Forging Steel

by Hopeless Appraisal


Chapter 1

The happy sounds of celebration filled the streets of Baltimare's farming district. After a long year of hard work, the fall harvest festival was a favorite holiday for all the ponies who labored in and around the city.

The celebration had begun earlier that afternoon, and as the final rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon the festivities were only just getting started. Lamps and torches were lit, and groups of ponies carried colorful lanterns down the streets, hanging them at strategic spots to guide others along their way to the fairgrounds.

Though the majority of those who lived inside the city itself were not farmers, the excitement of the festival was shared by all. Everypony, businessponies and laborers alike, came out to enjoy the music, lights, and food in the company of their families and neighbors.

A sprawling fair had risen up in the empty fields outside the city's southwestern limits. Vendors and local shopkeepers had set up colorful tents and stands throughout the park. Musicians played merry tunes as hundreds of ponies browsed the many colorful attractions, danced, or simply enjoyed the environment as they wandered about.

The field designated for the fair was bordered by a river running along its edge and separating it from the Hayseed forest. A stone bridge, adorned with hanging lanterns, allowed for access across the river to the forest on the other side. Only the occasional colored lamp illuminated the opposite bank at the forest’s entrance, where couples could wander the starlit paths between the trees in mild seclusion.

One pony sat alone under the shade of the bridge at the river's edge, a short distance away from the bustling carnival. His dark, ashy coat blended with the shadows, and his amber mane was damp with sweat as if he had a fever. The young stallion watched the ponies celebrating happily among the colorful tents with an expression torn between contentment and longing.

Ember felt terrible, but it was something he had long become accustomed to, and he tried to suppress it as he enjoyed the nostalgic atmosphere of the fair. The bright, cheerful music brought him back to the times when his own parents had taken him all the way to the city just for the festival.

He closed his eyes and retreated into his mind as the sounds of music and celebration blended with those in his memory. For just a moment he was a small colt again, darting excitedly among the colorful stalls as Mom and Dad gave chase, pointing out to him all the many exciting performers, fun games, and tasty treats.

His moment was interrupted as a stabbing pain went through his head and down along his spine. Ember shuddered and pressed his forehooves to his temples, more beads of sweat rolling down his coat. Burning claws raked away at his consciousness with an impatient anger, as if furious with his attempts to suppress it.

"Just a little longer... please," Ember pleaded under his breath. "Why can't it wait just one more night." The pressure only continued to increase, intent on crushing him into a corner and sealing him away for his turn in the darkness.

Ember sighed. It was dangerous to have tried to make it until the festival. Having to leave only every other week was a big improvement and had allowed him to live consistently in the city for some time now. But there always came that day when it would wait no longer, and Ember feared to gamble any further tonight.

Hauling himself up from his secluded spot by the riverbank, Ember took one last look before he turned his back to the celebration and set his hooves on the path towards the forest.

The multicolored lanterns cast a dreamy light across his path as he stepped onto the bridge. The moon shone brightly overhead, casting a silvery reflection on the water that mingled with the lantern light on the gentle current.

A mare and stallion passed by Ember as he crossed the bridge. They were pressed close together and walked with their tails entwined, whispering in each other's ears happily. Ember's eyes lingered on them for a moment before lowering again to allow them their privacy. He felt an acute sense of loneliness, as well as a twinge of embarrassment at his likely bedraggled-looking state, and he ran a quick hoof over his mane to straighten out the worst of it once the couple had passed.

Upon reaching the other side, Ember took the first trail leading straight into the shadowy trees. He could hear more couples out walking along the parallel paths. The stallions would mutter and the mares giggled in response as they enjoyed a low-lit nighttime stroll beneath the stars. Ember did his best not to dwell on it all too much, knowing that doing so would only make the coming week all the more miserable.

He angled his way deeper into the trees, taking the most direct route he could in order to put distance between himself and the city. His headache became somewhat easier to bear with the mild physical exertion, and the growing quiet of the forest helped as well as he left the more shallow paths behind.

The farther he walked the quieter it became, until the sounds of the city and fair were barely noticeable, and the steady chirping of crickets and other sounds of the forest surrounded him. The sound was comforting to Ember; true silence in the dark enclosures of the forest was a troubling thing and had spiked cold adrenalin through Ember’s veins on more than one occasion, for it was often followed by the presence of some large predator or other creature that should be avoided.

The last signs of the celebration were fading to silence behind him when the stillness was suddenly broken by the sound of raised voices. Ember paused, ears perked. It sounded like a mare and a stallion were having an argument on the path ahead of him.

"Great..." he grumbled to himself. He stepped off the path and into the undergrowth, intent on circumventing the arguing couple.

As he stepped carefully through the brush alongside the small clearing where the couple stood, Ember noted that it was actually a group of four. One mare and three stallions, all roughly his age or a bit older if he had to guess, stood within the circle of trees. The three males stood against the mare, who was arguing angrily with the biggest stallion, a pegasus. Neither of the two looked very happy at all.

Their shouting match continued, and all at once, the stallion struck out at mare. She turned away in sudden fear, attempting to dart away in the direction of the river, but the stallion leaped over her with a beat of his wings, hemming her in as the other two egged him on.

Ember groaned to himself, and he felt his headache turn up a notch. He had seen disagreements of a similar feel before when groups of upper-class colts came prowling around the market districts... disagreements that were broken up by benevolent passerby.

