//------------------------------//
// Thunder Blossom 
// Story: Criminally Stupendous 
// by dudenotactive 
//------------------------------//

Applejack stared at her work, six bullets inside the red circle. A perfect bullseye, she had to pat herself on the back for this one. When she first started training her marksmanship yesterday, she was but a newbie. But after the guidance of Bronze Oak, she almost called herself the best. If she wasn't humble that is.

Then there was Rainbow Dash, she was just nearby leaning against the wall of the headquarters with a notebook. The pegasus was busy writing or doing something in the notebook. The pencil in Dash's mouth scribbled loudly, curiosity got the better of AJ, so she decided to go over and see what the pegasus was doing. Applejack noticed that the notebook had a name written on the cover, she furrowed her brows as she easily understood that the object doesn't even belong to Dash.

"Dash, what'cha doin'?"

Dash looked away from the notebook and glared at her friend. "Shush, I'm trying to focus!" She shushed Applejack before continuing with whatever she was doing. 

"And what exactly is so important, that you had to hide here?"

"I'm not hiding!" Dash shot up from her spot. "I'm just taking a break, you know how Feather Storm is, he's so strict and boring!"

"Dash, he literally tossed you through a wall, built by the Iron Legion no less!" Applejack sighed. "You're just scared of facing the rest of the guards, aren't you?"

Dash groaned as she slumped against the wall. "He's saying that I need to fight against large numbers, like I'm gonna be fighting the Grimm."

"Dash, you might know about this, but Oak told me that ever since we defeated Nightmare Moon, Ironwood had been tryin' to recruit us."

"Wait, really?"

"Eeyup, he just couldn't since we ain't part of the military, and Ah'm pretty sure he saw Roman as a good enough reason."

"Well, he better not expect me to stick around once we catch Roman!"

"Same here, sugarcube... Same here."

"Oh, speaking of which!" Dash dropped her pencil as a thought came into her mind. "So how do you feel about all this? The fact that Roman is an alien thing, I mean."

"Ah don't know what to think," Applejack shook her head dismissively. "All Ah know is that we need to throw the book at 'em and show Roman that his way of life is just no good."

"Pfft! That sounds boring!" Dash grinned. "You know what I think? Me and him are gonna have an epic battle! His weird explodey cane thing, versus my cool weapon!" Dash then showed Applejack what she was doing, the notebook opened and revealed to the farmer a very interesting doodle.

"You gonna go fight Roman with that?"

"Heck yeah, and I'll look awesome as I do so!" Dash held her head high as she presented her rough 'sketch'. "I present to you, Thunder Blossom! Very very awesome!"

"Dash, this just looks like a child drew it. And Ah can't really tell what exactly is goin' on."

"Whatever! Just help me talk to the blacksmiths inside so I can ask them to make it."

"Ugh, fine. Ah'm done training anyways."




Down below the headquarters of the Iron Legion, a forge was built, a place where weapons and armor are made or fixed. The Legionnaires rarely visit the forge since every guard in the regiment is well drilled on weapon and armor maintenance. And for the first time ever, Dash and Applejack felt as if they got lost in a desert. The heat was bearable, but it was so bad that both mares started sweating down from their brows. 

As they traveled through the hallway, getting ever closer to the forge, the heat got even stronger. 

And once they had arrived at the entry of the forge, Applejack started to feel as if she was melting, and Dash had to wipe her face with her wing. "Hello?" Dash called out as she and AJ entered. "Anybody here?"

"Welcome!" A voice boomed through the room and blew the sweat off their faces. "I didn't expect anyone to come by today!" A very large stallion spoke as he came out of nowhere. "But... you two ain't Legionnaires."

Applejack cleared her throat. "Well, we aren't. We are just helpin' the General with catching a thief. Dash and Ah aren't here for long."

"That's too bad..." The stallion grumbled. "You two look like some tough cookies, not like the mares I've seen around here though. They can lift a sword bigger than them!" He laughed as he pulled the two towards the middle. "No need to introduce yourselves, I have heard of you and your friends and how you saved Equestria! I'm honored to be in your presence. I'm Crimson Forge, the proud owner and master of this forge you see here!"

He pointed a hoof towards another large stallion, but this one had a big metal jaw on his face, and he stared at them strangely. 

"That's my partner, Ratchet. But the others started to call him Lockjaw on the account of the metal... you get the picture. And don't mind him, doesn't really talk much." Crimson sighed deeply. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, well..." Dash opened the page where her weapon was drawn on and showed it to Crimson Forge. "I kinda want to have this idea of mine made."

