The Dramatic Blacksmith
Barix sat on the end of the dining table with his newly met friends. They were talking about what their next step was going to be while he just sat there. Lydia had left for business in the next town. Barix had found out he was only unconscious for a few hours as Lydia killed the bandit and administered some health potions on the spot. As to who put cloths on him, he felt that was something he didn’t need to know. It wasn’t long until the new ponies came to the conclusion that they might be in Skyrim for a while, which meant they needed answers. Twilight was the first to speak up on that subject.
“Barix can we continue our session from before?”
“Sure, it’s only fair that I provide any answers I can. What else did you want to know?”
“First we need to know if we can stay here for the time being since we don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“I can do that, provided all of you pull your weight and don’t mind sleeping in the same bed.”
“Neither should be a problem, but can I ask what did you have in mind for us.”
“Well a house like this cost gold to maintain for that I must go on daily missions and I may require assistance at any given time.”
“We should be able to help with anything, right girls?”
“A course we can, Ah don’t want ta be a bother anyway,” Applejack agreed.
“We each have our own talents darling, no matter what I’m sure we can find something to help with,” Rarity added.
“That’s good to hear, now what other questions do you have?”
“Well the howls brought up a key issue. We don’t know what new enemies we have or what other creature would have us as a snack. Then those bandits brought the question of ‘are you going to eat us’,” saying Twilight was nervous about saying that would be an understatement. Barix laughed at that a bit.
“I can assure you that you have nothing to fear from me or Lydia. Only those who are more savage or in other cases bandit’s who are going hungry would even think of you as food. But as for enemies… Twilight am I too assume correct that you are the 'primary reader' of your group?”
“Yeah that's right. She's the egghead of the group.” which was then followed by half the ponies giving Rainbow Dash a nasty look.
“Then I shall give you everything I have on creatures and undead in Skyrim. As for now the main enemies you want to look out for are vampires, draugr, werewolves, trolls, and dragons. For anything else all I can say is keep your distance and you should be fine.”
“That’s good to know.” Twilight tried to show enthusiasm. There's usually a lot more deadly creatures in Equestria but most of them were in the Everfree Forest.
“What exactly are these draugr anyway? Also what are vampires and werewolves?” Rainbow asked.
“In short they will kill you without hesitation. You will get experience on them later on.”
“You mean you’re going to send us to fight against these monsters!?” Rarity as dramatic as ever.
“How do you think I was able to fight off those bandits in the state I was in. But you don’t need to worry, I will be doing most of the work. I just need some of you with me for the small things.”
“Oh thank goodness.” Relief washing over Fluttershy who was barely audible to the others.
“Wait so we don’t get to fight or nothing? We’re just coming along as some errand pony? You know what that is? Boring!” Rainbow was mad.
“I can teach you to fight if you want but it will have to wait until later on. Do you have any other questions Twilight?”
“Just two more, I remember the bandit said he’d eat us hinting that they were carnivorous, does that mean you are too?”
“Twilight, how rude. Barix is offering us a place to stay while all we have to do is some chores and here you are again insinuating he’s a pony eater again!” Rarity scolded her friend.
“What-no it’s not like that, not at all!”
“Oh I see what you mean. You want to know if I have anything you can eat and digest properly.”
“Yes!” Twilight turned to Rarity with an annoyed and upset frown.
“Oh um…my apologizes darling. That was very unlady like of my and I shan't do it again.” Rarity said.
“(sigh) It’s alright just please think next time.”
“You know, you girls usually say that kind of thing to me.” Rainbow threw her two cents in.
“That’s cause ya don’t think before ya open yer snout.” Applejack turned back to Barix as Rainbow stuck her tongue out at Applejack briefly. “So do you?”
“I do have some now but I will need to stock up soon. Remind me later on what you can eat and I'll get it next time I go shopping for supplies. What was the last question?”
“Well when you did that…shout thing I could feel you were using very power magic. I was wondering if you could teach it to me.”
“No.”
“…Oh… ” Twilight sounded disappointed.
“Don’t be sad Twi, Ah’m sure he’s got a good reason fer it.” Applejack implied.
“I do… you can’t learn it.” They all looked at him as if he had just grew seven more heads. “That is a very ancient magic that comes from dragons. The only reason I am able to learn it is because I am the dragonborn, a being created by the gods with the blood and soul of a dragon. My apologizes for not being able to help.”
