Luna walked slowly toward the cottage. The scenery was idyllic as always, made even moreso by the splendor of her sister’s daybreak. Mist swirled between the distant peaks and down their slopes, mingling with the forests that covered them under the pink light of dawn. As the wind swept through her mane, she could smell the faint scent of wildflowers and damp earth. She could see the crisp, clean snow on the far away peaks, but there on the Vernal Mount, the resting place of the Lord of Spring, none was to be found despite the year approaching its end. How she wished she could set aside her current business and take in the pristine mountain view, so far away from her troubles, whether they were caused by dragons or blacksmiths! But I have business to which I must attend, no matter how unpleasant it may be. I am a princess and bearer of the Elements of Harmony, not a little foal! I helped lead the liberation of Equestria and sealed Discord away in a prison of flesh turned to stone! This task will be trivial.
Sighing, she reached the cottage door. She hesitated, taking one last longing look out across the mountains, before knocking softly.
She waited, but no reply came.
She waited a moment more before knocking again, more loudly. This time, she did not have to wait long before the door opened, and she came face to face with a wizened old gryphon, or, as Luna reminded herself, a being that looked like a gryphon. He had been alive far too long to be a regular mortal, and she had not finished narrowing down the possible answers to this puzzle.
“Ah, Luna, how art thou? Or should I call thee Princess now?” he gazed at the sky. “I would hazard a guess that thou finally defeatedest those of Chaos, alongside thy sister, of course.”
Luna shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, we did, Master Dvalinn. Is your husband home? I– We have business We wish to discuss regarding m-Our blade.”
“There’s no need to be so formal with me! Thou art royalty, and I am but a humble smith. He is out at the moment, but please come in. I’m sure I can at least offer some initial advice; we did forge it together, after all,” Dvalinn replied, holding the door wide for Luna to enter. “Dost thou have thy sword with thee?”
Luna looked at the ground, drawing a circle with her hoof. Inaudibly, she mumbled something.
“I’m afraid my hearing isn’t quite what it once was. If thou wantest my help, then thou must speak more loudly.”
“We said that, er, what happened is, well, We lost it,” Luna answered, a faint blush rising to her face.
Dvalinn clacked his beak. “Thou lostest Nægling?” he asked, an edge creeping into his voice.
“Yes, you see–”
The gryphon irritably waved a talon in her face. “No, no. No need to explain. I presume it happened during the final battle with Chaos and that everything was all very chaotic and that thou didst thy best. But what of Gungnir?”
“We did reclaim our father’s spear, but We must confess that We prefer the sword.” Luna floated a scroll and a large chunk of a lustrous metal out of her saddlebags. “This is lunar silver, for the new blade. We have already infused it with some of Our power, and the scroll containeth the runes We would ask you to etch into it.”
Dvalinn sighed. “And when wouldst thou like to have this sword?”
“By the solstice, so that We might be at the height of Our power to weave the final enchantments.”
“That is not much time.”
“We apologize, but Dakorgon is already harrying Equestria’s borders. ‘Twill not be long before war, We fear.” With a grimace of distaste, Luna floated one last item out of her saddlebags. It was a long, dark blue horn, though it seemed to shift in and out of existence, and the space around it seemed distorted. “For payment.”
Dvalinn’s eyes widened as he beheld it. “An alicorn horn corrupted by Chaos magic? This must be the only one of its kind to ever exist. Gruesome as it may be, the crafting potentials are… immense. This is suitable payment. Subtle Forge and I will certainly make this new blade for thee.” He scrutinized the scroll. “Though I presume thou wilt have no objections if we add other runes alongside these?”
Luna nodded. “I trust your judgment completely in matters of smithing.”
As the alicorn departed, Dvalinn shook his head and sighed. I have a soft spot for that filly, or I’m just going soft in my old age. Two weapons for one pony in less than a century? This is unprecedented.
All she could feel was the pain. The pain in her head. She was unable to feel anything else. Luna blinked her eyes. She clearly remembered being grabbed by the dragon Dakorgon and him breaking her wings and throwing her away. She had hit the ground hard, she remembered that much. After that, she had passed out. And now she only felt her head.
