Steelwing was enjoying a peaceful morning when Falchion came in through the window, clutching a scroll in his talons. “Hmm? A message for me?” He opened the scroll to see it was a request from the princess. He read through it, but stopped when he came to the actual order. “This can’t be right… 50 orders of full armor in three days?” ‘She must have accidently added the zero or it’s supposed to be a joke.’ Steelwing thought to himself, but what if she was serious? Not taking the chance he wrote a quick letter and had Falchion deliver it. In the meantime he decided to start working on the order. He took his smock off its hook on the wall and fired up the furnace. “Let’s get started.” He said to himself as he went over to get his supplies.
Falchion returned later with a response. Steelwing inspected the scroll’s contents and groaned when he read that she was not only serious, but also wished to add 20 orders of lances on top of it. She said she understood this is a tall order, even for him, but in return for this she offered to pay him double for the entire order. She attempted to make it sound more feasible by saying this order was not including the day needed for delivery. Steelwing wrote her back, rejecting the offer and telling her he could do it in eight days. He set Falchion out once more and returned to work.
By the time Falchion returned, Steelwing had just about completed the first set of armor. He opened the new scroll, but almost spat out some of the coffee he was drinking when he read what was inside. He still had to do it in three days, but in return he would get triple the pay as well as a sample of orichalcum. The orichalcum would be beneficial for his research in magic resistant armor as it had the ability to weaken magic. If he could figure out what allowed it to do that, he could then a refine it to the point that it could completely nullify magic and perhaps figure out how to get the same effects from other metals. The only problem is due to its properties, it is difficult to mine and quite expensive. ‘If I agree, my research will greatly benefit but I’ll have to more than double my productivity to meet the deadline. Is this really worth it?’ He struggled trying to figure out what to do. He finally decided and quickly jotted down a letter saying he agreed to the terms, sending Falchion out one last time.
He rushed over to his inventory to make sure he had enough materials for the job. “Buck… this won’t do.” He said as he looked over his stock of various materials. “I don’t have enough iron ore and it will take too long for me to get more.” A thought came to mind. “I could just make the armor thinner so I use less… wait, what am I saying! A true metalworker would never sacrifice quality like that! Besides… the armor would be noticeably too thin then.” He looked around for a solution and his eyes rested upon several large boxes of iron rivets. There was enough in the boxes that if melted down, would provide just enough iron that the thinness of every piece wouldn’t be as noticeable. The decision was painful for him, but he had to do it. “My family, forgive me for sacrificing the quality of my work. I promise to never allow it again.” He then set to work, shaping and forming the armor as quickly as he could and flying across his workshop to keep everything running smoothly and correctly.
Several hours later the sound of the doorbell filled the workshop. Steelwing rushed to the door, taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his forehead before opening it. The pony standing at the door was none other than Trickster.
“Hey buddy. Wanted to see if you wanted to hang out with Miss Cheerilee and me and do some catching up.” His friend said.
“Sorry, but I can’t right now. I was given a large order and I really need to get to it. Perhaps some other time?”
“C’mon, what if I told you we’re going to one restaurant we used to hang out at during high school?”
Steelwing frowned. He loved that place. They made the best sandwiches he has ever had and it’s been ages since he last ate there. “I really want to, but I can’t.”
“You sure? It’s been forever since we all hung out there together. It would be like old times.” Trickster said.
“Dude, you’re killing me here! I really want to go, but I seriously can’t right now. This order is from the princess and I need all the time I can get. Please understand when I say I just can’t right now.” He said calmly, but the look in his eyes was one of pain.
Trickster gave an understanding nod. “It sounds like you really are quite swamped. Oh well, I guess we can do it some other time. You owe me and Miss Cheerilee though.” He said as started walking away.
“Yeah, I kn- Wait a minute! Why do I owe you guys? You invited me!”
“I’m just joking. Somepony has to mess with you every now and then or you get all uptight. Good luck with that order.” Trickster laughed as he walked away. Steelwing put on a smirk and rolled his eyes before closing the door.