“No it’s fine,” Twilight sounded less sad now, “I’m more surprised that there is a type of magic that I can’t learn. Well, um, that’s it for me, girls do you have anything you want to ask?” They couldn’t think of anything at the moment. “Ok so is there anything we need to know?”
“Yes, I will need all of your body measurement’s.”
“Why do you need that?” Twilight asked.
“If you’re going to stay here, even for a short time, you will need to be protected. Once I figure out what you will be best at I will make you some custom armor.”
“Yes! This I can get into.” Rainbow was excited at the sound of having some real armor.
“Eh hem, I believe I can help with both size and talents for everypony.” Everyone looked to Rarity. “I still remember the measurements for the dresses I made for the gala," back to Barix, "I can even tell you everything you need to know about each of us in order to make the right set.”
“Is that so? If that’s the case then I can get started right away.”
“And I shall help you, besides I don’t want anypony to look like a disaster. Which way do we go?”
“Follow me.” The two got up but before Barix left the room he addresses his guests, “Ok, now make yourselves at home. Lydia should be come back soon so until then don’t leave past eye sight of the house.”
He led Rarity to the back of the house. Opening the latch on the floor he began to climb down a small ladder leading the way to the basement. The heat and dark contrast of the place made it fell like a dark ages armory, which want far off. It gave Rarity a chill down her spine as well as some new ideas for a new line when she returns home.
“I’m assuming you don’t have any other way to get down there.”
“No sorry. If you want I can carry you down.”
Rarity was hesitant at first.
“That would help.” She got onto his back and held onto his shoulders immediately noticing his well toned muscles.
They climbed down into the basement. Rarity got off and looked around. True to its looks it was darker than upstairs, but was still bright due to all the small cone torches around on the walls. There was a long elegant shelf in the back of the room with nine different shrines on it evenly spaced. On the end of the elegant shelf was a small table with a few chair’s and some writing materials on it. There were weapons of all sorts adorning the walls.
In the center next to a support beam was a manikin shaped like Barix that was half covered in tan-ish armor. It looked similar to the armor he had on the day they met but… stronger. Rarity followed Barix as he walked through a doorway. She saw a forge with a smelter to the side along with various metals, furs, and bones inside shelves carved into the stone walls. Everything was neatly organized and separated. Safes and chests were left on the ground inside their own holes. To the left was a tanning rack and the right was a grindstone and a bench.
“Alright before we get started you should be aware of the different materials for making armor and weapons.”
“Just one question…these furs…they didn’t belong to anything like me or my friends…right?”
“Still skeptical huh?”
“Oh please, don’t take it the wrong way darling, but if you are exposed to something as barbaric as what you did in the forest then you would understand where I’m coming from.” Barix couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“If it helps all these furs belonged to something that would see you as a meal.”
“Not really… maybe a little.”
“I don’t expect you to trust me right from the start, I still don’t trust you or your friends fully, but I know that trust is always earned not given and I intend to earn yours.”
“Wow… that’s very respectful of you.” A slight pause was held as Rarity’s cheeks turned the slightest bit pink. It was too dark for Barix to see it. “Well enough small talk, tell me what we have to work with.”
“On this side are all the materials for light armor. The higher you go the better quality armor but with that comes more weight.” The dragonborn began going from the bottom up as he described the different materials. “This shelf has the pelts for fur, hide and leather armor. In that order is the better quality. Next is the moonstone and malachite, used for making elven and glass armor, same order of quality. The next is in between the two, it’s nothing but thinner and lighter version of steel called plated armor. Lastly are the dragonscales, used to make dragonscale armor. That's it for light armor. Over to this side-” he starts at the bottom again.
“These are for heavy armor, above all else they will be the thing that's keeps you from dying. Now on the bottom are iron and steel, the basics of heavy armor. Next are the dwarven and orcish armors, dwarven are the bright orange and orcish are the dark green. With this next shelf is ebony armor, but when you have an ‘extra ingredient’ and you treat the metal differently you get daedric armor. I’ll tell you what the extra item is later if you really want to know, but I'm telling you now, you won’t like it.” Rarity grimaced at the thought of having to add blood or something awful to it. “For the best at of all dragon bones for dragonbone armor. As you can tell I don’t have any more bones but what you saw out there is essentially what its turns out to be.”