She cursed as she realized that her spine must have broken near the base of her neck. Such an injury was more than survivable for an alicorn such as herself, but it would take time to heal. Luna decided that there was no point in trying to do anything about it at the moment; an injury of this magnitude would likely be beyond her skill to heal alone. While she was unable to move her head, she was still able to look around with her eyes. She seemed to be propped up against something, a rock, she assumed, so she was able to see both forward and up rather well. The sky was filled with storm clouds from which came both lightning and a torrential downpour. Amid the clouds, squadrons of pegasi clashed with dragons while spells from unicorn soldiers on the ground rent the sky. Earth ponies protected them if a dragon crashed to the ground still alive or landed in order to take out the mages who hurled spells against their scales.
In the middle of the fight, Luna could make out a single white pony clad in radiant golden barding dueling an enormous red dragon. Even as she watched, however, she saw the dragon, Dakorgon, strike the pony with one of his massive claws, sending Celestia tumbling toward the ground.
“Sister!” Luna cried, and reached out with her magic, slowing Celestia’s descent and bringing her to her side. Celestia was bleeding profusely, and her eyes were unfocused. This was bad. Luna quickly stitched up the worst of Celestia’s wounds and summoned her blade to her side as Dakorgon landed with a crash in front of them.
He eyed them and let out a deep, thunderous laugh. “Pathetic, absolutely pathetic. This was the best Equestria could offer against me? Die failures, not even worthy of remembrance.” With that, he opened his mouth, eyes closing.
Immediately, Luna surrounded herself and her sister in a shield and sent her sword flying toward Dakorgon. Flames beat against her barrier, and she grunted with the strain of maintaining the shield in the face of the inferno that raged against it. Relying solely on memory, Luna guided her sword, which she assumed was now little more than a molten shaft of metal, into Dakorgon’s mouth and drove it upward into his brain with all the force she could muster.
Suddenly, the fire ceased and, with an earth-shaking crash, the great Dragon King fell to the side. Luna let down her shield with a sigh as, all around her, she heard ponies let out a cheer of victory and saw the dragons take flight, having lost the desire to continue to prosecute this battle with the death of their king. Whether the war would continue, however, would depend on who seized the empty throne in the coming weeks.
“Princesses!” a voice called. “I’ll get you aid!”
A few moments later, Luna sighed in relief as she felt the rest of her body, pained though it was and tingling with the unpleasant sensation of medical spells. Seeing Celestia similarly revived, she turned to face a group of drained unicorns. “Thank you,” she said.
One of them nodded and gasped out, “Your wounds were severe, and we could only do so much. You’ll need plenty of rest to fully recovery.”
Luna nodded and turned to Celestia.
“Thou didst well today, Luna,” Celestia said with a smile, leaning in to nuzzle her sister. “I thank thee for saving my life, and all of Equestria.”
“I did not do it alone. Thou wast essential, as were all our little ponies. Surely we will both celebrate and grieve this battle for a long time to come.” She let out a sigh and reluctantly looked toward Dakorgon’s body. “I fear that my new blade survived scarcely a year.” Bracing for the worst, she reached out with her magic and pulled her weapon out of his skull. To her shock, aside from the bloody stains that coated it, the blade was untouched.
With awe in her voice, Celestia said, “Truly Dvalinn and Subtle Forge outdid themselves this time.”
As Luna finished recounting her story, Subtle Forge asked, “Havest thou a name for thy blade yet?”
Luna looked at the ancient Earth pony, glanced at the gryphon beside him, and then answered, “Quencher.”
Dvalinn let out an incredulous snort. “Quencher? That name seems far too pedestrian for a weapon worthy of legend. I’m afraid the ridiculous naming conventions of mortal ponies may have rubbed off on thee.” He let out a squawk as Subtle Forge gave him a playful punch in the shoulder.
Luna muttered, “The name is appropriate. This sword quenched the flames that threatened to engulf, both literally and figuratively, all of Equestria.” Then, solemnly, she continued, “The two of you have done for Us a great service. If there be any boon that We may grant, then simply ask.”
Dvalinn and Subtle Forge looked at each other for a moment, before the stallion turned to her with a grin. “As long as thou keepest this one, we have nothing we require.”
Luna blushed and simply nodded as the pony and gryphon laughed.