//------------------------------// // 8. Patterns // Story: My Farrier Lady, Sunspot // by Georg //------------------------------// My Farrier Lady, Sunspot Patterns There were shoe patterns at work, patterns of schedules as each class of Royal Guard cadets were properly equipped, and patterns of behavior. Hammer had gotten fairly good at dealing with the first two, but the last one still gave him issues, even as long as he had been living it. Three nights a week, he and Nails would visit Away right after work. Most of the time, Spot would be there, either waiting on them or showing up shortly after their arrival. Nails would be forced to leave shortly afterward, either to go home and deal with his increasingly picky spouse or to join the night reconstruction crew⁽*⁾ at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, his second job. (*) The School Maintenance and Internal Rebuilding Committee, or SMIRC doubled its workforce when Twilight Sparkle joined the school. The fact that Silver Nails had enchanted the Student’s shoes made them offer him a hiring bonus, plus extra overtime to ‘prep’ classrooms that she was going to be in soon. — Even that short period in the refuge of Away seemed to do Nails an immense amount of good. At least the additional income from his second job kept him from coming in to work bleary-eyed and snippish from sleeping on the couch, and Lady Iolite had stopped dropping by the ‘office’ to complain about the obstinate city merchants refusing to give credit. Spot also had gotten used to her erratic refuge in Away, and Hammer could always expect an extra round of ribbing and teasing after she had to miss one of their meetings, or two during particularly busy weeks at the palace. On occasion, both Spot and Nails would skip out on him, which broke the accustomed pattern and left Hammer to his own devices for the evening. Rather than remain in the bar all night and mope alone with his thoughts, he would go out into the starlit night for a casual stroll around the city. The peaceful city streets and quiet parks reminded him of Spot and their long, leisurely walks back to her home, with occasional detours. Thankfully, Canterlot was a peaceful place with few other night-dwelling denizens, and the guards who worked the night shift had gotten used to their nocturnal wandering. It probably helped that he had shod many of them. Once in a while on his solo strolls, he would find the highest spot in the Royal Gardens, where a particularly grotesque statue reigned over the evening breeze and stars. It provided a good view of the Royal Towers, where undoubtedly Spot was still working on some late-night project behind one of the illuminated windows scattered through the structure. Occasional bursts of light or puffs of smoke gave witness that Twilight Sparkle was also likewise engaged in various late-night unicorn educational activities with her royal instructor. At least she had not welded her shoes down to the floor again in the last year or so. Tonight, Spot seemed unusually uncomfortable sitting on her cushion beside Hammer, even after Nails excused himself for his second job. The bar was only moderately busy, and nothing else in their conversation could possibly be causing her current distress, so as much as he wanted to avoid striking any tender spots, Hammer decided to ask the Forbidden Question. “So… are things at work being difficult, Miss Sunspot?” There was no reaction, other than Spot nearly biting a skewer in half while stripping it relentlessly of its vegetable contents. “Look,” started Hammer, deciding that a second attempt would probably not get him bitten, “if you’re having problems that I can’t help you with, at least you can talk about them.” “It’s just…” Spot practically flung the empty skewer on the tray and glared down at the table like it had done something unspeakable to her. “I need you. And I need to stay away from you. Both. Now.” “Did Twilight finally blow off another shoe?” he asked, carefully putting one foreleg around her shoulders. It exposed his chest to her sharp elbows, but if thumping him in the ribs helped her deal with whatever was eating her up, he was willing to take the thumps. Despite his attempt, Spot pulled away and scooted her cushion to the other end of the bench. “That’s not helping. That’s really not helping.” It was not what Hammer expected, and he found himself struggling for words. “I thought you were upset about work and I wanted to help you calm down.” “Work is half of it,” admitted Spot. “Hormones are the rest, and then some. I need to sit on a block of ice for about a week or so. And… Twilight.” The tide had just come in on the Sea of Confusion that Hammer was swimming in, and he was starting to drown. “Twilight and ice what?” “Twilight Sparkle just limped in the front door of the bar.” “Oh.” Hammer turned to see his favorite customer, limping as expected, and with a sleeping dragon draped over her back. They both had grown quite a bit since their last visit to his shop, although the dragon was just as sleepy as ever. At least between their growth and Golden Hammer’s experience, he no longer wanted to scoop them up and find the parent who was searching for their odd lost children. “Good evening, Twilight Sparkle,” started Hammer once the limping filly had made her way to their table. “Needing some shoe work this evening?” “I’m really not sure what went wrong,” started the Student of the Sun, “because I had braced myself and I was looking in the spellbook but I was very careful—” “Say yes, Twilight.” Spot had regained some of her usual perky happiness, as if Twilight had brought along a little sunshine with her appearance. “Yes, Twilight?” said Twilight Sparkle, looking a little baffled, then insulted when both Hammer and Spot laughed. “Oh, Twilight. Never change,” managed Spot with a solid nudge to her companion. “Come on, you hefty hunk. You’ve got