Day turned into night and when Steelwing checked his progress, he realized he was behind schedule. ‘This won’t do.’ He thought to himself. At this rate he would end up short by the time the delivery had to be made. ‘I guess I’ll have to work through the night.’ He began brewing a pot of coffee to help him stay awake.
Before he knew it, the sun had risen and Steelwing was feeling extraordinarily tired. He flipped the lid of his coffee pot to see nothing left of the wondrous elixir. “I guess now would be a good time to take a break… and a nap.” He started to brew more coffee in case he needed it for later before flying to his bed. “Two hours, max.” He said to himself as he set his alarm. He fell asleep quickly but the two hours disappeared in an instant, and before he knew it the alarm was ringing, signaling him to get back to work. He poured himself one cup of coffee and got back to the slapdash work he had to do.
Evening was setting upon Steelwing once again. He was getting close to finishing the armors when he decided it was time to throw the rivets into the furnace, melting them down to their iron base. He worked long into the night which once again came and went before he knew it. It was now that he hit the wall. His muscles started hurting, his eyes stung and his will was fading. He decided it was time for him to give up this insane endeavor. Legendary metal or not, it no longer seemed to be worth it.
The exhausted metalworker trudged towards the back room he used as a study. It was a reasonably sized room with shelves running all along the walls that held many things that held various objects. Up against the back wall was lone desk with a stack of clean paper on it. He began reaching for a sheet but suddenly stopped. His eye was caught by the silver short sword that sat on one of the shelves. It was family heirloom and belonged to his mother before her passing. Its blade was straight, the guard rounded, and the hilt held a nice grip. The only real striking thing about it was that attached to the bottom of the hilt was what appeared to be an amulet with two gems, but there was an empty socket for a third.
He picked it up the sword and looked at it as memories of his mother came to mind. He then frowned. His mother would scold him for giving up on a project he had spent so much time on. “I’ve come too far to give up now. I have to see this through to the end.” He said to himself as a renewed sense of determination coursed through him, but he felt himself get more stressed as he thought about the work to come. He had one remedy for the stress though. He opened one of the drawers of the desk and produced a pack of cigarettes, removing a single one before placing the pack back in the drawer. A vice he knew, but he had learned to only use one in times of stress.
With a renewed vigor Steelwing returned to his work spot and ignited the cigarette with a blowtorch he kept nearby. Steelwing was working full force now, but was soon interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. He rushed to the door, swinging it open to see Trickster, Miss Cheerilee, and the others. “Yes?” Steelwing asked as calmly as he could.
“Steelwing, is everything okay?” A concerned looking Twilight asked.
Steelwing gave them a confused look. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Why did you think something’s wrong?” He asked.
“It’s easy to see from Ponyville that for the past three days your workshop here has been spewing smoke non-stop.” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed towards the smokestacks, which were still bellowing smoke far into the empty sky.
“We thought there was a forest fire here. Scared us half to death until we saw it wasn’t spreaden’ anywhere.” Applejack explained. “We then got worried sometin’ happened to ya.”
“I appreciate the concern, but as you can see, I’m perfectly alright.” Steelwing said, but the others just stared at him in response. “What?”
Rarity was the one to answer. “Darling, you’re a mess.” She pulled out a compact and had Steelwing look into it. His eyes were bloodshot and had bags forming under them, his face was coated in grime, his hair was a mess, and his clothes stained.
“I see what you mean, but don’t worry about me. It’s only temporary.” Steelwing attempted to close the door, but Miss Cheerilee stuck her foot in before he could.
“Steelwing, you would tell us if anything is wrong, right?” Miss Cheerilee asked.
Steelwing stood in silence for a moment and then forced a small smile. “Of course.” He then shut the door and the heavy metal lock inside could be heard locking into place, sealing him away.
Trickster and Miss Cheerilee wordlessly turned around and walked towards home. The girls were confused at first, but then followed suit.
“I didn’t know Steelwing smoked.” Rainbow Dash said as they walked.
