//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Light staves off shadow // Story: A Place for Everything and Everyone // by LCranston //------------------------------// Meanwhile, in Canterlot, things were not going as well as hoped. Princess Celestia had delivered the meteorite to the smiths, but none of them could find a way to smelt the ore. No fire was hot enough. No unicorn magic was strong enough. No pick was hard enough to even break it up. After hours and hours of effort, the master smiths all quit the foundry to look up every record they had to try to get ideas. Cherry Anvil did not leave the foundry, she was too dedicated. However, she worked herself until she dropped. Steele had dragged her to a corner of the workshop and placed a blanket over her. He looked upon her fondly, like a gruff grandmother. She looked like she was having a nightmare. She kicked and snorted in her sleep. Looking at the meteorite, he ticked off in his head what had already been done. White hot fire, hammers, chisels, rough files, unicorn heating, unicorn blasting, and even one smith screamed every last piece of foul language at it. That last part was merely venting frustration, but Steele had learned some very interesting things. Cherry Anvil moaned in her sleep, “Gotta crack that rock. Get back to work. Princess counting on me. Never fail, you dolt. Never fail. Never give up.” Steele smiled and hummed a tune his mother used to hum for him and his brother when they were little colts. The big, red mare calmed down and slept more soundly. The tall, powerful stallion felt at peace any time he could help somepony, no matter how. Now if he could just find a way to affect this rock. Looking back at the rock, he noticed something strange. Out of the top of the rock was a thin ribbon of shiny metal. He mumbled, “That wasn’t there before.” He examined the metal. It looked for all the world like the metal melted inside the rock and then flowed out. After a little bit of flowing, it stopped. Steele was confounded. The rock was heated to the hottest fire in Canterlot with no melting, but just now it melted a little while at room temperature. He felt even more frustrated. Like being showed a glimpse of what you want but then shut out again. The tall, strong stallion decided not to let it get to him. He closed his eyes and hummed his mother’s song. He felt the anger and frustration leave him. As he finished his song, he shook his head and rubbed his eyes. The thin ribbon of melted metal became a wide ribbon of melted metal. He blinked his eyes. What was going on? He shook his mentor awake. “Ma’am! Ma’am, wake up!” The old mare blinked her eyes open and groggily asked, “Wh-wha…” She yawned widely and then asked, “What happened?” Steele pointed at the rock and said, “Look! It kinda melted.” Upon seeing the rock with its frozen trail of melted shiny metal, Cherry Anvil instantly felt a rush of energy. She looked it all over, marveling at what had happened. Looking at her student, she asked, “What did you do?” Steele shrugged and said, “I was just thinking of a new way to affect the rock. I was thinking hard while humming to myself and it just happened.” She looked at the rock and then back to Steele. Back to the ribbon of metal and back to him. Cherry Anvil ordered, “Do it again.” Steele’s expression blossomed into surprise and he asked, “Do what again?” She said, “Do what you did before.” He replied, “I don’t know what I did before.” She said, “Hum again. Let’s see what that does.” He hesitated, “Hum? You can’t be serious.” Cherry anvil stomped her powerful hoof upon the floor and commanded her student, “Do it! Do it now!” Steele gave in and obeyed. He cleared his mind and took a deep breath. He hummed the song loudly, calmly, serenely. Suddenly, the stream of metal began flowing again. It shined brightly as if creating its own light. Cherry Anvil dipped her hoof into the metal. Suddenly, Steele stopped humming and said, “Don’t touch it! It’ll burn you!” Cherry Anvil smiled and tugged on her hoof. It didn’t budge. Turning to her student, she explained, “No, it’s not hot. It’s room temperature. Now we’ll need to gather the Royal Choir for a special command performance.” Steele looked confused and asked, “Command performance? Of what?” She calmly replied with a smile, “The musical scales. It appears as if musical notes affect the metal and nothing else. This substance is clearly unique and it’ll take a long time to figure it out. We need to discover what notes cause what behavior. By the way, could you hum a few bars? I need my hoof back, please.” ========================= Later, as the sun rose in Ponyville, the entire town had assembled at the western edge of the town. Most of the mares hid the fillies and colts behind them. It wasn’t easy as the fillies and colts kept trying to peek out and see the big, ugly monsters. The stallions put on a brave face, but inside they were quivering with fear. Was this the day that they would die? Suddenly, a black line appeared on the horizon. It approached at high speed, coming into focus. The monsters were even more hideous than described. They seemed to notice the fence and just naturally line up in long, narrow lines. From up in the sky, Rainbow Dash yelled, “NOW!!” The pegasi kicked their clouds, causing alternating rows of rain and wind to dump all over the beetles. The beetles shivered and shuddered, but marched forward and half-speed. Rainbow Dash picked her cloud, causing a lightning bolt to erupt and sail right for the lead beetle. The electricity struck the beetle right in the center of its back. The beetle shook and trembled. The citizens of Ponyville cheered. Maybe they could defeat the beetles by themselves after all! The lead beetle shook off the lightning and squeaked a loud, high-pitch yell. The beetles spread out, attacking the barriers with their fire breath. The ground was getting very muddy and the beetles clawed and scraped their way forward. The first two rows of beetles raised their heads to the sky and spat streams of green fire. The blasts of heat dispersed the clouds, scattering the pegasi. The citizens of Ponyville stopped cheering and gasped. They started backing off towards the other end of town. A forceful, echoing voice commanded, “Land on the streets!” Three dozen pegasi with bright white coats and shining metal plate armor landed upon the streets of Ponyville. Their helmets all had a curious, flat