Ember's head throbbed again and he looked longingly towards the path leading deeper into the safety of the forest. Why now? Why here? I can't afford to do this.

He heard a pained yelp from the mare and turned his attention back to the scene in the clearing. The stallion had struck her again, and he now stood over her as she sobbed and clutched at her head. His friends continued to egg him on as he shouted at her. She tried once to inch around him, but he continued to bear down in her way, stomping at her legs and shoulders.

Ember's temper flared and he steeled his gaze. Perhaps he could risk it.

His decision made, Ember stomped quickly through the several yards of brush separating himself from the group, making as much noise as he could in the darkness. The sound drew the stallions' attention immediately and Ember wasted as little time as possible on words.

"I'm only going to say this once. Get off of her, then get out of my sight." Ember’s voice wavered with his pulsing headache, it caught in his throat and came out much more timid than he had anticipated.

The biggest of the three stepped away from the mare and moved towards him confidently.

"Mind your own business and get outta here, or do you need me to give you a reason." He pawed at the ground threateningly as he stared Ember down.

Ember had grown to a decent size himself and was well built, but this stallion was taller and definitely bulkier. Just my luck with him being a pegasus too.

"Just leave her alone." Ember growled, his voice dripping with impatience, and he pinched his eyes closed as another wave of discomfort washed through his skull.

The other stallion clearly noticed his condition and took it as his cue to strike Ember heavily across the head with a hoof, much to the amusement of his two friends.

Ember's reeled from the blow and felt in his head an intense constricting sensation that turned his previous migraine into an unbearable roar.

The big stallion drew his hoof back again, "I'd shut up if I were you, befo-"

That was all he got out before Ember's own hoof impacted against his jaw, cracking his teeth together and sending him sprawling to the ground where he lay in a daze. Ember quickly landed one more solid hoof to his opponent's left temple before the stallion's friends were on him.

A charging shoulder struck him in the ribs, squashing the air out of his lungs and knocking him to the ground where the two stallions proceeded to trample him beneath their hooves.

As hooves continued to come down, one of the stallions noticed a green glow flash briefly across the curled figure beneath them. He hesitated, just before the air was driven from his lungs as two hind hooves sent him sprawling across the clearing. He struck a tree a few yards away and fell motionless at its roots, unable to take anything more than shallow, gasping breaths.

The other stallion also noticed the odd flutter of light. He hardly took a step back before Ember bucked him in the chest as well, sending the larger stallion head over hooves into the base of another tree at the edge of the clearing.

Ember stood, thoroughly bruised and shaking from a consuming rage that was not his own. Small jets of blistering air came from his nostrils with each breath and his vision darkened as the roaring in his head gained momentum.

He sat down right there in the grass, and taking a deep breath, he grappled with the presence that was tugging him out of his own head. It was excruciating, but he strained and fought back, determined to stick around long enough to see this through.

The presence hesitated for a moment and Ember seized the opportunity. He pushed harder, struggling to secure his senses before opening his eyes again. He shuddered as everything settled for a moment. Finding his vision returning, he moved over towards the frightened mare, doing his best to bury the panic in his chest.

"Are you alright?" he asked as calmly as he could manage, clamping down hard on his shaking limbs.

"Yes," the mare replied, “thank you so much," she tried to sit up but winced as her left forehoof refused to support her weight. Ember leaned in to help her up, shuddering from his own stomped-on limbs as he steadied her.

"Will you be able to walk?" he asked.

"I think so," she responded, leaning heavily on his side. "I'm so sorry about all of this. I've been avoiding him for awhile now, but they wouldn't let up..."

"Hmm," was the only response Ember offered, too strained to be overly interested in how going into the forest alone with said stallion and his friends was 'avoiding him'.

As he led her along the trail back towards the river, Ember could feel the pressure return rapidly to his head, and he fought it down as best he could. He was losing ground, and this poor mare wouldn't be able to move much faster. Ember felt a tremor run up his spine, and he nearly left her right there to find her own way back when something caught his eye.

The silhouette of another pony moved across the forest path a ways ahead of them. Ember called out, and to his relief the figure stopped. After looking towards them for a moment, the pony trotted closer and he gratefully saw that it was a mare. Her light, ocher coat shone brightly in the low light and her blue eyes filled with concern as she approached.

"Are you alright? Oh my... Lily!" The mare hurried forward to help as she recognized her friend.

"Glimmer, is that you?" The mare by his side returned. "How did you find me?"

"After you just left me like that? You're lucky I even went looking," the new mare replied. She looked Ember over critically before turning her full attention back to her friend. "What happened?"

"Well I-" Lily hesitated.

"Can you take her from here?" Ember interrupted, thankful beyond words that the two knew each other but not willing to stay any longer.

"Yes, of course," the mare replied reassuringly, picking up on his urgency and moving to take over at her friend's side.

"Thank you," he said as he turned back towards the forest.

"But what about you?" the mare named Lily called. "You're hurt..."

But Ember was already heading back down the path at a hasty trot, which turned into a gallop the moment he was sure that he was out of sight of the two mares.

Running as quickly as he could down the dark, narrow paths, Ember raced against the overtaking pain, intent on getting as far into the forest as his legs would take him.