“Now as for these,” Rarity looked on as Barix pulled out chests on each side of the room. In one was bright blueish-white rock, the other a silver looking ingot. “This blue one is stalhrim, it’s about the same as ebony but weighs less. The silver is actually quicksilver you would use this with ebony and steel to make Nordic armor. It’s a good balance between orcish and dwarven. Now I don’t expect you to memorize everything but – ”
“So for light armor in order is fur, hide, leather, elven, modified steel, glass, then dragonscales. For heavy armor it’s iron, steel, dwarven, Nordic, orcish, ebony, stalhrim, daedric, and dragonbone. Is that right?” Barix was a little blown away by the white mare. Never before had he seen or heard of a blacksmith prodigy like this, not ever himself.
“… Well… next time I won’t underestimate you.”
“Oh come now darling, memorizing metals is no different from memorizing colors of thread. When I think about it, it’s no very hard at all. Am I to assume that the weapons are the same way as well?”
“Mostly, there are some exceptions to the order but for the most part the order is the same.”
“I see. Very well now that the materials are out of the way let’s get to the plans on what pony will get which armor set.”
Barix put the chests away as Rarity walked to the table. Once he got there he saw Rarity already working on rough sketches of her friends. The 'rough' sketch looking very neat and pristine.
“Since you know them best what are your thoughts?”
“Well Applejack would be the most obvious. She is the strongest of us so she would get some heavy armor. She’s not bad in a fight either so it would need to be high class.”
“Some ebony armor then?”
“Yes. She would look best in it, you know give her that dark look to scare the enemy.” She begins to draw the armor sets on the pictures of her friends. “… The metal’s keep their color in the making process right?”
“Yes – well except for glass it comes out looking like that.” He pointed to a glass sword that was hanging on the wall. Rarity lit up like the sun.
“That is simply beautiful and elegant! And the color, oh the color! This is a must for Fluttershy.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes, poor dear is fragile at times so she has to be protected. It may be heavy for her, even with it being light armor, but she doesn’t fly much anyway. She simply must have it.”
“Ok. Speaking of flyer's what will Rainbow Dash get?”
“Hmm. That’s a tough one… ok I’ll put the facts down and you can decide the set. She can fly very fast, actually she is the fastest pegasus in existence. She is also pretty good at fighting. But without a doubt her greatest physical attribute is her speed while flying.”
“Then I’d say she would do well with…Nordic armor.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, here’s why. Rainbow Dash likes to push herself am I right?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Then she shouldn’t have a problem getting her wings stronger while being protected that well.”
“Oh I see. Ok so that leaves Pinkie, Twilight, and me. … I don’t think Twilight would go for armor though. She is the most powerful out of the group, in the way of magic at least, and she can create a shield that not even the lord of chaos can break. It just wouldn’t seem practical.”
“I see… in that case we’ll need to modify some robes for her. If she’s not going to get armor I’ll just get some heavy enchantments on the robes.”
“You can do that?”
“Yes there are many different enchantments that can be put on armor and cloths to help, but that’s getting off topic.”
“Yes of course. Now about Pinkie… … I’ve got nothing.”
“There’s nothing you can tell me about her.”
“Uh let’s see… she love parties, making friends, and having fun. I don’t now how strong she is or if she is any good in a fight.”
“That’s it?”
“I don’t know what else to say, she’s just random. What could you put on that?”
“I guess the basic steel will have to do. What about you, what do you think would suit you best?”
“Stalhrim.”
“Are you sure about that? It is heavy armor after all.”
“I shall be fine. I may be a lady but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the strength to do what needs to be done. Besides I have some...plans for it.”
“Alright then. How are the drawings coming along?”
The elegant mare showed him the drawings. They came out rather decent and detailed enough for a novice blacksmith to make the set a reality.
“Good now I have only one more thing to check.”
“What’s that?”
“Step down for a second and give me your hooves.”
She got off the, sat on the ground and held out her fore hooves. Barix grabbed them and lifted her up in the air until she was standing on her hind legs with fore legs up just past is shoulders. Her head reached just below his head.
“WHA-WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!!!” She screamed at the top of hear lungs at the act he was doing… or what he was going to do.
“Ow! Stop screaming, I’m just measuring you to get an estimate of how much metal I’ll need.”
“Oh… well why didn’t you just say so… ” the over-dramatic mare looked to the side as Barix inspected her legs, neck and body. The longer this went on the redder Rarity got. “Um… how much longer are you going to be? I don’t feel very comfortable.”
“What?” Barix looked right at her and saw the red. He blushed a little himself then put her down immediately once he realized what he was doing. “I’m sorry I didn’t know that it was like that.”
“It’s fine I guess… lets just-” She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“No it’s not. I do apologize for my ignorance and if I ever make you feel that way again I want you to tell me. I never want you to always be looking over your shoulder or view me as one of those types of people. Again, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize for my actions.”