work to do this evening, and I probably should get back home. The big lady is tied up in some complicated negotiations, and I should look in on her.” “You won’t be able to,” said Twilight Sparkle, leaning up against their table and shaking one bare hoof as if it were cramping up on her. “I tried, but the doors were locked and none of the guards were about to let me in. Cadence was hidden away in some super-secret meeting this evening too. And Shiny wasn’t in his office, or in his apartment.” “Probably earning overtime at work,” said Hammer with a perfectly straight face. “I think we can get you worked into our schedule this evening, little lady. Nails still has that spare set of shoes we held back for just this occasion, and… You know, with the way you’ve sprouted up without blowing any shoes off for quite some time, I’m not sure they’ll fit without some resizing. And it would be nice to have somepony around to work the auxiliary bellows,” he added giving Spot a nudge as she came out of their booth. “Oh, Mistah Hammer, Ah do declare,” said Spot in a simpering voice while holding a forehoof across her chest. “You do take me to the most interesting places on our dates.” * * * For a palace servant, Spot had impressive stamina. She worked the bellows on the forge with a steady, reliable rhythm, never slowing or faltering while Hammer rotated the four shoes in the fire. He had never really tried to resize already enchanted shoes, because once the runes were set, they didn’t really like being run through the forge again. To counter that, Twilight Sparkle was keeping her horn glowing like a thaumic forge of her own, holding the enchantments static while Hammer beat the shoes into the new shape they needed. Twilight Sparkle had suggested they only resize two shoes, but recognized Hammer’s argument that an unbalanced stance would only blow the other shoes off faster, and possibly with more property damage. Since one of the two shoes had nearly twisted apart during the explosive de-shoeing process, it was an easy call. “That ought to do it.” Hammer flexed his aching fetlock and released the shoe from the duckbill tongs he had been using to hold it against the anvil. Instantly, Twilight’s magic snatched it up and dropped it into the quenching barrel with a hiss of vengeful metal. Unicorn magic was certainly handy for most of the steps in the process, exemplified by Nails’ lessons to a bright young unicorn couple who had just graduated from Celestia’s school. As a test, they had successfully enchanted a set of shoes for Princess Cadenza, and had both practically burst with pride when Hammer was applying them. The process had been filled to the brim with gooey love and adoration, which only got worse (or better) when Brass Studs had produced a ring at the end, and Coal Scuttle accepted his offer. Hammer convinced them not to have the wedding right there in the forge, but it had been a close call. Princess Cadenza was stubborn, and impatient. For their final project, the lovebirds were supposed to see if they could both enchant a new set of shoes for Twilight Sparkle as well as Nails was able. Personally, Hammer wanted to keep one of the mangled shoes to show Studs and Coal on their next visit, but Twilight wanted all four of them to do a differential magical potential analysis and some other large magical words. So rather than argue and lose, he went through the careful process of shoe application, nail swagging, shellac application, final polishing, and boxed up the mangled scrap for Twilight to take back to the palace. “I really don’t expect those to last you for a year,” said Hammer nearly under his breath. “Let’s schedule a visit six moons from now and see if the two young unicorns Nails has been tutoring can have a usable set of shoes for you then.” With a flip of her pale purple magic, Twilight Sparkle sorted the shoe measurement parchments and dropped them into her ‘shoebox’ on the wall, one of only a few that was labeled permanently for their owners. “I’m not sure,” said Twilight, poking her nose into the cardboard box of carnage and fractured shoe pieces. “I’ve gotten used to Silver Nails’ work.” “And Nails may not be working here for much longer,” said Hammer. “He’s married into a proper noble family, so at any time, they may find him a position being Lord of the Pasture or Baron of the Woods somewhere. Brass Studs and Coal Scuttle may just have graduated, but they’re excellent heavy rune enchanters, and they’ll be moving in next door to start their own farrier shop in a few months. They’re young and have a lot to learn about their craft, much like you, young lady.” There was no doubt that Twilight took to learning like fire took to paper, and she brightened up at the thought of all that studying and practical experimentation the young unicorns were going to go through, but then she faded slightly and took a glance over her shoulder at where Spike was sleeping in the coal pile. “Are you going to miss Nails too?” she asked, in a conversational direction that Hammer had not expected. “I mean if Spike were to grow up and leave to be with other dragons, I’d miss him so much. I worry about it at times. Because he’s a dragon, after all, and we know so little about dragons so it might be for the best even though I try so hard to keep him healthy and feed him right but there are times when I’m at my wit’s end about just why he’s acting like he does and moping around the apartment or nibbling on things. I mean I didn’t know I was going to be Princess Celestia’s student until I hatched him during my entrance exam and for a time I thought it was another test to see if I could handle the responsibility and if I couldn’t, I would have to go back to living with my mother and father which isn’t that bad only living in the palace and learning from Princess Celestia is just the greatest thing that ever happened to me and… I worry.” He