Crimson stared at the drawing, then grinned. "If you want it, then you have to make it yourself!"

"What, why!?"

"'ecause," Lockjaw started speaking, but something was odd about the way he spoke. "ed-ry eh-on a guard awnts is aid ay enselus."

"What?" Both mares asked. 

"He said 'Because every weapon a guard wants, is made by themselves.', sorry, Lockjaw lost his lower jaw along with his lower lip, lucky for him he didn't lose his tongue. Can't really say the letters that need both lips." Crimson translated for the two and explained Lockjaw's predicament. "Anyways, he's right, any Legionnaire that comes here wanting a weapon, they have to make it themselves. We only do maintenance, and any orders from the General. We will also provide you with every material needed to make this... weapon. I have to be honest here, I have never seen this design all my life. And I've seen those strange guns that the General bought."

"But, I don't know how to use a forge, let alone know how to smith a weapon!"

"'e can teach yu." Lockjaw offered. 

"Yeah, we can teach you! It's been awhile since we had a newbie in the forge!"

Dash groaned loudly as she hung her head low. "Dang it, I don't want to work."

Crimson pulled Dash closer and lifted her tiny body in the air. "Don't worry, with us around, you'll be done in no time!"

"Applejack, help, I don't want to work!" She pleaded, but the farmer was already gone, leaving her alone to face her responsibilities and make her own weapon. "AJ you traitor, I'll get you for this!"




Lucky Spice stared at the sketchbook that was placed on the table in front of her, she looked up to see the deadly look in Roman's eye, it was obvious he wanted something. She glanced over Trixie, the showmare was also focused on the sketchbook. Then Spice looked over to Trixie's assistants, the two mares were busy preparing coffee for everyone. 

Spice took the book into her hooves and brought it closer, she inspected the sketch, it depicted a man sitting on a throne with guns and swords pointed at the man. The most interesting part of the sketch was the fact that it resembled the resident criminal. Spice guessed that this is what Roman would have looked like if he had kept his original form. 

"May I ask what this means, Roman? It's just that I am a bit out of the loop." Spice leaned back against the couch and waited for Roman to explain. 

"You might have guessed that this handsome fellow is actually me, well, an accurate sketch of me."

"I've noticed. But what exactly do you need of me?"

Roman sighed. "I need you to find the pony who owns this sketchbook."

"Well Roman, I would need more detail than that. For starters, what is their cutie mark?"

"I didn't see, I was too focused on stealing from him, that I didn't really care. Thought he was just a nobody."

"And then you thought wrong." Spice grinned. "So a stallion? What race?"

"Oh, he was an earth pony!" Trixie informed them. 

"Yeah, and he has a brown coat. His mane is also brown but in a darker shade." Roman listed off what he knows. "This is pretty much what we know by appearance, but from what I found..."

Roman flicked the pages until it landed on a very interesting sketch. It was what a human would call a biplane. Not only that, there were many words and paragraphs that some would think that this was a sketch design for a plane that has yet to be invented. "What is it?" Spice asked. 

"This is what my kind called a plane, a vehicle made for flight. This is an old invention in my people's history. And from what this tells us is that this pony is an inventor." Roman explained. Then he flicked to a different page. "And this sketch is a zeppelin, it is already invented in this timeline of yours, but the design is what makes this zeppelin a lot different than yours."

The two assistants had finished their work and started serving the three coffees of their personal taste. Simple white coffee for Trixie, and black for Roman and Spice. 

"This particular blimp was used during the Great War, owned by the faction Vale. They used this to sneak through enemies defences and drop bombs on top of them, this thing was silent as a mouse, and really big. This means that whoever this guy is, he's from Vale specifically."

"You seem to know a lot about this zeppelin, Mr. Torchwick!" Lavender pointed out. 

Roman shrugged his shoulders with a grin. "Well that's because I broke into a museum once, and trust me, it was a boring night."

"I see... And you request that I find him?" Spice looked expectantly towards Roman. 

"Yes."

Spice shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I am going to decline your request."

Roman groaned. "Alright... what do you need?"

The old mare smiled as she brought her coffee to her lips. "My cousin was supposed to make a deal with another... 'association', but they decided to say no and stole both my money and my products."

Roman was silent for a second. "Are you dealing with drugs?"

"What!?" Spice looked appalled as the rest of the mares in the room had their eyes widened. "Heavens no! I may have done a few shady businesses here and there, but my associates and I do not deal with drugs!"

"Wait, so you run a mafia or something? First time I'm hearing it."