“He doesn’t.” Tricks responded. “Only when he gets really stressed or nervous does he smoke. It helps him relax.”
“Then shouldn’t we help him?” Twilight asked.
Trickster gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about him. He would tell us if something was the matter. Its better just to leave him be.”
“If you say so.” Twilight said, unconvinced.
It was late afternoon when the last piece of armor was completed, but Steelwing did not stop to rest. He immediately moved on to the order of lances, putting them together in the same slapdash manner as the armors. For hours he worked non-stop so that he could get this assignment over with. When the last lance was completed and the job finally done, it was the middle of the night and the only sounds that could be heard was the heavy footsteps of the exhausted Steelwing heading towards the bathroom for a much needed shower.
That morning Steelwing still felt exhausted and he could barely keep his eyes open, but none of this diluted the sense of victory he had as he watched his work being moved into the wagons for transport to the train station. Once at the station Steelwing purchased a ticket for Canterlot and almost immediately fell asleep once he got on the train. The conductor woke him up once they arrived in Canterlot station and told him everything was waiting outside. He thanked the conductor and left the train, heading towards the castle with his work in tow. As Steelwing approached the castle he was welcomed by the guards who escorted him to the princess.
After a quick bow from Steelwing the princess spoke. “Welcome Steelwing. I trust you finished my order?” She asked.
“Of course.” He responded.
“It wasn’t too much was it?”
“Not at all.” Steelwing yawned. “I just ask you keep your end of the agreement.”
“Yes, yes, I will give you what I owe, but in due time. I require a bit of your assistance first though.” Steelwing raised an eyebrow as the princess walked over to him. “Mind walking with me to the court yard? I will explain on the way.” She said as began walking. Steelwing complied and followed behind. “You see, we have been began preparing for the gala and have discovered a few damages around the castle. Seeing as you’re one of the most qualified to inspect and repair the metallic items, I am asking if you wouldn’t mind helping out with those. So do you mind?” There was no response. “Steelwing?” She turned around to see him several yards back down the hall, sleeping on his feet. “Steelwing!” She walked over to him and raised her voice. “Steelwing!”
The stallion jumped and his eyes shot open. “Huh? What?”
“Would you mind fixing up some things around the castle? As a personal favor.”
He thought for a moment and yawned. “Might as well. My train isn’t coming for a few hours anyway.”
The princess smiled. “Thank you very much. I appreciated it.”
“Welcome. Just show me what you need me to look at and I’ll fix it.”
“Just come with me to the courtyard.” They continued down the hall until going out to the courtyard. Celestia directed him to a skeleton of an arch lying on the ground. “The idea was to cover the frame with flowers and then hang curtains from it, but when some of the workers attempted to erect it they said it wobbled and couldn’t get it to stand on its own.”
“Hmm. I think I might know what’s wrong. Leave it to me.”
“Thank you, and feel free to use the workers if you need them. As for me, I must return to my royal duties.” She then walked off to do whatever it was she needed to do. In truth Steelwing didn’t believe she did more than raise and lower the sun, but who was he to question a good employer?
A quick look at the arch revealed that some of the connecters were just a little too large than they should be. A simple solution came to mind. He then called out to one of the workers who appeared to just be standing around. “Hey you, dark orange coat.” The worker pointed to himself. “Yeah you, mind getting me a welding torch and mask?”
“Tad bit excessive for that, don’t you think?” The worker replied
“Just call it insurance.” The worker shrugged and then went to get the requested items, returning after several minutes. “Thank you.” The arch was fixed within a few minutes. He signaled to the workers it was ready, having them pick it up and move it to where it was needed, and then had another arch slammed in front of him. “What’s wrong with this one?” He asked half irritated.
“Same as the last one.” A worker replied.
Steelwing sighed and then repeated the process of inspecting and then welding. Again he signaled to the workers, having them take it away only to have a third being placed in front of him. “Another?” He asked.
“Yep.” The worker placing the arch said.
“Same problem as before?”
“Yep.”