Rarity looked into his eyes and didn’t know what to say. She was so taken back that she started crying and went in for a hug.
“I forgive you darling.”
“That’s good to know.” They relinquished the hug. “Well I was able to get an estimate of the metal, only thing is we will need more ebony and steel.”
“Is there a market nearby where we can get them?”
“Yes, it takes a few hours to walk there so we’ll need to go now if we want make it back by night fall.”
“Then what are we waiting for let’s get moving. I certainly don’t want to stay outside with whatever is out there.”
The two got out of the basement and some shouts were heard from the front of the house. When they came to the front they stood at the doorway to see utter chaos. Twilight was in the middle of the table levitating about ten books and seemingly reading all of them. Streamers were hung everywhere of every color. Pinkie and Fluttershy were in the middle of hanging some more. In the middle of it all was a sword battle. Applejack and Rainbow were taking swings at each other. They each had a sword in their mouths, Applejack had a skyforge steel sword, and Rainbow a nordic sword. The pegasus flyer was the first to see Barix dropped the sword.
“Barix!” Everypony stopped what they were doing and looked at the dragonborn with fear in their eyes, as did Rarity. He just look around at what they were doing. He noticed the sheathe for the skyforge steel sword on the table.
“I’ll need this… and this.” Barix said as he picked up the sword and the sheathe. He moved to the front door grabbing a satchel. “Alright Rarity let’s get going.” It took the mare a second to process this before she actually started moving. “Now me and Rarity are going to a village for supplies, do me a favor and don’t kill each other while I’m gone.” The two walked out the door.
“You’re not going to stop them?”
“They’ll learn not to touch the weapons when they cut themselves.”
Rarity thought this teaching method a tad on the barbaric side but didn’t press the issue. He strapped the sheathe to his side as the pair start walking and soon she broke the silence.
“Um…I don’t mean to complain but you don’t happen to have any faster means of transportation do you. Preferably one that involves less walking.”
“I have one but you might not like it.”
“We shall have to see now won’t we.”
“Ok then, here it is.” Barix held out his hand and soon a black cloud appearing out of nowhere. It grew bigger in seconds until it was twice the size of the caster. Rarity grew a little nervous and stepped back when a black horse with red eyes came strutting out.
“Is this your… friend?”
“It may be hard to believe for you but horses are used as transportation here. This one is actually dead but serves as a spirit to aid others. She's called Shadowmare. We can ride her if it's not too awkward for you.”
“No… I should be fine.” She looked up to the sky. “We’d better get a move on anyway.”
The two rode faster now and reached the village in no time. Barix stopped just inside the village next to a blacksmith. They both got off Shadowmare then he pulled out a small coin bag from the satchel.
“Here’s some coin, you go to the blacksmith and ask for some ebony and steel. Just get everything that you can with this. I’ll be in another store to see what they have.”
“Alright darling, don’t take too long now.” She took the bag in her magic and walked off.
Barix left her to shop will he entered the store across from the black smith. He knew the owner so they got to catch up for a minute. The dragonborn learned that their claw was stolen again as he was buying some metals. Barix said he would look into the theft soon and left with some new materials. When he was stepped out-
“I SAID LET GO OF ME!!! BARIX HELP!!!”
He rushed to the shouts and saw rarity being carried off by a guard.
“Hey! What going on here!?”
“Mister this is none of your concern just keep walking.”
“I am Barix the Dragonborn, Thane of Whiterun and I demand to know what you are doing to my friend!”
“What! Thane I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. This creature was making a mess of the blacksmiths materials for overcharging on steel and ebony ingots.”
“What? Rarity is this true.”
“I wouldn’t need to if he wasn’t-.”
“Rarity…one you don’t ever mistreat anyone because of that. Two how much was he charging you?”
“150 bits for ebony and 20 for steel.”
“(sigh) Guards is there any way you can over look this incident?”
“…Well no harm was done but we can’t just let this go unpunished.”
“I should have about 350 coin in the bag she had. Is that enough to release her?”
“That'll do fine.” The guard holding the white unicorn put her on the ground and she ran to her saviour. They both walked off but instead of getting on Shadowmare they walked out while Barix whistled for the horse. They walked for a short time before Rarity broke the silence again.
“Barix I’m sorry fo-”
“I don’t want to hear it. I gave you a simply job, buy whatever you could with what you had and you couldn’t even do that.” The sad mare hung her head in shame. Howling was heard as they got somewhat far from the village. Barix grabbed Rarity and plopped her on the horse. “You’ll need to repay me later.”
