//------------------------------//
// An Extraordinary Day 
// Story: Einhermare 
// by Cosmonaut 
//------------------------------//

	
A week passed. Then another. Despite her best efforts to figure out just what the object was that she purchased, it eluded her. Nopony she showed it to knew what it was. Most of them dismissed it as just her imagination projecting value on the rod. Even the star pupil of Celestia was flummoxed. Twilight Sparkle hovered the bar in front of her from every angle, flipping through every possible book she owned in search of an answer.
 “Nothing fits the description!” groaned Twilight, tossing aside a copy of Mythos of the Ancients into Spikes waiting arms. “Mjolna I’m really sorry that I can’t help you. I know you think that this is some sort of special thing but I’m not entirely sure it is. It resembles a piece of broken equipment. For all I know this is something that fell off the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.”
“It looks like stirring stick for cake batter,” piped up Spike. Mjolnas’ ears drooped and she sighed. Twilight gave Spike a cold look.
“Let me just go put these away,” he toddled out of sight with the book. The purple unicorn snorted derisively. 
“Sorry about that. Spike can be kind of…blunt about things.”
Mjolna waved her hoof. “No it’s okay. I’m just being stupid over this.”
“Looking into research is not stupid,” there was a harder edge to Twilights voice now. “Having a hunch, a hypothesis or something and then deciding to research it is not in any way a sign of stupidity.”
“Yeah,” a raspier voice chimed in from above. “Researching stuff is cool! You would not believe how the Wonderbolts started out! They did a lot of neat stuff!”
The two mares below looked up. None other than Rainbow Dash was perched above them in the window, her colorful tail lashing about as she perused her copy of The Wonderbolts Abridged Team History. 
“Didja know they didn’t start out doing air shows? It says here that Princess Celestia ordered the fastest Pegasus ponies around Equestria to help defend the country from any and all possible aerial assaults. They weren’t even called the Wonderbolts!” quoted Rainbow from a page in the book. “The ‘Royal Equestrian Air Force’ held derbies and started hosting shows to raise funds. Over the years,  as threats from bordering lands lessened, they adopted the new name and switched to doing shows full time. Isn’t that the coolest?!”
“That isn’t pertinent to our current problem, Rainbow,” said Twilight with a roll of her eyes. “I’ve read that book at least three times.”
“Ugh,” muttered Rainbow Dash. “I’m just saying! You don’t have to be so belligerent, Twi…” Twilights ears perked up.
“What did you call me?”
Rainbow blinked. “I uh-“
“Belligerent? Wow! That’s a word indicative of a stronger vocabulary. I’m impressed! Keep reading and you’ll be an egghead like me in no time.” complimented Twilight. Rainbow Dash groaned and nosed back through her book. Snickering to herself, Twilight returned her attention to the mare before her.
“So, as I was saying before being interrupted, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can help you with,” shrugged Twilight. “This isn’t exactly the most diverse library. Short of pointing you towards the Canterlot Archives, there isn’t anything else I can help you with.”
“That’s alright,” sighed Mjolna. “It’s probably nothing special…”
“It could be! There’s plenty of otherwise innocuous objects that hold magic within. You had a hunch and followed up on it. Perhaps it just doesn’t work unless it’s under proper circumstances?” offered Twilight.
“Do you believe me?” she asked.
“I believe that whatever idea you have is worth the effort to look into considering-“Twilight trailed off at Mjolnas bleak expression.
“Do you?”
“Well in all honesty,” Twilight timidly clopped her hooves together, “no not really. Sorry. It doesn’t hold any magical enchantments within. All my tests proved negative. The material isn’t even that rare –it’s just forged steel with two small indents near the tip of one end.”
Mjolna turned the rod over in her hooves. It didn’t seem mundane to her. Gripping it felt right. It was heavy, and she swore it tingled at her touch. Perhaps Twilight didn’t feel it but when she was holding the steel pole it gave her a comfort she couldn’t comprehend. Explaining that to a pony like Twilight wouldn’t make much sense.