“I thought so.” Steelwing said flatly. Again he repeated the process investigating and welding, and again another arch was placed in front of him. The process repeated another six times. “Are there any more arches that need to be fixed?” He yelled angrily.
“Nope, that was the last of them.” The worker who brought him the tools said as he helped carry off the last arch.
Steelwing stood up and stretched, he felt more tired than before now. A guard arrived with a small scroll in hand and handed it to Steelwing. “A list from the princess of what she asked to be inspected and repaired if needed.”
Steelwing took the scroll and began to unravel it. “This isn’t going to be like in the cartoons wh-” He accidently dropped the lower half of the scroll, watching it unfurl until it stopped just before his knees. From where he held the scroll down to where it stopped was a bulleted list. “…” He just stared at the list for a moment. “… Buck.”
Not one to go against a favor he went off to inspect and repair everything on the list. First off was the large iron chandelier that hung from the ceiling in the ballroom. He flew all around the chandelier and found that over the years several of the chains holding it up had rusted and some parts had begun to crack. He got one of the palace guards to help him hold it while removed the nuts from it and then lower it to the ground so he could better work on it. It took sometime but eventually all the parts were fixed or replaced and the chandelier was good as new. All that was now needed was bolt it back into place. Again he got another palace guard to help him move the chandelier back into place. They moved it back to where it was supposed to be on the ceiling, but Steelwing forgot the nuts.
“Can you hold this here while I get the nuts?” Steelwing asked.
“Of course. I got a good enough grip on it.” The guard reassured him.
Steelwing nodded and began to think of where he left them, remembering after several moments that they were right next his tools in a neat little stack. He flew down to where his tools were and quickly found them. “Just where I left them.” He said as he picked them up. He got ready to return with the nuts, but when he turned around utter horror found its way onto his face. The chandelier fell to the ground in front of him, creating a large clanging noise as landed. The poor thing couldn’t survive the impact, the metal got bent, broken and scraped. The noise attracted surrounding guards who came to investigate what happened, but they all stopped when they saw the metalworker standing there, motionless with the chandelier at his feet.
“I’m so sorry! It just slipped from my hand! I swear!” The palace guard attempted to explain.
“It’s fine.” Steelwing said, grumbling.
“But sir, I-”
“I said it’s fine!” Steelwing yelled angrily. “It’s not your fault!” He went over the broken chandelier. “Its! This! Stupid! Piece! Of! Crap!” He kicked the mangled mass of metal that used to be a chandelier, leaving behind several noticeable dents. “Can’t even take a freaking fall!” He took a deep breath and steadied his voice. “Somepony bring me a mallet.”
The guard who dropped the chandelier spoke up. “Uh, why, sir?”
“Because I’m going to fix this… even if it takes me the rest of the day. So get me a mallet! And the rest of you get out, I want peace in here!” The guard who spoke scrambled out to find the requested mallet. The other guards hastily left right after, leaving Steelwing in peace. He took out a cigarette and lit it. “Now what can I make out of this scrap?” He asked himself as he took a drag of his cigarette.
“Has anypony seen Steelwing?” Celestia asked a guard. “He should already be done with everything.” It had been almost six hours since anypony last saw the metalworker.
“Not that I know of ma’am. Last anypony has seen him was in the ballroom fixing the chandelier.” The guard responded.
“Do we know if he is still in the ballroom?”
“Well… no ma’am.”
“And why not?”
“The guards who were stationed there said he got mad and told them to leave him alone. No pony has dared entered that room yet.”
“I see… I’ll check there myself then.” The princess went down the halls of the castle and came upon the ballroom where Stelwing was supposedly working. “Steelwing?” She asked as she knocked on the door. When she got no response she pushed open the door, only to see an empty room. “No pony saw him leave, so where could he have gone off to?” She asked herself. As she thought a soft noise reached her ears. Confused, she looked around for the source, finding nothing until she looked up. “Amazing.” She mumbled to herself. Steelwing had used the metal cut intro long strips from the old chandelier and formed it into a new one that resembled a stylized sun. The center consisted of a large spiral that could hold multiple lights along it, and the flames coming off of it could hold even more. The princess then noticed something on top of the chandelier that also the source of the noise. It was Steelwing, sleeping. “Oh… so that’s where he’s been.”
