURN ME!" shouted my old friend, now dubbed Scarface. "YOU KILL ALPHA!" He looked terrible, not just because half his face was burn off, but he looked disheveled. "What?" I asked, my mind not comprehending what I heard. "He got sick after touch you, die today." he said, nearly in a whimper. All his rage seemed to melt away to sorrow. "Others fighting to be alpha, he lead when no one could." Scarface said before breaking into sobs. Quietly I leaned over to Ashy "What is he talkin bout?" "Only criminals come ta tha wasteland. It's a miracle that we have three settlements here." She whispered. "YOU KILLED HIM, PEACE IS BROKEN! BROTHERS COME!" He shouted while stomping the ground. Out of the tunnel behind him came four more dogs armed and ready. One of the dogs handed Scarface his spear which was equipped with two vials of some sort. He ripped one of the vials off of the spear and waved it in the faces of the dogs next to him before throwing it into one of the pools of magma. As the bottle melted a purple gas escaped the bottle and dissipated into the air. The dogs next to him looked at each other surprised at Scarface's decision. "That was tha sleeping gas." Ashy whispered. Before I could ask what the other vial was Ashy tackled me and the second vial flew over my head. SHGLOAGADOAGAWOABADOA! The vial exploded and the cavern shook in response, several of the crystals escaped the grasp of the rock and fell to the ground shattering while others fell into the magma sending deadly droplets of molten rock into the air. Scarface used the explosion to his advantage and charged at us through the smoke ignoring the sharp crystals and drops of magma. He kicked Ashy off of me and lifted his spear and propelled it down towards my side. The spearhead harmlessly bounced off of my scales, instead it landed in Scarface's foot. The other four dogs charged at the sound of his screams down the path towards us. With one swing Ashy sent two of the dogs sailing across the cavern. One of the dogs slammed into the cavern wall and was knocked unconscious, the other was impaled on an outcropping of crystals that tore through his armor like a can opener. One of the remaining dogs helped pull the spear from Scarface's foot and was only rewarded with a stream of flames that melted his armor and melded the molten metal to his skin. What little brain the dog had abandoned him at the sight of pain and he jumped into the magma in an attempt to escape it. Scarface looked at me as if he had seen a demon and turned to run only to slam into the other remaining dog. Scarface fell backwards to see that I had once again gotten to my feet (hooves?). I reared up and brought my front hooves down on his chest knocking the air out of him. Ashy charged past me and hit the last dog sending him back into the tunnel he had come from. "GOAL!" I shouted. I looked down to see Scarface looking back up at me completely terrified of the creature above him. I hesitated and decided to spare him, he had been through enough. "Which way is the exit?" I asked in a voice as soft as I could muster. He shakily pointed in the direction we were headed before flinching as though I was about to hit him. "Let's go before the surviving dogs wake up." I told Ashy who now stood at my side with the hammer leaning against her shoulder. We wasted no time in running down the tunnel that Scarface had pointed out, but something was off. We went higher and higher, and then suddenly back down. We followed the tunnel down into the earth until it branched. "Which way we goin?" asked Ashy. "Well the last one went up and then down, so shouldn't we choose the one going down? It should just go back up later." Ashy shrugged and let me continue onward. It's not like I had bad history of picking tunnels or anything. The number of light crystals did not wane as we went down, but their light did. Once again I was forced to be my own torch as I led Ashy down the tunnel. In the distance we could hear water dripping from stalactites and then the gentle sounds of a river met our ears, wherever we were headed at least sounded pleasant. Suddenly a wave passed over me that made the cave feel... wrong, but stubbornly with the thought of freedom I pressed on. Soon the tunnel ended in a large room much like the rest of the diamond dog's main rooms. This room however had a river flowing right through the middle of it and large glowing mushrooms grew all over the place. If this had once been a warren, it was now abandoned. "We should go." Ashy whispered. I looked over at her to see that she was shaking and had slowly started to back out of the room. "You mustn't! We need you!" called a creature that had just charged into the room from one of the many connecting tunnels. It took me a moment to register what I saw, it was almost like a mirror image. This other creature was slightly smaller than me, it's scales were pink, it's fur was black, it lacked the small goat's beard that I had, and it had the normal pair of antlers. "Stay, please." she said. "Why?" I asked. From the corner of my eye I could see that Ashy had stopped backing up, but her shaking had not ceased. "W-we need your help." the creature pleaded. "With what, exactly?" "You don't know? I'd better take you back to the outpost, then." "Why should I trust you?" "We Kirin are the only things that keep the peace down here." she said with frustration