//------------------------------// // The Lull // Story: My Little Viking: Steel Is Magic // by Laarsgaard //------------------------------// I stared out the window of the train as Canterlot faded into the distance. Under my seat was my bag filled with my gear minus the armor I had worn at the wedding and across from me sat Twilight who was chatting amiably away with Fluttershy across the aisle. My friends surrounded me all nattering away as I remained silent. I smiled it was good to be back to the simplicity of what was my everyday life before my time in Canterlot. We had stayed for a few days after the wedding but it was more for the others than for me. They did not often get time in the capitol whereas I had spent far too much time there in my opinion. I was no longer in the sling and my hand had half of a new digit. Twilight told me that in the last portion of the growth it would go quickly and that my fingers would be restored to me in a very short amount of time. The train chugged on as we headed for Ponyville. I was excited to see the town again though I could not call it home officially. I was even excited to see that little dragon Spike. I turned my head to listen to the main conversation which had turned to some odd subject about a lull and I was curious. “What do you mean a lull?” I asked Twilight. “Well it seems like we’ll go for a while having these crazy adventures and then for months at a time nothing will happen.” She told me. Pinkie stood on her seat and placed her hooves on the armrest and twisted her head about. “Yeah! Last time it felt like forever since we went on an adventure or something amazing happened and then Discord showed up!” she exclaimed continuing to twist her head about in a rather disturbing fashion. “Who is Discord?” I asked my friends. They immediately clammed up and looked at Twilight. Twilight laughed. “It’s okay girls we can tell him.” She turned her gaze back to me. “Discord is a Draconequus.” “A what?” I asked her feeling incredibly confused. There were times that I hated this place because of its oddities. “A Draconequus.” She explained. “Is a creature that’s looks like someone took a bunch of animals and shoved them all together.” She mashed her hooves together in demonstration. “Not only that he has incredible magic powers and is very skilled at creating chaos.” I turned my head and looked out the window. “He sounds rather dangerous.” I stated. “He isn’t so much dangerous as he is, well, chaotic.” Twilight said still smiling. “But we defeated him and locked him away in stone. He’s in the palace gardens right now in fact.” “Is that so?” I said wondering why I hadn’t heard of this creature until just now. “Don’t worry, he can’t escape.” Twilight assured me. I nodded silently still staring out the widow. They continued to speak but I remained silent listening to them go on about this Discord creature. If he were to make a reappearance he sounded like quite the foe who could not be persuaded away from his evil. If he did come around again he would have to taste steel. The train pulled into the station and we disembarked. Spike was waiting for us on the platform along with the three fillies who called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I had asked about what the markings on the girls flanks were and they had explained to me that it had to deal with their special talents. They explained that while some may be similar that no two were ever identical and it helped determine what they were to do with their lives. It was odd to me that each of these would have one job and one alone. As where I had come from each man was expected to sacrifice his own time and even his life if necessary for family and community to strengthen the whole not just spend his time tilling his field. The little fillies all yelled out ‘yay’ as we stepped from the train and rushed to meet their sisters except Scootaloo who demeaned herself by taking Rainbow Dash’s bags. Spike came up to me with a big toothy grin. “Hey Ol can I take your bag for you?” he asked me excitedly. I raised an eyebrow at the dragon as he had never shown behavior like this before. “Are you sure, it is rather heavy.” I warned him. “It’s okay I can handle it.” He said confidently. “Alright.” I said as I handed my bag over to him. As soon as I released the handles he collapsed under the weight. I moved to help him but he stopped me. “I got it.” He said struggling to his feet throwing the bag, which was over twice his size and weight, across his back and began to shakily march his way to the library. “He really missed you.” Twilight said coming up to stand next to me to watch the little dragon determined to kill himself under the weight of my armor and weapons. “Hmm.” Was all I could manage out of curiosity. I had not thought the little monster had cared much for me at all, but I had been wrong before especially about this place and its inhabitants. We walked through town and came to the library without much delay. I was ready to relax for a time and with this ‘lull’ coming on I assumed that was what I was going to get. As we went through the town our friends broke off with heartfelt goodbyes as they retired to their own respective homes as finally we came to ours. Twilight stepped through the threshold first and I followed quickly with Spike bringing up the rear his face having turned several shades darker from having hefted my bag about town. The small dragon plopped my gear down onto my bed which had gathered an impressive amount of dust in my absence. “Thank you Spike.” I told the little dragon. He beamed with joy up at me and scuttled his way up the stairs and into Twilight’s room to do whatever he did up there. I sat down on the bed next to my bag and sighed letting the reality of actually having a break from endless reports and patrols and disciplinary actions I felt the accumulated stress slough away like a winter coat. “So what do we do now?” I asked Twilight as she rummaged about for some old tome or other. “Well with the lull coming on I usually use the time to plan and practice spells. The others, well, I’m not sure.” She said rubbing a hoof across her chin in thought. Spike poked his head up over the lip of the top step. “I know!” he said excitedly. He stood up and tried to run down the steps. He tripped and began a glorious tumble to the bottom step with a crash. I winced but was somewhat surprised when the little dragon hopped up totally un-phased by the fall. “We could go to the lake with Pinkie Pie or we could go on picnics with Fluttershy, or we could go raise a barn with Applejack or any number of things during the lull!” he exclaimed excitedly. I held up my good hand in defense. “Calm down Spike,” I told him afraid the dragon would throw himself into a fit and fall over he had just finished lugging several stone worth of gear from the train platform to my bed . “We’ll have time for all of that it sounds like.” I said. Spike smiled and began to hop around excitedly. “What do you want to do first?” he asked looking up at me expectantly. I looked down at my