When Steelwing eventually woke up, he found himself inside one of the guest room of the palace. As he tried to make sense of where he was, a palace guard entered the room holding a glass container. “Finally awake, eh?” The guard said.
“How long was I out?”
“About sixteen hours.”
“What? Are you joking?”
“Nope, I’m serious. You feel asleep on top of a chandelier and didn’t wake up until now. You must have been exhausted to sleep that long.”
“I was, but enough about that, is there a reason you’re here?”
“The others were right; you really do keep the conversation short. Here, I’m supposed to drop this off.” The guard handed Steelwing the container. “This is from the princess.
“Thanks.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me.” The guard then left, leaving Steelwing to examine the container. Steelwing noticed a note attached to the container. He pulled it off and began reading it.
Dear Steelwing,
I realized I‘ve overworked you with my recent order. After seeing what you did with the chandelier, I realized how long it actually takes you to do quality work. You must have had no sleep over the three days you worked given the short time frame to do such a large amount of work, the fact you fell asleep on the aforementioned chandelier, and how you have yet to awake after sixteen hours. Forgive me for not considering how large of an impact such a request would have on you personally. Hopefully the contents in this container make up for it. Also your payment has already been placed into your bank account.
-Princess Celestia
Steelwing put the note aside and popped open the container and remove what was in it. The item was a chunk of silver metal that was about the size of a Ping-Pong ball. He smiled to himself as he looked upon his sought after orichalcum, all the work over the past few days seeming to be worth the trouble to get it. Placing the orichalcum back into its container he got up and left to say he was going to return to Ponyville. Within the hour he was on the train back towards home.
The following day Steelwing met up with Trickster and Miss Cheerilee at the restaurant they used to hang out at for some much needed catching up.
“Hey Steelwing, you said you got a large payment from that crazy job, right?” Trickster asked as Steelwing was finishing his story about what happened at the castle.
“Indeed I did. Triple the regular payment plus a bit of special material. Why?” Steelwing said as he sipped his drink.
“I was thinking we all could use some of it to buy some fireworks and then set them off for old times sake.”
Steelwing almost spat out his drink. “No, no, no! Me and Cheerilee will buy fireworks, you can’t!”
“Why can’t he?” Miss Cheerilee asked.
“Because this fool has been banned by Celestia from purchasing fireworks. He’s not even allowed to come within fifty feet of a stand that sells them.” Steelwing explained. “One too many times has he came moments away from killing somepony with them, so to prevent an actual fatality, Celestia banned him from fireworks. And guess who was given responsibility of making sure he doesn’t get ahold of them? This guy.” He then took a bite of his sandwich.
“Sounds like a lot of work.” Miss Cheerilee said.
“It is. With Tricks, I think looking after children would be easier.”
“Hey! I’m not that immature!” Trickster protested.
“Oh yes you are. Hard to think of ponies that you’re more mature than.” Steelwing and Trickster glared at each other with smirks on their faces. One of their friendly duels of insults was preparing to take place, but was quickly interrupted by Miss Cheerilee.
“Then why don’t we switch jobs for a day Steelwing? You be a school teacher and I’ll be a metalworker who looks after Tricks?” There was a silence as both Steelwing and Trickster stared at Miss Cheerilee for a moment after hearing the suggestion. They then all started to laugh.
“Can you imagine that?” Trickster was saying as he laughed. “Steelwing teaching foals and you hammering metal. There’s something oddly amusing about that.” Their laughter eventually died down until there were just a few chuckles escaping them. “So Steelwing… about those fireworks.”
Steelwing thought for a moment. “Ah, why the buck not? We all could use some fun.”
That day, for some unexplained reason, several fires occurred throughout Ponyville. The fires were discovered to be caused by burning black powder. The pony or ponies responsible were never found.