edging into her voice. "One last question, where, in Luna's name, is here?" "Tartarus." she said bluntly. THUMP! Ashy had just passed out, and I was not going to be able to carry her alone. I did not have much of a choice in following this other... Kirin? "Help me carry Ashy and I will stay at least until she wakes up." The other kirin jumped around happily before doing the closest thing to a blush she could manage. "Oh, okay. I'll explain everything on the way." We managed to drape Ashy and her hammer across our backs and we walked side by side down yet another tunnel. "Tartarus is where all the most dangerous creatures of the world are kept," she explained "But all these creatures fought with each other and threatened the stability of the cavern itself. We were appointed as the peace keepers, and at times I think it was only because the world never wanted to see us again, either. This is a dangerous job and over the years our numbers have dwindled. This is why I could not let you leave. We have outposts all throughout Tartarus, but I am the only one left here." I could now see the end of the tunnel, at which was a door. The kirin continued, although much quieter now. "That is, uh, why, we uh, need to... breed." The only thing close to an intelligent response I could muster at this point was "What?!" "Yeah... you are probably going to want to, uh, leave her outside if we are going to do this." she said arching her back to indicate Ashy. "Oh, right." I said before helping her get Ashy off of our backs. Part of my brain was saying 'YES!' and the other part was saying 'Whoa there little buddy, that right there is a goat.' Gently she grabbed onto the door handle with her teeth and opened it just enough for us to get through. The room was slightly darker than the outside thanks to it's lack of glowing mushrooms, so it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. When my eyes did adjust I nearly shat myself. In the middle of the room sat a large bed elaborately decorated in gold, and around it? Bones. Hundreds of skulls of many varying creatures lined the walls of the room, each one a tally mark to show how many the succubus had conquered. "You're lucky boy." She said stepping out in front of me in her true form. The succubus was in fact a pony with a red coat and a black mane, she had two curved horns, and the wings of a bat. "I'm not allowed to add you to my collection." she said. A raspy voice came from the shadows "You owe me much, and I am here to collect." 'Not the dogs again.' I thought. "I am no mutt!" the voice boomed. From the shadows stepped a ram. His coat was blue, his massive eyebrows were white, along with his goatee, his eyes glowed red, and around his neck was a collar that held several medals. "You read my mind!" I shouted. "I have been IN your mind, and what a disgusting place it is." he said glaring at me. "W-what are you talking about?" I stammered. "That fool, Discord, invited us to a game using your kind as pieces. I asked you to come to Equestria and you accepted, now I have something for you to do. First, go to the forest and search the temples for a bell." 'So there is more than just me!' I thought excitedly. 'But I'm free now, I don't want to go to work for this guy.' "YOU WILL NOT FAIL ME!" he shouted "If you refuse I will send you back to Earth and nothing will be here to save that mutt you brought with you. If you do everything I order, you get Luna." 'SWEET BABY JESUS IN THE MANGER!' "If you succeed I will return fully to this realm and I will take all of Equestria! This simple gift will be within my power and I have been in your mind and see no better prize for you." The guy had my balls in a vise grip. He knew I thought Luna was best pony, and he knew I would not dare leave Equestria, and to make matters worse, he had Ashy. "Fine." I said with malice in my voice. "Good." he said with a smirk. "To help you along, you may call upon my power during your quest." "I have one question, what is your name you evil bastard?" "Grogar." He said with a chuckle. He lowered his head and the tips of both his horns began to glow. I was blinded by a flash and disoriented by a weird tugging feeling. Wind blew through my mane, I could hear the sound of leaves rustling, and crickets happily went about their business. It was nighttime on the edge of the woods. I looked around panicked for a moment and spotted Ashy resting with her back against the trunk of a mighty tree. I took a deep breath of the fresh air and let out a frustrated sigh. 'I get sent to Equestria, a dream come true, and get turned into a slave not once, but twice. Once to the dogs and now again to a creature that is arguably worse than Discord. The world I was shown was not what I got, I was never told caveat emptor "let the buyer beware". No, I was thrust into a world that hid all it's evil and I fell into the middle of it.' Ashy stirred in her sleep and my frustration waned. For all the evil I am undoubtedly going to unleash, some good had come of it. I had rescued at least one slave. Author's Note I am going to go ahead and thank Chuck Norris who has been my proofreader up until now without any thanks. Also if you know where "SHGLOAGADOAGAWOABADOA!"(Warning: This link starts in the middle of the video and I doubt you will know what is going on.) is from I salute you. If you don't go watch the genius that is theheartless.