“Canterlot’s pretty far from here,” commented Mjolna, shifting her weight to her right side. Pain was once again creeping up her left flank. She wanted to wait until she left the library to take her medicine. “Do you know how much it costs to get there by train?”
“Forty bits for a round trip,” replied Twilight. “I’ve never had to pay the whole fee though….”
A sharp twinge in her leg made her gasp. The purple unicorn looked at her in concern.
“Are you all right?”
“I-I’m fine,” stammered Mjolna. She put the rod back in her saddlebag. “Just need to get off my ass and move around that’s all.” Pain snaked up her sides and she hissed through her teeth. Rainbow Dash flew down from her perch and hovered by Twilight.
“D’you need some help? I can help you out if you want y’know,” Dash said.
“No,” she choked in reply. “I just need some air. Thanks for the help!”
Mjolna made a valiant effort to the door as the stinging at her side increased with every hoof-fall. Sensing the urgency in her voice, Twilights’ magic grabbed hold of the door and swung it open. The pill bottle in her bag rattled. It was nearly empty at this point. Fighting through the pain she slumped against the trunk of the great tree and popped open the bottle. Her tongue spasmed as she slurped down two of the pills, gasping as the intense pain began to subside.
“Are you okay?”
Mjolna glanced to her right. A very worried looking Twilight Sparkle was poking her head out the door to look at her. Rainbow Dash was just above wearing an equal level of concern on her face.
“I’m fine. Really, I’m glad you’re concerned but I have to go home now,” she kept a straight face despite the tears staining her cheeks. “See you some other time!”

***

Dinner was a halfhearted attempt at a Sunflower Buttercup sandwich with some grape juice. Instead of just eating her meal and getting it over with she ate it bite by bite, staring at the handle on her table the whole time. She popped two of her pain pills and swallowed with a swig of her drink. There were only a few left. A trip to the pharmacy for more was in order. The Ponyville Press blared the usual boring headlines: Canterlot racing derbies and events, a record label folding in Trottingham, more leadership troubles overseas in Ramhalla, the new fall fashion line in town spearheaded by Rarity. She sighed, folding the paper over in her hooves eyeing her recent purchase.
 The useless rod sat next to her glass. This was unfair! To think she had paid ten bits for something like that! Last week she had thought it was unreasonable that Tammy had gotten ripped off.
And yet…
The steel rod gleamed in the soft evening light streaming through the window. On her bare wooden table it glowed as if there were life inside it. Mjolna wiped her mouth with a napkin, grabbing the handle and walking to her bedroom. All she wanted to do was put in her dresser and forget that she ever purchased the thing. With her hoof on the handle she pulled open the top drawer to put it in, considered it, and closed it shut.
It would be fine sitting next to her bedside table. That, too, was bare save for her alarm clock and lamp. She placed it in between them and climbed into bed. Mjolna closed her eyes. 

***

Sleep never came. Instead of a restful night sleep she found herself tossing and turning under the covers. It wasn’t even hot out. The open window let in a gentle cool breeze that brushed against her face. Mjolna stared at the ceiling. She didn’t even feel tired! Her attention turned to her bedstand table.
It was found by a traveler passing through Whitetail woods outside of Ponyville.
The words of the unicorn that sold her the damned thing passed through her head. She squirmed under her bedsheets. Was there more to this stupid thing? Could there be more to it? Mjolna peered out her window. Whitetail Woods was literally right over there. On the other side of town the mysterious Everfree bordered Ponyville like an impenetrable fortress. It was teeming with wild and dangerous creatures just aching to snack on some unsuspecting pony. Walking through it at night was asking for trouble. On the other hoof everypony in town took walks through Whitetail. She ran though it during the running of the leaves every fall. Used to, in any case.
Mjolna flipped onto her stomach. The clock next to her ticked softly. Try as she might she could not shake the urge to get up. Grabbing her saddlebags, newspaper, pill bottle, canteen, and the mysterious handle she left her room and walked outside. 