considered the earnest young unicorn and her anxious expression before responding, “I worry about Nails too. It’s part of growing up. We meet new ponies, we move away from others. If you had never taken that examination, you never would have met such a wonderful little dragon, or learned magic from a princess. It’s change, and no matter how much we wish things could remain the same…” “They don’t.” Twilight Sparkle considered the concept before giving out a short and very polite yawn. “I’m sorry,” she continued. “I don’t need to dump my worries on you when it’s so late at night.” “What are friends for?” Hammer moved forward to help Spot with her cleanup of the forge area, which she had paused in order to listen. “Even Spot is chipping in where she can. We’re friends. You can tell us whatever you need, or drop in at night to get shoes replaced, it’s all good.” Hammer’s collection of forge and shoeing tools took flight in Twilight’s magic and slotted themselves back into various holders around the shop exactly where they needed to go, a complex feat that always left him quietly amazed. Then Spike floated up in the same magic aura and was fitted down next to the cardboard box on Twilight’s back without even shifting a single snore. “Thank you, Mister Hammer,” said Twilight as she paused by the door. “For the shoes and the talk.” “It’s always a pleasure,” said Hammer. “Come by anytime. During the day, preferably. Unless it’s an emergency. Good night, young lady.” The sound of small steel-clad hooves trit-trotting into the distance faded, and Spot snuck over to the door to take a last look outside. “Thought she might hide behind the door to listen in on us,” Spot said as she put her shoulder to the sliding door and closed it. “Do you need to talk?” asked Hammer, making one last check of his work area and ensuring the forge had been closed down to cool. “No. Yes. I need…” Spot rested her head against the sliding door with her sweat-soaked mane hanging down across one eye. She was more beautiful than any of the fancy unicorn maidens at the palace, and Hammer was intensely aware of being alone with her in the forge room. Let the poets wax on about mares on sun-dappled fields, or authors spin their chapters about mythical alicorns rising from the wind-blown surf with the seafoam dripping from their virginal… delicate areas. Hammer held old-fashioned earth pony ideas about the desirability of a mate in how well they could pull a plow, or in his case diligently pump the auxiliary bellows on the forge for an extended period. “Whatever I have is yours,” he said instead. “We could go back to the bar, but I’m all hot and sweaty, and I think Stout would throw us out.” “Same here,” said Spot tersely. There was a long, quiet pause, then Spot turned and placed her lips firmly on his. The salty and sweltering kiss lasted forever, and still was too short a time when she took a step back and looked him right in the eyes. “How big is your… shower?” “It’s… um… big enough,” he managed through the pounding of his heart that seemed to fill his ears. “Are you sure?” “I’m not,” admitted Spot. “I need you so much as an anchor, but I’m afraid I’m not giving back as much as I’m taking.” “Anvils and anchors don’t need to give back. You’re… like my forge,” Hammer admitted. “In winter.” Spot raised one eyebrow and brushed a lock of sweaty mane back behind her ear. “Just looking at it doesn’t do anything,” he added in a rush. “It just sits there while you’re freezing your tail off in the room. You have to see what it can do with your help, give it care and coal, light the fire, coax it into its full potential until it glows red-hot, melting away the cold of the world and taking away the chill in your bones. And you have to stay with it, taking care of it, keep the fire burning as long as you are there, let it fill you with its power and heat to do the job you came here to do. The job that needs done, that nopony else can do, and that you can’t do without it. You could be forging a single shoe or a thousand. Time doesn’t mean anything when you’re working together like that.” Still, Spot did not say anything, but her sparkling eyes convinced Hammer to keep going. “We are what we are,” he said. “I’ll be your anvil for as long as you desire, until the stars pass from the sky.” That earned him another infinite kiss, with the not-so-delicate scent of sweaty mare filling his nose and his mind until it was his turn to pull away. “Look,” he managed once he had caught his breath, “Anchor or not, I think we’re getting—” “In too deep,” said Spot with a pleasant giggle. “You’re worried that I’ll be upset afterward, and I’m worried that I’ll lose you afterward, and we both have this thing about foals, you because you want to see your family continue long after you’re gone, and me because… Well, it isn’t important.” “You’re important,” said Hammer quickly. “Far more than you know.” Spot took a deep breath and nuzzled him under the chin, which really did not help Hammer’s thought processes. “Look. I would give anything to sleep with you in this condition, stay with you for the rest of your life, and have as many foals as you want. Right now, that option is just screaming in one ear. But I can’t. Not that I don’t want to, not that I can’t physically have foals, it’s just that I can’t. Nopony else at the palace can do what I do, and the whole country will fall apart if I do what I want instead of what I have to do. Give me some time, let me train a replacement—” Hammer put a hoof gently across her lips. “I’ve already given you my heart and soul, and you’ve given me a joy that I’ve never had before. I can certainly give you as much time as you need. And a shower. My house is just around the corner.” “Good.” Spot closed her eyes and gave him a gentle kiss. “I think I need that shower more than I know. Let’s go.” They eventually did use the shower that evening. Twice.