The storehouse was dusty, the dry stale air assaulting Prism’s nose as she entered. Lighting the sconces with a flourish from his horn, Blaze looked down to the filly gently. Seeing the wonder in her eyes, he spoke with some doubt “Are you sure that you want to spend your day in here? This is where we keep various more dubious or difficult magic items.” His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a crowbar being used to pry off one of the crate ends to inspect what could be inside. Smiling, Blaze gave his assignment for the day, “Alright then, I want you to go through these crates and organize them. When you find something interesting, bring it out.” As Prism set to the task with a bow, Blaze left the room to start his tea and go over the day’s scrolls.
Meanwhile, in the room, Prism found more magic items than she had ever been around in her life. She’d seen a few magic items that her ma and pa had made or used, but they were always careful to keep them out of reach. After all, these items tended to be of the dangerous sort. The first box seemed to be largely filled with wands of all different sorts and sizes. Curious, Prism took one up in her magic, a short yew length, with a bubble of glass on the end holding a single drop of blood. It shimmered in the light, and Prism couldn’t help but whisk the wand around, noticing a shift in the shimmering of the entrapped blood and the weight of the wand.
Overcome by her curiosity, Prism started playing around with the wand in a pragmatic manner, emulating her original waving, and trying other ways to see how the wand reacted. Eventually, she managed to do something right, as the wand flared with a deep, resonating magic. The wand’s end began to glow with light that traveled to Prism and surrounded her in a veil of force. Ecstatic at her success, Prism tried again, but this time she noted too late that her angle was very slightly different. This made the magic go very suddenly haywire, as a wave of force repulsed out from the wand and blasted the filly away.
The force was overwhelming, knocking her through the air and smashing into another crate behind her. With a groan of pain, Prism noted that the shimmering force layer around her had dissipated some, having likely absorbed the hit. Also, she saw a pale blue glow coming from a new crack in the crate she’d just hit. Putting the wand away fearfully as she took up the crowbar, she pried open the second crate. Inside, surrounded by padding parchment and felt, was an intricate and slightly curved sword, glowing with magical power. The shining weapon resonated with Prism, and she reached out almost subconsciously with her magic to lift the sword. It felt oddly heavy in her grasp for its thin blade, its length seemingly heavier than it looked. This was truly something interesting, she thought, as she looked through the padding and found a matching scabbard to bring with the sword out to Master Blaze.
Blaze was starting on his second cup of tea when he saw Prism enter his room, carrying in tow a sword nearly as long as she. The filly proudly came to his desk and set the sword gently on it, with a careful grasp of magic. She spoke as softly as ever, “I found something interesting, I think.” Blaze couldn’t help but agree, nodding sagely as his eyes came alight to Detect Magic on the weapon.
Impressed, Blaze spoke “Well, you’ve found a magic weapon. Today’s lesson for you will be to tell me all you can about it by the end of the day.” Taking up the sword in his own magic, he led the way into the library, finding a small table out of the way for the project. He continued now, as Prism followed closely, “You should find everything you need here, so I’d like a report on everything you can find out about the weapon.”
With fervor, Prism set about researching and testing all that she could. She inspected for, found, and looked up a maker’s mark; used impact and water testing to find the material composition; and even set about investigating the magical matrix of the enchantment. As she found these things, she was also able to find some details about the original owner of the weapon. Fascinated by what she found, she began to head down the rabbit hole of that research after hastily finishing her report.
Blaze wasn’t surprised to hear the knock on his door of Prism returning to give her findings. As the filly returned the sword to his desk, she put on top of it a long scroll of parchment with a careful, neat writing on it. She bowed and began to leave before Blaze stopped her, “Not so fast now, any report that is well written will be better spoken.” Seeing her trepidation, Blaze reassured her as he closed the door, “Don’t worry, it’s just for me.”
Prism took a deep breath as she pulled back her report, and began reciting from it, “This weapon represents a historical find, a composite nodachi blade of pegasus lightning iron with the folding techniques favored by the smiths of ancient eastern unicorn tribes. This likely indicates that a supply of pegasus weapons claimed in the pre-unification wars was reforged in order to create the weapon. This forging was led by the masterful smith Tatara Bellows, but would be executed by a team of seven unicorns. The smithing skills would be combined with the rites of the Shinto in order to draw forth the power of the local kami into the weapon. For seven weeks of seven days these smiths worked the steel of seven claimed weapons, using a fire made with bones of great fallen warriors of the past. After the process was done, the weapon was quenched by the blood of an Oni, whose destructive power would be absorbed into the weapon as a basis for its magical matrix.” Prism continued, not noticing the nodding interest of her instructor, “This magical matrix was woven through the classical methods of the Lotus Clan of enchanters and has a magical focal point at the weight center of the weapon, maximizing its ability to turn and riposte. This matrix has the intent of further strengthening the weapon along with having a mild property to part the underlying composition of anything struck by the blade of the sword. This allows for maximum cutting power at the point of contact while resisting the ability of other weapons to damage the blade. There is however, a curse that prevents its power from being used by those who are not of its owner’s bloodline.” Prism stopped now for a deep breath, causing Blaze to think her report over. Not noticing his starting to speak, she kept at it, “All of this work indicates that the weapon was going to be made for none other than a true sword saint of the eastern unicorns, one whom I have identified as Swallow Return. This master of the blade invented a new school of neighponese swordplay, and the technique named after him. He traveled for many years mastering his craft after he’d defeated his master. Eventually, he would be defeated by another sword saint in a fatal duel. I conclude that this is his sword, the Laundry Drying Pole.”
Blaze was flatly impressed by Prism’s report, and complimented her comprehensiveness and interest in researching the owner of the weapon. Taking great care with the weapon, he started to pack it away and sent Prism off for the day. Thanking her master profusely for the chance, Prism made her way out of the room to head home after a long day of research and learning.
The whole way home, and once she’d arrived, her head was filled with thoughts of great unicorn warriors in days long past. When she got home, her mother found her outside playing with a stick as her a sword. Kindly, Vision asked her filly “What exactly are you doing, sweet pea?”
Prism bounced over to her mother, dropping the stick from her grasp. Looking up to her mother, she had stars in her eyes, “When I grow up, I want to be a great fighter like Swallow, or you!”
Vision seemed shaken by the filly’s childish statement, but still took it seriously, speaking in a distant tone with her eyes covered by her bangs “I don't know who Swallow is, but I said something like that when I was your age, and my mother said no because she didn’t want me to get hurt.” Prism started to back off, her ma didn’t speak of her childhood much, and it often wasn’t good news. Still, Vision continued, “I didn’t listen, and I played around behind her back. I got hurt badly because I didn’t know what I was doing.” Prism was starting to look down, but caught her ma’s prideful face shooting up as she spoke with a wide smile ”Now you’re going to learn to do it right!”
Prism gave a small cheer, and ran around her mother excitedly before being stopped by a stroking hoof on her mane. Vision spoke again, this time with a stern voice of authority, “I’ll start training you, but keep away from swords if you can. They’re sharp.” Prism nodded with a stalwart stance, barely able to contain her excitement as her mother continued, handing her a small rubber mallet and guiding her daughter’s positioning, “Alright, it all begins with your stance...”