Luna’s moon hung high in the night sky. The brilliant white orb illuminated the ground like a searchlight lighting up a shoreline. The temperature had dropped close to a comfortable fifty. It was refreshing going out for a night walk. Nowadays getting out for her was a pain, the searing heat in her hind leg a consistent reminder of her handicap. Any other night she would be sound asleep in her home. Tonight felt different. Tonight was different.
She had somewhere to go. 
The leaves of the woods rustled quietly in the night sky. Mjolna sniffed the air, the clean scent of pine filling her nostrils. A pair of wooden poles stood upright on the trail. They marked the beginning and end of Ponyvilles’ Running of the Leaves event. Memories of her rushing past the finish line flooded back to her and she turned her head to sigh. It wasn’t worth thinking about. 
Trails like this were just one of many littering the woods. The big one of course was used primarily by travelers to cut through the town. Avoiding the notorious Everfree was also important. Whitetail Woods was much calmer and despite spook stories of the Headless Horse it was not dangerous to traverse. Mjolna took a left at the trail, not really sure where she was headed. It was reckless of her to be wandering alone and at risk after sundown. She was low on medication, but would last a while longer. A persistent, dull ache was all she felt at the moment.
Just barely an hour later, the effects of the pills were starting to wear off. She stopped a few times to get her bearings and mark her spot but as of yet nothing had happened. A tall rocky uprising loomed opposite her seat on a rotten log. Pain was beginning to flow into her joints. Grabbing her pills, she popped open her canteen and had a quick sip of water.
CRACK
A dead tree branch snapped off a nearby tree and landed into a bush next to her. Mjolna inhaled in surprise, sending liquid down her lungs. She coughed and sputtered, dropping her canteen in the dirt. After her coughing fit ended she wiped her mouth. Amazing how one little bout of that could make her feel so horrible. She grabbed her canteen.
The pills.
Mjolna moved the leaf litter at her hooves around.
They fell on the ground!
Those were the last two!!
The now soggy leaves crumpled in her hooves as she began to frantically tear about the floor around her. Both capsules were small, dark purple and slippery. Now they were gone. She cursed under her breath, moving aside dirt, rock, twigs and leaves as her frenzied search became more and more involved around her.
Nonononononononnono.
Gone. They were gone. Had she the keen eyes of a Pegasus both of her pills would be safely in her return but no, thanks to her carelessness they were lost somewhere in the hopeless mess she had created. It was going to be a long, painful walk back home now. If she passed out on the trail she could be in serious danger. Mjolna folded her hooves and buried her head in them. Already that awful prickling was building in her leg. She wanted to scream.
An overhead cloud covering the moonlight finally passed. The light returned to the forest floor. Mjolna picked her head up to renew her search when something shiny caught her eye.
A glint. Brief but there. She squinted at the rock face across from her. It was a nondescript hunk of rock, craggy and broken in all the usual rocky places but something was there. She swiveled her head and out the corner of her eye the light gleamed again.
Something was there.
Very carefully as to not put pressure on her leg she stood up and hobbled across the way. This cliff was made of some kind of rock. Usually Earth ponies had a knack for figuring out the material of objects but this one in particular seemed unfamiliar to her. Foreign. Perhaps she was just looking at it wrong. She began sliding her hoof up and down the cool rock wall. Something was here. It could be a small crop of quartz, or a diamond poking from a crack. The moon was briefly covered by a passing cloud once more, and then moved away with a strong wing. The gleaming caught her eye again and she gasped.
There was a notch in the rock. A small, square, metal hole. It was adjacent to her hoof and completely invisible from her seat on the log! Only right up here from the side could she get a good look at it. She touched it, feeling how cold and smooth the metal was. It suddenly registered how familiar this material was. Her saddlebag flew open and she grabbed the handle out of the newspaper cocoon she wrapped it in. It was a perfect match! Excitedly she turned over the rod until she found the side with the grooves and pushed it into the hole with a sharp snap. Nothing happened. For a few seconds she stared hard at the lever, only hearing the sound of her heavy breathing. Pain was beginning to return and the worried voice in her head was telling her to leave and go home before it got worse. 
Mjolna swallowed the saliva collecting in her mouth and pulled the lever.