protrusion like an anvil upon it. Instead of the normal bronze plate armor, this set was a very shiny silverish metal nopony had ever seen before. However, Stratum and Twilight had seen it. Hovering above her royal guard, Princess Celestia used her alicorn magic to envelop the entire western field. When the bright light disappeared, the entire field was baked dry and solid. She then ordered, “Royal Guards! Ram those shells!” The Captain of the Royal Guard ordered, “Wedge formation! Three squads! C-squad sweep right and prevent flanking!” A third of the white pegasi arranged themselves into a wedge and charged upon the ground towards the right side, through the charred remains of the north fence. The Captain ordered, “A-squad, shuffle to the south and drive their southern force back into the field!” A third of the white pegasi moved themselves to the left and then charge forward at the beetle reserve force. The Captain smiled grimly and ordered, “B-squad, CHARGE!” The remaining white pegasi raced forward straight into the lead rows of giant beetles. All three squads struck their targets at the same time. The shiny silverish metal seemed not to slow them down at all like the bronze armor did. The Royal Guard were a blur as the ram on their helmets struck the heads and bellies of the beetles. There was a massive chorus of cracking shells and screaming of beetles. The front ranks of beetles collapsed and ceased moving. The white pegasi smelled victory in the air as they trampled the fallen beetles, eagerly seeking the remaining ones in the back rows. The rows of beetles saw the flashes of light against the metal which brought death to them. They shook with fear and fled. They fled back westward as fast as they could. Several of them fell beneath the hooves of the white pegasi who swooped in from above to crush their backs by airborne swoop. ========================= Later, after midday, Princess Celestia stood regally in front of the cave whence the beetles came to the surface. Her horn glowed with a brilliant red light. The pieces of the stone door levitated back up into the air, forming the broken door. The cracks filled with bright red light and stabilized. The white alicorn summoned even more energy, casting a golden sheen over the door. When she discharged her horn, the doorway stood still. The golden sheen continued to keep the fragments together. She turned around to address the crowd that followed her to the ruined village. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Stratum, the entire Royal Guard, and the mayor of Ponyville were in attendance. “Ponies of Equestria! We have been blessed with the dual talents of Stratum and his brother Steele! Between the two of them, we have learned of an imminent invasion to our land and staved it off all in a single day and night!” The assembled ponies cheered their gratitude. The white alicorn continued, “Unfortunately, this spell I have cast over the doorway cannot replace the powerful enchantment that was cast in antiquity. This spell of mine shall last for ten years. In that time, we must learn more of the subterranean world of the K’klattcha and their fear of the rare metal called mythryl.” The assemblage gaped in fear. Their Princess couldn’t just solve this situation right now? What would they do? Twilight asked fearfully, “Princess, what are you saying? Are we doomed?” Princess Celestia firmly replied, “Nay, Twilight Sparkle. In fact, we now have a chance. In the next ten years, we must learn all of the forgotten lore of ages past. I will send out my elite scouts, looking for more of the mystical metal. My smiths will refine the metal and make more weapons and armor. My scholars will discover the ancient secrets of the metal, learning how to make a sharp edge to it like the spearhead that Stratum found. Clearly, it can be done.” She then looked at Stratum and smiled. “Finally, we need somepony to guide us. Somepony to walk into the unknown and discover what was lost. Somepony to piece together the puzzle of the K’klattcha and why they invade us. Stratum, son of Sawdust, I hereby appoint you to the position of Chief Field Archaeologist. You will have funding and a staff of mares and stallions of your choosing. Now, find me more knowledge of the K’klattcha and how an ancient village of earth ponies used no magic to form refined weapons from mythryl.” Stratum bowed low humbly, replying with reverence, “Yes…yes, Princess! I won’t let you down! Wow, this is all I dreamed of! I gotta tell my brother!” The regal alicorn agreed, “Indeed, you both shall have something to tell each other. I have already spoken to your brother before leaving Canterlot. I’ll repeat it for you. Steele, son of Sawdust, has been appointed to the role of Chief Armorsmith. His specialty shall be the refining of mythryl, which apparently no other pony has been able to replicate without the help of a full twenty-four pony chorus.” She winked and added with mirth, “I understand that’s very cramped in the workshop.” Everypony briefly laughed with mirth and relief. Then, the enormity of it all finally sank in. Ten years may seem like a long time, but when you’re working a deadline for your lives it seems much smaller. Princess Celestia stated, “Twilight Sparkle, I need you to coordinate the multiple teams of archaeologists, track their progress, and report significant findings. I also may need you to teach some useful spells to unicorns who will join their expeditions.” Twilight suddenly got an idea. She asked, “Princess, I just thought of something. Do you still have that mythryl spearhead?” The princess arched an eyebrow inquisitively. She replied, “I do. It’s on my writing desk in my private chambers.” The purple unicorn requested, “May I please have it? My friend Rarity has a special talent for finding gemstones. I’ll bet that if she finds the mythryl pretty and rare, she’ll discover a spell to detect mythryl and seek it out. Then, I can copy the spell and write it down for you.” The white alicorn smiled brightly and said, “Brilliant, my faithful student! I will send you the spearhead and some of the refined mythryl for your research. This will provide an immediate breakthrough in our preparations. We shall keep the suits of mythryl already made for emergencies and seek out more entrances to the underworld wherever they may be.” Once again, disaster was averted in Equestria not with brawn, but with brains and teamwork. THE END?