"Do I look like a cruel ruffian in the streets? Roman, we are not some kind of gang, we are just a group of friends and family working together for our own benefit. Just trying to live on this planet where chaos and destruction is just around the bend." Then she cleared her throat. "The ponies who stole my money on the other hoof, they are what I would call a mafia."

"Meh," Roman shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care either way, so give me the details."




Dash huffed loudly, her body ached a little, thanks to her aura, she didn't have to feel the full fatigue of working in a forge. She wiped the sweat off her brows, the heat was practically melting her, but she kept pushing. She lifted the hammer high and brought it down one last time at the glowing piece of metal. Sparks flew as the hammer struck the heated steel. 

Crimson whistled proudly as he watched Dash working on her weapon. Lockjaw simply slept at the corner of the room, under this scorching heat. 

Dash sighed and plunged the molten metal into water, it hissed and steam grew. "I think... I'm done..." She huffed as she placed the final piece on top of a table with other parts of her weapon, there was only one last thing to do before she finished. 

"Fantastic work! Though there were a bit of... mistakes, we can work around that. Now it's time to assemble it!"

"Can't I take a break!? I have been working on this for hours!" She whined. "Can't you at least help me on this?"

Crimson shook his head. "Nope, you drew it, and I had to redo your 'rough' sketch just to make it work. So... Thunder Blossom? Sounds too girly."

"I'm a girl you know..."

"You are?" He said with obvious disbelief. "I thought you were a stallion!"

Feeling insulted, Dash growled at the older pony with a glare that could be compared with the heat of the forge. "I'm gonna pretend that I didn't hear that." She said as if she was spitting poison. 

"Alright, whatever. Let's just focus on your wea-"

"Done."

Crimson needed to take a second to understand, just a second ago, bits and pieces were scattered on the table, and now it was all together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. The final product now laid on the table, the Thunder Blossom. Crimson could tell why she picked the name, it was a simple design, yet Crimson had never ever seen it before. 

"Can you tell me, what inspired you to make this thing? It's kinda... excessive."

"Well, you might have heard of that unicorn that hangs around Roman, right?" The large stallion nodded. "You might not believe me, but she has this small ball made of steel, and a rod that extends out of it and it turns into some kind of magician's cane."

"Is that all? Kinda sounds a little too simple."

"Not just that, the rod thing breaks apart but is connected to some cable, and now the cane turns into a flail that could stretch really far."

"Now that's something I have to see!" He said excitedly. "Anything else?"

"The ball thing also holds some tiny bottles of what I think are Dust. She could do some cool stuff like making ice from nothing."

"Tell me about Roman! I heard he has some magic cane, but I'm more of a science kind of pony."

"Next time, I just need... wait, what time is it?"

Crimson looked over to the wall clock. "3:22..? Didn't we start around 1:pm?"

Dash paled. "Oh god, we've been here for hours... That means I practically spent a whole night making this thing!"

With the knowledge of the fact that she had been working for so long in the heat, her body and mind had finally registered everything. She slumped over and planted her face on the dirty floor. Her mind went blank as sleep took over, the stallion sighed as the room was filled with the snores of a very tired pegasus. Crimson decided to pick her up and placed her on his back, the mare did not stir or move, she was completely deep into her sleep just seconds after her eyes closed. 

Lockjaw had awakened from his own sleep and had begun to follow his partner out of the forge. The two had ascended the stairs to get to the ground floor and traveled through the hallways of the headquarters, soon enough they had arrived at the destination Crimson had in mind. The large stallion motioned for Lockjaw towards the door. 

Lockjaw gave the door a soft knock and was quickly answered by a mare who looked alright for waking up at three in the morning. "What is it sir?" She asked. 

"Shush, the little pegasus is trying to sleep." Crimson turned to reveal the sleeping mare on his back. "I know you got a free bed in there, and she had been working on a project for a whole afternoon, and she just finished. So could you let her rest until she wakes up? And try not to disturb her when you start your morning routines."

"Yes sir." She saluted, though she didn't like the idea, Dash was still Ironwood's guest, so she had to oblige. She made it sure she was careful as she took the mare off the Crimson's back. She gave the two blacksmiths one more salute before retreating back into the room with her other guardsmares.

Lockjaw sighed. 

The blacksmith rolled his eyes at his partner. "I know, we shouldn't be disturbing the others, but that Rainbow Dash girl needed a soft bed after the back breaking work she did."

Lockjaw shook his head.

"Wait, you're not concerned about that? Then what's wrong?"

"My problem is, do I have to talk like an idiot every time a newbie comes to the forge?" Surprisingly, Lockjaw spoke perfectly fine.

Crimson grinned at his partner. "Yes, yes you will."