THUD
The rock to her immediate left fell away into the ground. Clumps of dirt and vine fell around her as a tunnel leading deeper into the mountain appeared. The lever sprang back to its upright position. It creaked, popping out of its place on the wall. Mjolna picked up her handle. A warm wind blew from inside the cave and hit her face. 
This is it. It’s do or die.
Furrowing her brow, she stepped inside and descended into the mountain.

***

Her fears of wandering in the dark were alleviated halfway down the tunnel. Colonies of glowing worms gathered in clumps on the ceiling and walls. The light they cast was dim, casting a very faint bluish glow where they congregated together. Although the pain was increasing every minute she did her best to will through it. Using only three legs to support herself was a bit more difficult to get around but she learned to train her body to get used to the gait. 
The handle was warm. It almost felt alive in her mouth. It hadn’t felt like this since last week when she first picked it up from the vendor. The winding tunnel led her deeper and deeper into the mountain. Air was stale down here. The luminescent worms were at least consistent the further down she went. The small tunnel began to widen. Mjolna flicked her ear at some distant noise. The sound of running water was unmistakable. 
A loose rock gave way under her hoof and she stumbled. An intense spike of pain shot through her leg to her side. She bit her lip, forcing the scream back down her throat. The agony she felt wasn’t going to stop her now. Not when she was this close to the end. Blinking back tears, she stumbled forth. The glow of the worms above her were being slowly diminished by a stronger light source. She stepped through the mouth of the tunnel.
Her jaw dropped.
The cavern was enormous! A huge clear pool of water laid was laid out for her, reaching hundreds of feet to the other side of where she stood. Three tall thin pine trees grew from the water, the deep green of their branches a stark contrast to the deep blue of the water. Breathing deeply she smelled the extremely rich scent of sap permeating the air. To the right of her was a deep blue pool of water. She surmised that it must have been a spring of some sorts. The whole place was dimly lit, shafts of moonlight shone through the ceiling in various spots. Everything else paled in comparison to the sight in the middle of the grove.
It was a monument of smoothed stone alone on a small island lit by a single shaft of moonlight. Six circular stones led from her spot on the shore to the rock in the middle. Entranced by the rock,  Mjolna moved towards the center. Unfortunately,  the dark green moss growing on the stepping stones was very slick. Her very first step threw her center of mass forwards. Her knee hit the rock dead center.
Darkness.
For a brief moment there was only darkness. Dark, inky black peppered with flashes of color. When she opened her eyes she found herself floating in the cool water. There was no point in lying about it to herself about what just happened. Blotches of color briefly filled her vision. She had blacked out from the severe pain. It must have been her body’s attempt to spare her the conscious pain she would have experienced if she were awake. The aftershock of the impact was noticeable enough if the pain weren’t indicator enough –the ugly bruise on her coat signaled how bad she fell.
Pain began taking hold once more. Mjolna tried to get up. The pain increased, rattling her senses. The spreading sensations forced her back into the shallow water. Her leg felt like a balloon filled with thousands of glass shards forced inside. She wanted to lie down. Wait for it to go away. Perhaps it would fade…
No
That was being a quitter. For too long this injury and its effects held her back. Too long she had scheduled her days around how she felt. Clenching her teeth and with much effort she pulled herself out of the water. Every fiber of her being wanted to wait, sit immobile, but she forced the urge away. Cool water rolled off her back and dripped quietly into the pool. She marched to the center of that island.
There was a pedestal in front of the smooth black stone. Mjolna eyed it wearily as she leaned against it. A mason would weep at how beautifully cut this wall of black obsidian was. Small gems of varying size and color looked to be embedded in it as well. It was also quite cool. She closed her eyes, concentrating on her breathing exercises. The pressure in her leg continued climbing anyway. She gulped and hobbled over to the mysterious pedestal.