bed that I was still sitting on. “To be frank,” I looked down upon the dragon. “I would like to sleep.” The days that came were indeed uneventful. I would awake as I had and train some but I found that I was already in good condition that my body needed little work other than to maintain my strength. My hand was indeed growing fast and faster each day as by the end of the first week of the lull I had my middle finger returned to me and both my pinkie and ring finger near completion. By the end of the second week the fullness of my limb had finally been restored to me after all of this time and I made sure everyone knew about it to as I would use the limb for everything I could manage from lifting books to throwing objects. It was a good thing. To combat the lull Spike, who had decided he was now my best friend and therefore a stepping stool, dragged me about town doing various things of leisure. We visited Pinkie Pie every other day whenever Spike wouldn’t take me to go sit in Rarity's shop to talk to her for hours about mind numbing topics like fabric choice and how to stitch. Spike would lose himself staring at Rarity’s beauty while I would sit in some padded chair wondering what my other friends were doing which seemed infinitely more fun than this. I finally managed to rid myself of Spike and his ever lessening definition of fun by heading to Applejack’s to volunteer my time to help her on the farm. I explained to her how I had a farm where I was from and I knew how to help run one. She asked if I was any good at picking fruit. I laughed at her and explained that I had no trees personally but I could help with the animals the plowing and sowing of the fields. She agreed to have me on and soon I would spend most of my time helping out the orange workhorse. The lull was a good time as I spent it working with Applejack and her brother Big Macintosh. I had met the large stallion once or twice before but we had exchanged few words. I admired his tenacity when it came to approaching the workload of the day as I found the Apple family farm was enormous. It seemed odd to me now that I had spent most of time in Ponyville inside of Twilight’s home doing little but learning from the unicorn and polishing my weapons and armor. Now I was being out and about the town and I was meeting all sorts of wonderful ponies. I finally met the Cakes at Sugar Cube Corner who were rather skilled bakers and Pinkie took me around one day when I wasn’t needed on the farm and gave me a formal introduction to half the town. They had all seen me and knew of me but some were afraid to approach me before then as I was a violent looking shut in who was only ever seen when being escorted about by Twilight. Now that I was far more accustomed to the world about me it seemed natural now to know the community around me. In my home the community had to work together to survive and prosper here it seemed different though. Here these ponies could get along rather independently without too much struggle. They would ask neighbors for help and assistance but they didn’t quite rely on each other as I had relied upon my friends and allies where I had lived, such a strange place. Life felt like it had slowed a pace since I had returned to Ponyville. The days were spent either farming or spending time around time enjoying the summer weather. Rainbow Dash would ask me to come with her to watch her practice her flying skills for the Wonderbolts. The Wonderbolts, I learned, are a group of pegasus ponies who perform flying feats for entertainment. I found the idea rather intriguing and would go with Rainbow more often than not. The lull ended abruptly however. I was awake early as usual readying to leave when Twilight came down the stairs with a letter held out in front of her. “We’re going to Canterlot.” She told me. I raised my eyebrow. “What does the princess need?” I asked her. Twilight read over the letter again. “It says that she has some sort of test for me and that we need to get there as soon as possible!” Twilight dropped the letter as she finished speaking and began to dash about her home recklessly pulling books down and speaking aloud what she needed. “Spike!” the purple unicorn called out. Spike poked his head over the edge of the stairs. “Yes?” he asked incredulously while he rubbed sleep from his eyes. “I need your help now.” Twilight commands. She looks up at me. “I need you to go get the girls.” I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Why?” I asked her. “Just do it!” She said hysterically and continued her tirade around the library. I happily left the tree and went searching for my friends. It being so early the only one awake would be Applejack but the others would not be angry with me once they knew why I had to wake them. It took me roughly twenty minutes to go about the town and gather up the sleepy mares except Pinkie who had made me promise to never wake her in the morning for fear it would wake the Cake twins who were incredibly light sleepers. With the four ponies in tow we came back to the library where Twilight was still running about like a headless chicken asking herself where this or that was placed. Spike stood in the middle of the vast room jumping up and down catching flying objects in a massive sack he had in his hands. The girls began to poke fun at Twilight for her antics and I couldn’t help but laugh as she began to blow things out of proportion. Then Spike decided to speak. “Calm down Twilight, it’s just a test.” The tiny dragon said puffing out his chest. “Just a test?” Twilight asked menacingly turning upon the little lizard. Spike cowers under her gaze. Twilight begins to drive him across the room as she berates him. “Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam and you tell me to calm down because it’s just a TEST!” Spike reached behind him and pulls an odd looking helmet out of nowhere and places it on his head. “Uh, yes.” He answers. Twilight’s eyes go wide with anger and her horn begins to glow as she snorts through her nose. “I’d say she’s taking it quite well considering.” Applejack says calmly. Then Twilight released the magic stored in her horn with a roar. The tree was ripped from the ground like an oversized weed and sailed straight up into the air. Every being within the tree except Twilight was hurled to the ceiling with an audible smack. The library plunged back to the earth as fast as it was tossed up and the floor was met with a harder smack. The library itself was in a state of utter chaos as books and reading material had moved from the shelves to next most convenient space. Twilight stood in the center of the room breathing heavily trying to restore her mental state while the rest of us went about picking ourselves up. I coughed loudly as several layers of dust had been disturbed in the tree’s abrupt and halted exodus from the ground. I helped up Rarity and Fluttershy who were closest to me and I moved to help Spike who had become lodged in a shelf. “Looks like the lull is over.” Fluttershy commented as she began to tidy the place up.