“What about you? You don’t have any armor.”
“Don’t worry about me just hang on to Shadowmare and don’t let go understand?” Barix took off his satchel and sword and tied them around the horse. Rarity was about to object. “Understand!?” She nodded slowly. “Good. GET!” He smacked Shadowmare in the rear and it ran off as fast as it could. Worried mare held on tight and saw nothing but a slowly disappearing dragonborn.
It was dark within minutes. She ended up in front of the house with Lydia there taking her and the sword inside. It seemed like she already new what to do. Her friends were glad to see her safe and sound. Throughout the night the group couldn’t get one answer from Lydia and in the end were sent to bed. Rarity woke one time to hear a loud, raspy, breathing but too nervous to see what it was. In the morning they were greeted by Barix who seemed well and untouched. After a quiet breakfast the duo went back downstairs.
“Ok Rarity, I’m going to show you how to mold and create armor. The techniques are a little different for each type but are mostly the same. After I do this once you’ll take over got it?”
“Yes.” She said half heartedly.
As Barix heated and slammed away at the ebony metal Rarity took careful study and lots of mental notes. She noticed the handling methods and heat techniques he used, as well as the number of times he focused on section before moving forward to the next. Soon enough a helmet was formed that looked like it might fit one of her friends.
“Can you handle it now?”
“Right now?”
“Yes, like I said from now on I’m not going to underestimate you plus you still need to pay me back. Just keep working on Applejack’s set I’ll bring you some water later and some food when it’s time to eat.”
“If I can still say I’m truly sorry for my behavior the other day.”
“Actions speak louder than words.” He started to walk away. “I’ll expect her armor done by tomorrow.”
Rarity signed as she got to work. I’ll need to work harder than ever to win back his respect. She got to work as Barix left the basement. He found Applejack in the armory checking out the weapons on the walls.
“This is quite an impressive collection ya got here.” Applejack said.
“Just some pieces I’ve collected in my travels. Listen I’ve got your first mission.”
“Mission? Fer me?”
“Yes, you’ll be joining me in a task to retrieve and item in a bandit camp out.”
“Alright, I chance to test mahself already. When do we go?”
“We’ll depart tomorrow once Rarity is done with your armor set.”
“Nice. Well then I, better get prepared.” She grabs a sword in her mouth and walks out of the armory. “Ranbow, we’re ya, ee ever inished our round yeshterday!”
Once Applejack was gone Barix started thinking about what happened in Riverwood. In the small amount of time he never thought the mare would do something so out of line like that. Making a double take in his thoughts he decided to confront her.
“Rarity?”
“Oh…yes? Did you have something to tell me.” Rarity said as she stopped in the middle of her craft.
“I realized that I didn’t let you explain what happened. I apologize for that and will now hear your part of the story.”
“OK!” She seemed to excited to explain and clear up what really happened. “Well it went something like this–”
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I turned to the outdoor worker and trotted up to see him. The place looked pretty basic, at least compared to the set up you have set up, and it was a little unkempt. But it looked as if there was plenty of metal to buy. The blacksmith was in the middle of crafting something so he didn’t see the me at first.
“(cough, cough) Um excuse me.”
“Oh sorry about that I…what in Oblivion are you?” The blacksmith said the last part with some disgust.
“That sounds insulting but I’ll save it as a question later.” I made sure to be keep that part to myself. “Well sir I’m hear to buy some metals from you, steel and ebony to be more precise.”
“…What are you supposed to be a kid in a costume or an mutated horse? Either way I’m not selling anything to something like you.”
“Uh…what…how could you say something so cruel?” I think I began to cry at this point. “I was just trying to –”
“I don’t care just take that ugly ass of yours off my property.”
“How dare you,” That was my snapping point, “all I wanted is some metal and then you degrade me for no reason! You want me out of here? You’ll have to make me leave!” I began to toss anything I could see. Ingots thrown back into the fire and armor into the river nearby.
“NO! Guards help!”
They were already halfway to grab me when most of the goods in the little shop were thrown out. They easily subdued me before I was carried away.
“I SAID LET GO OF ME!!! BARIX HELP!!!”
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“Then you know the rest.”
“I see… thank you for that. Now I know what to do.”
“What is that?”
“Oh… nothing you need to worry about. Me and Applejack we be moving out tomorrow, I’ll be back down to help with the armor in a few minutes.”