On the smooth flat pedestal was some sort of tool. It was square and looked to be made of metal. Mjolna rested her weight against the small pillar to get a closer look. It was just as marvelously crafted as the wall behind her. She was so near she could even tell that whatever this square object was it certainly wasn’t placed here gently. An edge of it had impacted the top of the pillar leaving deep cracks spider webbing around it. For something so ordinary it was somehow beautiful. Mjolna was compelled to touch it. Even with the growing pain in her limb she admired the piece. It was familiar even. She absently started rubbing her hooves over the surface. She shut her eyes, only wishing she could properly see this object with both of them. At least she hadn’t slipped away in the water. It was okay now. She could pass knowing that at her weakest she fought through the pain and achieved her own goal –on her own hooves.
There was an indentation.
Small, shallow, hardly noticeable but it was there. 
Mjolna grasped at her saddlebags. Her hoof was a blur as she tore away the newspaper to grab the handle nestled inside. No wonder the object felt familiar! It was the same material! Sweat rolled down her face as she struggled to find the grooves. The agony was overwhelming. The metal rod danced around the little notch. She closed her eyes. The rod finally found purchase within.
CLICK
There was a burst of light. Mjolna felt herself slip off the pedestal, but was suddenly righted. An unseen force lifted her to her hooves. Magic, like that of unicorns, enveloped her in its pulsing warmth. Wind bellowed around her. It was as if she were standing in the middle of a dust devil. Energy like nothing she’d ever felt filled her body. The howling in her ears increased tenfold. She gritted her teeth.
Silence filled the cavern. Mjolna opened her eyes.
Sitting atop the now cracked pedestal was a hammer. Somehow, she felt she knew more than that. It crackled with energy, small yellow sparks arcing across its surface. It instantly reminded her of the twin hammers on her flanks. Mesmerized by its beauty she grabbed the handle. It was warm to the touch and comfortable in her hoof. The electric feeling traveled up her arm, setting the hairs on her coat straight. It was still stuck. She gave it a strong tug and pulled it free.
Now what? What happened next? Me holding a metal hammer and standing around in some underground grotto with-
Her eyes widened.
Standing.
Her eyes darted to her hind leg. Sure enough she was standing on it, her hoof pressed firmly against the black tile. She lifted it and gingerly brought it down. Then again, a little harder this time. Then once more with as much strength as she could muster, the tile giving a loud crack as her hoof smashed through to the dirt beneath it.
Her heart skipped a beat. The pain was gone. Completely gone. She was free of it. But how? What? Was it the hammer? The magic? What happened to her?
She faced the wall of obsidian behind her. The once dim gems embedded inside, seemingly at random, were glowing fiercely. Lines of white light snaked through the wall and connected each gemstone accordingly. It glowed brighter, a shape taking form on the rock. It was a beautiful depiction of ram, proud and stoic.
The face turned to look at her.
For the second time that day she was speechless. The rock wall changed, depictions of a land far away flashed across it, of turmoil and strife, hostility and anarchy. She saw a cold country ingrained in ice. There were the rams. The citizens of the land under the reign of a cruel leader, tired, hungry, without hope for a better future. There was oppression. False promises. She saw a vision of herself, clad in an ancient armor of brass and steel, wilding the hammer clenched in her jaw delivering righteous justice upon the false leaders spewing their lies to the public.
 Then it flipped through her life. Growing up. School. The moment she got her cutie mark. Not knowing why. Signing up for construction. The accident she suffered. The strange vendor at the marketplace.
Here.
The wall faded to black. Two great glowing green eyes blinked on the wall before her. Mjolna nodded. She understood now. Everything was clear. 
The eyes nodded sagely, twinkling away into darkness once more. With a swing of her mighty hammer the black pedestal was obliterated. She stood in the center and looked directly up, hammer clutched in her mouth. The ground around her rumbled. It became a circular pillar of stone rising at high speed straight upwards. She swung the hammer again at the ceiling right at she was set to hit it. It broke instantly and cleared her vertical pathway.
Mjolna finally breached the mountain top. She sniffed the cool night air, inhaling deeply. It was refreshing. After all these years she knew now who she was –what her true purpose was, her talent, her destiny. The stars in the inky black sky winked at her. They would show her where to go. Mjolna adjusted herself and faced north on the pillar.
North was where she would achieve her destiny, as directed by Ares himself.
North, towards Ramhalla.